The former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, opened an exhibition of paintings by artist Stephen Walsh in Dundalk yesterday. It was Mr Haughey's first public function since the Late Late Show and Sunday Times revelations about his private life. Mr Haughey said he decided to open the exhibition because the artist's work is "striking and different and original and full of colour and messages. Also because of the individual, Stephen himself, and his enormous courage and determination and perseverance.
"I was struck by the fact that it was that perseverance that enabled him to master the complexities of painting techniques and thereby give himself an enormous sense of personal fulfilment," Mr Haughey said.
Mr Walsh, who suffers from cerebral palsy, painted a lot of his work in Jamaica and the theme of mother and child runs through the exhibition. He describes Jamaica as his spiritual home. Before he visited the island, he said he had painted angry images. "Somehow my work is now softer, more absorbed into everyday incident, everyday love." The artist, who comes from Rochestown, Dublin, held his last exhibition in the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Dublin, last December and it sold out. The Dundalk exhibition runs until the June 17th in the TristAnn Gallery, Park Street, and again his work is expected to sell out. There are 23 paintings on display.