I can't remember anything at all about my grandfather Bob McHugh, from Robeen in Mayo, as he died when I was just a tiny trouble-maker.
In my head there's a black and white image of him standing behind a car, something that could just as easily have come from a rare family photograph.
But this week Bob McHugh loomed large in my thoughts, and my admiration for him multiplied beyond measure.
This was prompted by journalist Shane Ó Curraighín's thoroughly heartbreaking story on RTÉ about the discovery of 32 cillíní in Sligo where unbaptised babies were buried because Catholic Church tyranny at the time insisted such children could not have a Christian burial in consecrated ground.
Research by Dr Marion Dowd, a lecturer in archaeology at Atlantic Technological University, has led to the identification of 32 previously unrecorded 'cillíní' in Sligo. She is pictured here with Sligo farmer Paddy Killerlane and local historian Leo Leyden. PHOTO: RTE News
One of the cillíní just outside Rosses Point in Co. Sligo. PHOTO: RTE News
That story stirred memories of my mother Dolly once telling how, as a little girl, she was at home in Robeen as her mother gave birth upstairs. No baby cried that evening and later she realised she had had a brother who didn't make it.
Shortly afterwards her father Bob came into the kitchen and put together a little box on the table, lid and all.
With the closed box containing the little baby's remains under one arm, Bob brought Dolly with him to the car and they drove in the dark for a short time, then pulled in by the side of the road.
And got out. Bob held my mother's hand as they walked through a field, the little box tight against his chest. Then they stopped at the wall of the cemetery, away from the entrance.
Dolly stayed outside as Bob hopped over and buried the box just inside the wall, in consecrated ground, in the silence of the night, under the cloak of darkness.
Bob McHugh's private act of respect for his little son who would never grow old, his defiance against a cruel and inhumane diktat by traitors, is more impressive now than it has ever been.
I'm sorry I never really met Bob McHugh. I'm certain I'd have liked him a lot.
The world is Micheál's oyster now. Good news for Big Jim
As Tony Blair has observed, political leaders come to power when least capable and most popular and lose office when they're most capable but least popular.
Clearly, he wasn't talking about Taoiseach Micheál Martin when offering such a wonderfully insightful nugget on the inbuilt contradiction of political survival and failure. Because, after over 15 years as leader of Fianna Fáil, four years as Taoiseach and two-and-a-half years as tánaiste, Martin has both competence and popularity in good measure.
So the question is: Why would the likes of Big Jim O'Callaghan or any frontline member of Fianna Fáil think now is the time to turn Micheál Martin in the direction of retirement? Before his race is fully run?
Before Martin's appearance on the St Patrick's Day episode of Donald Trump's reality tv show, Crazy Oval Office, I forecast how the Taoiseach would sail through that entire drama, not a bother on him. He did precisely that, and more.
Proving he's now at the sweet spot of his political career, Martin's Oval Office performance marked a discernible growth in his confidence, with the body language to match.
The Taoiseach even interjected to defend Keir Starmer from a vicious mauling by Trump
He interjected to defend Keir Starmer from a vicious mauling by Trump; he defended against all far-right conspiracy theories that Europe has been destroyed by immigrants in a 'great replacement'; and he left the bully Trump floundering when he made clear that, while Winston Churchill was a great wartime leader in Britain, he had questions to answer in Ireland for British violence that accompanied Ireland's rightful demand for independence.
Martin's Oval Office performance nevertheless drew the usual criticisms from the likes of Richard Boyd Barrett and others still stuck in the language of university politics of the '60s,'70s and '80s. God help us.
But such nipping at Martin's heels only serves to emphasise his current status, certainly internationally, as a man operating well within himself. And a man who isn't finished, by a long shot.
In fairness, Martin's international status as moderate, bright, amiable and unflappable fails adequately, or at all, to take account of his multiple failures at home to solve well-documented crises in housing, health and the cost of living.
However, given that in July he'll be the President of Europe for six months, Martin may no longer have to concern himself with a political 'interview panel' made up only of Irish voters.
By next January at the latest Martin will have a big decision to make, either stick it out until November, when he switches jobs with Simon Harris, or manufacture an exit at a time of his own choosing before that, something that would satisfy anxious would-be leaders in his own party and also avoid him having to reopen that door marked 'Tánaiste'. What politician worth their salt ever liked playing second fiddle?
This week, due to Martin’s growing reputation as a Trump Whisperer, the drums were beating a little louder with suggestions that an appointment as EU Ambassador to the US would provide his ideal opportunity for departure.
The current ambassador is a Lithuanian diplomat whom hardly anybody has heard of, and who come January will have been in the job three years. Could be time for a move.
Martin wouldn't notice much of a difference from his current €253,000 earnings as Taoiseach if he moved to Washington. He'll be 66 next January and a successful four-year term in America would guarantee a plethora of invitations to sit on any number of international boards at that stage.
Given that Tony Blair left office with his reputation in tatters and still managed to carve out a hugely successful life after politics,the opportunities available to Micheál Martin,who still retains high levels of popularity,are dazzling.
Was that a smile I noticed on Big Jim's face?
It's perfectly clear that too many drivers are simply ignoring appeals for greater care on the roads,with 38 deaths so far this year -up six on 2025.
And last year was shocking,with 187 deaths,the highest number killed since 2017.
Before Christmas,RSA chief executive Moyagh Murdock called for retraining and alco-locks for repeat drink-drivers.
We shouldn't be surprised that such proposals have been basically ignored so far by Government,despite the ongoing carnage.
After all,it’s the Government that has wilfully starved the gardaí of the necessary resources to enforce road safety.