The Taoiseach is a left-hander, as many leaders have been. So are there any advantages to being a ciotóg, asks Edel Morgan.
What do the Taoiseach, the last three presidents of the United States and Alexander the Great have in common?
They belong to the same minority as Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar and Fidel Castro. It appears being a ciotóg can be an asset in politics, an arena where knowing what the left hand is doing is a distinct advantage.
The Government press office will confirm that Bertie Ahern is left-handed but says he is unavailable to comment on whether he will be celebrating International Left-handers' Day today. Whether he finds being left-handed in a right-handed world has a downside is not on record.
Left-handers have the edge in hand-eye co-ordination sports such as tennis and fencing, and in boxing, where the southpaw retains an extra element of surprise. But it is believed we have our fingers amputated by power tools more often and suffer more wrist fractures. In 1991 Stanley Coren and Diane Halpern, two US psychologists, found that as a result of being accident-prone we tend to die younger - by nine years on average - although this has been been disputed in subsequent studies.
On a less fatal but nonetheless harmful level, contorting the body to use a right-handed desk at school or college can cause cramps, as can manoeuvring a computer mouse designed for the right palm.
Left-handedness remains a scientific grey area, and few studies on the subject have proved conclusive. It is thought to be a result of the dominance of the right side of the brain, which commands visual imagery and spatial ability, over the left, which controls mathematical ability, logic and language. In most people, however, both hemispheres of the brain work together and share information.
It is widely believed that left-handers comprehend ideas by visualising images, so tend to be creative and good lateral thinkers and be proportionately more prevalent in the fields of architecture, journalism and the arts.
Some careers may prove more problematic for the left-handed. Irish soldiers, for example, are "obliged to use right-handed shooters", according to the Army press office, which maintains this doesn't affect firing, "but the drill for loading is a bit different".
While left-handers score highly in terms of tactile-spatial abilities, there is a worldwide lack of left-handed surgeons. According to studies by Jonathan Schott and Michael Puttick of St Mary's Hospital Medical School, in London, this may be partly due to the fact that trainees usually have to assist right-handed surgeons.
Many left-handers mistakenly regard themselves as clumsy, says Lauren Milsom, organiser of International Left-handers' Day, a Web-based event now in its 11th year. Milsom and her husband, Keith, who are both left-handed, have owned Anything Left Handed, a specialist shop in London, for 17 years. They also run a mail-order business, selling left-handed tools and kitchen and office implements.
"Often left-handers assume they are awkward and don't stop to think it is because they are living in world designed for right-handers and often using knives and tools not designed for them," says Milsom. Left-handed products are not widely available because manufacturers regard them as unprofitable, even though up to 10 per cent of people are left-handed.
The Irish Lefthanders Club was set up in 1992. Joe O'Connor, its founder, says he will be observing International Left-handers' Day "in a quiet way". The website sells a small range of kitchen implements, scissors and pens.
Domhnall Casey, a psychologist and psychoanalyst, believes being left-handed shouldn't necessarily restrict people's lives.
"If the person deals with it in a fairly relaxed and constructive way, and it is not made out to be strange or unusual by others, then they are often oblivious they are any different. We have come a long way since the days when being left-handed was regarded as sinister and an aberration and people were forced to write with their right hand."
The International Left-handers' Day website is at www.left-handersday.com; the Irish Lefthanders Club is at www. paddybear.com/lefthand.html
The ups and downs of being a leftie
Flor McCarthy, reporter, RTÉ news
"My mother sourced tin-openers and scissors from a left-handed shop in London when I was 12. Three of us children were left-handed, so growing up it was very practical to have them for everyday use. In Italy the left is sinistra, in France it is gauche - or we are referred to as maladroit, which implies we are awkward and something other than the norm. I joke that I'm a founder and only member of the I've A Right To Be Left Club. I always thought it was cool to have my own left-handed pens and corkscrews. I'm proud to be part of a group that includes Leonardo da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix,
John McEnroe, Napoleon and Marilyn Monroe."
Ronan Goti, artist
"I play racquetball and other sports with my right hand but paint and write with my left. I've never really thought too much about being left-handed, but I suppose you are using the more creative side of your brain. I don't really worry too much about things being geared for right-handed people. If I go into a bank and the pen is attached to the right-hand side, I just grab it with my left hand. It has crossed my mind, though, that maybe if I'd been of a different generation" - Goti is 25 - "and was made to write with my right hand, then maybe I wouldn't be an artist."
Ronan Goti is exhibiting work at the Oisin Gallery, Dublin, from September 17th
Louise Kennedy, fashion designer
"One piece of equipment I always had is a left-handed scissors. I couldn't cut with a normal scissors, as I'm 100 per cent oriented towards the left hand. If I do anything, make any move or pick up an object I automatically do it with the left hand. I'd find it difficult driving on the Continent with a car that's not automatic, because I'd have to use my right hand to shift the gears. It's so easy driving here and in the UK, because the gears are to the left. My parents never made me aware that being left-handed was in any way different, and it was never a problem in the schools I went to, so I've always been pretty much oblivious to it and never saw it as a big deal."
Felicity O'Brien, programme co-ordinator, Dublin Theatre Festival
Being left-handed definitely does have an impact on your day-to-day life. Everything is constructed towards the right hand, and you tend to feel more awkward than most other people as a result. But you just get on with it; there are worse things to worry about. I don't think there are negative connotations about being left-handed compared to 20 or 30 years ago. I was one of the last generations to be made write with my right hand. In college everything was geared towards right-handed people, despite the fact that you might expect a learning institution to be more flexible. It's more difficult for us to write on cheque stubs and in bound notebooks. Regarding Left-handers' Day, I don't respect any sort of day, really. Perhaps it does raise awareness about an issue, but there's a lot more to shout about than being left-handed."
