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Ros na Rún star makes his own story
He’s a soap star who spends half the year in Spiddal and the other in Venice; he’s a journalist who mixes with the stars – and now Domhnall O’Donoghue has drawn the various strands of his life together, mixing them with a vivid imagination, to produce his debut novel.
The man, better known in these parts as the character Pádraig Ó Loinsigh in the TG4 drama Ros na Rún, instantly credits that combination of Spiddal and Venice in helping him get his creative juices flowing ahead of its launch.
And Domhnall will launch the fruits of his labours this week when his first book “Sister Agatha: The World’s Oldest Serial Killer” comes to life. 
O’Donoghue, who is also assistant editor with Irish Tatler Man magazine, divides his time between spending six months a year in Venice and the other six months on Connemara coastline.
“What’s great about working out in Spiddal is there are very few distractions. So I’m not distracted by city life or going out so that gives me a lot of time to focus as a journalist and indeed my work as an author so to speak,” he explains.
The book, which has been described as a “comic thriller”, follows the pursuit of a 118 year old nun whose final ambition in life is to claim the title of the world’s oldest person and will do whatever means necessary to reach that goal.
He derived his idea from a newspaper article that he read following the death of the oldest woman in the world. The following week he then heard that the next oldest person had passed away.
“In my mind I started going is there someone out there killing all these old people for some reason,” he quipped.
“So that was in my head and along with the religious influences of Venice I mixed the two together.
“Being in Venice really influenced the story because when I came over I had a completely different idea in my head but then for the first few weeks I was just going around to museums, churches and galleries. I really started to take notice of the level of Catholicism and the influence of religious art.
“I have always had the curiosity to strip away the armour when it comes to religious people we have seen like priests and nuns and see the person behind. Nuns and priests have goals too as ridiculous as they may seem like we do too.
“So I decided to give this character, who is a nun, this crazy adventure. I firmly believe life has no best before date and we kind of live in this age of society where we say peak once they go beyond the age of 40.
“I just love the idea that people like Sister Agatha just say you know what I’m never, ever going to give up until I’m six feet under, until then I’m going to keep going,” Domhnall explained.
Domhnall’s primary goal as a youngster was to become an actor. He studied acting in Trinity College and continued on to do a Masters in screenwriting at Dún Laoghaire IADT.
His acting career eventually led him all the way to Ros na Rún, where he is soon to start filming the new season of the show.
“When I joined Ros Na Rún five seasons ago I was very, very nervous because I knew a lot of the actors and the crew were there since the launch 20 years ago,” he recalls.
“But within minutes of me being there I was welcomed into the fold. They just have the most extraordinary ability to make a boy like me from the East feel so warm and welcomed.”
From there Domhnall’s career took a slight change and he diverted his attention to writing during his spare time.
Another long term ambition of his was to become a screenwriting but to help pay the bills he began writing columns for magazines, which has seen him progress all the way to assistant editor with Irish Tatler Man magazine.
It’s a job which has seen him interview famous personalities like renowned actor Kevin Spacey, fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger and top British model David Gandy.
“I never actually saw journalism in my life it was more the screen-writing but I would say they are very closely interconnected, similarly to acting and screenwriting,” he admits.
When asked if he had always seen himself writing a book Domhnall responded: “I always seen myself working in television and film and to develop scripts but the reality is with a screenwriter and scriptwriter is you are essentially asking a producer or a network to give you two or three million quid. That’s a tall ask.
“So I thought while I’m waiting for that to happen, I may as well write something that costs nothing and writing a book costs nothing. I thought this would be a good way to get my work out there and even if no one was to read it I was just happy to feel I had written something and achieved something.
“Luckily enough a publishing company came on board and they were really interested and excited which was amazing.”
When asked about his future plans, “I’d love to think I will continue what I’m doing which is incorporating both acting and my writing. I would love to be able to do that. I’d love to be able to develop Sister Agatha into a film possibly which is something which would really excite me and I’ve had interest from a number of producers already.
“I think the things I do complement each other and I know I’m a much better actor because of my work as a writer and I’m a much better writer because of my work as an actor. Even my work as a journalist when I interview people my actor persona comes into play because that actor’s job is to be interested in characters.”
Domhnall has developed a love affair with Galway and now classes it as his “second home.”
“I absolutely adore there and even though I’m in Italy now I cannot wait to go back to Spiddal next week.”
■ “Sister Agatha: The World’s Oldest Serial Killer” will be released as a digital book on August 3, while the print edition will be released in September.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
