`After all the painting, brushing, cement and concrete I should be OK!" Such were the words of Bridget Dirrane to her two make-up assistants in St Francis's Community Nursing Unit in Galway yesterday as she prepared to mark her 105th birthday.
"I feel the same as when I was 20. I don't feel I'm getting old," the Aran Islander said as Nurse Ann Berry put her hair through curling tongs, someone worried about earrings, and many friends, relatives and politicians gathered for a concelebrated Mass in honour, led by the Bishop of Galway, Dr James McLoughlin.
With two husbands, one master of arts degree and the passing of two centuries under her belt, Mrs Dirrane is determined to be around this time next year.
Born the youngest of eight children at Oatquarter, Inis Mor, on November 15th, 1894, Mrs Dirrane, nee Gillan, has both witnessed and lived through some of the milestones of the past century.
She claims to have met Padraig Pearse and other 1916 Rising leaders, and she was arrested by the Black and Tans while on a nursing mission during the War of Independence. She was held at the Bridewell, and later at Mountjoy jail, where she went on hunger strike. She says she also witnessed the hangings of Kevin Barry and Thomas Whelan.
If there is one subject that the former nurse is passionate about, it is the role of the Kennedy family in US and Irish history. She emigrated to the United States in 1927 and canvassed for John F. Kennedy during her stay in south Boston. She has since been visited by Senator Ted Kennedy and the former US ambassador to Ireland, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith.
It was in Boston that she met her first husband, Ned Dirrane, a fellow Aran Islander. They had been married for eight years, and had no family, when he died of a heart attack. After her return to Inis Mor in 1966, Bridget married her brother-in-law, Pat, who was father of three and a widower. She reared the three lads, one of whom, Coleman, was present at yesterday's birthday party, along with her four step-grandchildren, Timmy, Michael, Ciaran and Matthew.
She nursed her second husband when he fell ill - he subsequently died in 1990 - and she had her two wedding rings bonded together as a symbol of her love for the brothers. Mrs Dirrane is the oldest person in the world to have received an honorary degree, from NUI Galway, and she has "rejuvenated" the St Francis's home since she took a bed there when 101, according to the matron, Ms Rose O'Connor, who added: "She has made sure that this place is no departure lounge."
Mrs Dirrane met Mrs Hillary Clinton in NUI Galway earlier this year and says she follows current affairs. She still believes in voting, hasn't totally given up on politicians and greeted a few at yesterday's event, including the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Mr Robert Molloy, and the Mayor of Galway, Cllr Declan McDonnell.
Also invited were the chairwoman of the Western Health Board, Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn TD, and the Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Mr Eamon O Cuiv.
Mrs Dirrane has returned to the Aran Islands frequently - twice this year already - in the company of the matron, two nurses and her close friends, Oliver and May Neary of Galway. She intends to go out again later this month.
In her autobiography, written at the age of 103, she warned that she left no fortune for those who come after her, only "the sunshine to the flowers, honey to the bees, the moon above in the heavens for all those in love, and my beloved Aran Islands to the seas".
