Tag Archives: Jim O’Brien

INDEPENDENT Deputy Marian Harkin will launch a new collection of columns by author and columnist, Jim O’Brien at the Community Hall, Ogonnelloe on Saturday, December 3 at 7pm. Matters of Great Indifference Volume II is the second collection of O’Brien’s weekly musings taken from the pages of the Farming Independent. It contains a selection of pieces published between November 2020 and October 2022 and, according to the author, matters of all sorts are covered. “From the end of the pandemic to the start of a war, from the arrival of a new pup to the departure of a Queen, I have a look at everything and anything,” he said. The pieces are inspired by the life Jim is living and the context in which he is living it. “I draw on my childhood in Kildimo, and other places I have lived including Foynes in West Limerick, Rosenallis, Co. Laois and, of course, in Ogonnelloe, Co. Clare, where I now live. …

TO celebrate the 50th anniversary of Derg Credit Union in Killaloe and Scariff, a former board member Jim O’Brien, launched his historical account of the institution at the Killaloe Hotel, writes Conor Clohessy. While no longer a board member, he currently serves as a volunteer on the promotions and development committee. He works as a freelance journalist. Jim was approached about compiling the piece of work by two of the longer serving members of the board, William McLysaght and Michael Cleary, who were both present at the founding of Derg Credit Union in 1971. Jim said: “They asked if I would write this as part of the commemoration, and it was a huge amount of work. I had to read fifty years’ worth of minutes, which was time-consuming, but it was inspirational to see what these people have achieved.” The momentous feat began with the reading of said minutes last March, which was an endeavour that had be completed within …

IMAGINE a typical rural shopkeeper in the Ireland of yesteryear. “I picture him wearing a brown shop coat with ballpoint pens in his top pocket,” says actor and journalist, Jim O’Brien of Ogonnelloe. “He lives over the shop, and the shop is his life.” Now imagine that his merchandise is of a very specialised variety. This shopkeeper’s trade is not in groceries or other domestic essentials. His customers come from far and wide to purchase accoutrements of every kind, from small nuclear weapons to solar-powered chainsaws. All of them are tailored to the client’s exact needs. The only thing that links them is the fact they are all ‘plot unblocking devices’. This is the kind of shop – or rather ‘emporium’ – that is at the heart of an award-winning radio play recently produced and aired on Scariff Bay Community Radio. Its writer Tara Sparling devised the fantastical plot in a post on her popular blog (Tarasparling.com) and was encouraged …