The Wonderful Life of a councillor or “What kind of gobshite do you think I am?”
About the author
Sean O’Grady served the people of Killarney for forty years as an independent, Labour and Official Sinn Fein Councillor.
About the book
The Wonderful life of a Councillor or what kind of gobshite do you think I am? is a charming memoir of Sean O’Grady’s experiences of growing up, working and living in Killarney. It is a book about people and the political system in general as seen through the eyes of a political practitioner of forty years.
At selfpublishbooks.ie we have published a lot of books for authors over the years, but this is the first time that we have published the memoirs of a politician, we have published books by them, but not about them. We are hoping it is the first of many, especially from those who have had such an impact of their local areas as Sean.
What will grab most readers attention is the title, which the author thought long and hard about using. The impression is conveyed that being a public representative is a wonderful, rewarding and edifying exercise, but the subtitle suggested that there might be a different side to it. At selfpublishbooks.ie, we were unsure about using that title too, but after a while, we grew to love it and didn’t want it changed. As to where that quote came from, you will have to read the book and find out.
The book addresses the examinations of local government reform by various commissions since the seventies, the replacement of town government in 2014 with Municipal entities. Sean also looks at where we are as a society in light of the diminution of democracy over the decades, where fiscal considerations have become paramount throughout many aspects of political governance, from local, to national and European.
However, this book isn’t just about politics, for politics is about people and in this book, you will learn about real people that Sean has met over the years, stories of the time in Killarney, together with local issues that will resonate with most citizens in any town throughout the land.
Launch details
The book will be launched on Friday, the 22nd of March at 7.30pm at the International Hotel, Killarney. Everyone is welcome to attend in what should be an interesting book launch, where we will hear more about Sean and the experiences he has witnessed over his long and productive career in politics.
