Former Mayo journalist turned barrister writes about his life and times

A former Mayo journalist has published a memoir of his life and times.

Damian McHugh, now aged 83 and a native of Swinford, is receiving great reaction nationwide for his fine book, The Good Times, published by Tribes Press.

The book will be launched at Castle Books, Main Street, Castlebar, on Saturday, October 3, at 3 p.m. Everybody is welcome.

His publishers have described the book as "offering a valuable and compelling account of his life, from his upbringing in County Mayo, to a renowned career as a journalist, barrister and writer, and the joys of a life spent alongside his wife Claire, from their very first meeting at a midweek ball in the 1960s to the creation of a family that would become the cornerstone of his life."

It is also lauded as 'a story of courage, family and grief, laced with a fierce sense of optimism that allowed McHugh to move through life seeing every hurdle as a chance for reinvention'.

Damian, himself, said the book is his attempt to trace the path of his career as honestly as possible through the many deadlines and demands of journalism, the rigours and responsibility of legal practice as a barrister, the quiet lessons learned on the golf course, the discipline required in the professional boxing ring as an observer from a boxer's corner and, above all, the enduring presence of his family.

He began his career in journalism in the early 1960s as a reporter with The Mayo News, initially reporting from the east Mayo area before being moved to Castlebar to replace Dave Halloran following his move to the Drogheda Independent.

The author recalls: "Working in Castlebar was a game-changer."

Not only was it the location where so many county organisations whose activities had to be reported on, but it was also where all the big Mayo GAA games were staged.

He recalled learning a lot from the late Tom Courell, Rathbawn Road, who reported for the Western People at the time before becoming editor of The Connaught Telegraph.

"Writing up reports from Mayo County Council meetings was tortuous," he wrote.

"Tom and I usually did it together. If I missed a word or two, he would have it and vice-versa. I worked with great colleagues in Castlebar, including Sean Staunton, Tom Rowley, Sean Rice and Christy Loftus."

But his life in Castlebar came to an end sooner than he expected as he joined the Roscommon Herald following the departure of Cormac MacConnell to the Munster Express in Waterford.

By March 1968 his days in Boyle were numbered and an approach from Sean Ward in the Irish Press resulted in him moving to Dublin to start working with a leading national newspaper, a position that led him reporting from Derry on the troubles in Northern Ireland for a number of years before covering the famous Arms Trial in Dublin.

However, it was his appointment to the post of High Court reporter for the Irish Press that would ultimately lead to his working life changing forever as he decided, in the early 1980s, to enlist to a pre-Bar course which ultimately led to him qualifying as a barrister and being called to the Bar in the Supreme Court in July 1985.

He subsequently wrote his first book, Libel Law: A Journalists Handbook,' which found a place in every newsroom across the country and further afield.

The Good Times is a wonderful read about a man who made so much of both his working and personal lives and enjoyed every twist and turn along the way.