As I write this I am sitting in the window, watching the tide flooding into Caragh Creek. For those who are unfamiliar with the geography of Heaven, Caragh Creek is the inlet of Dingle Bay into which the Caragh River flows.
I am looking across at Seefin mountain and beyond that to Carrantuohil and the MacGillacuddy Reeks. It ought to be an environment that is conducive to writing, but I find the ever changing patterns of light and shade and the sheer beauty of the surroundings rather unsettling. Nevertheless, it is better than sitting in a darkened room in the city.
I am of Kerry antecedents and I love the county and its people. However, I know my place and am aware that I am what is called locally a "July" i.e. a person who comes here only on holiday. It is applied fairly broadly. If you came here every February, you would still be termed a July. To be truly Kerry, a term of continuous residence for approximately 400 years is required.
In passing, however, on behalf of my fellow émigrés in this part of the world, I must point out that when our local golf club Dooks was founded in 1891 and for nearly 40 years thereafter it was very much the preserve of the gentry. We were still Julys but the local members were condescendingly referred to as the "half-days". Incidentally in the days before political correctness reared its ugly and intrusive head, Dooks golf club was way ahead of the posse in having a lady captain of the whole club. Follow that Portmarnock! Dooks also is a home to the Natterjack toad, although I must stress there is no connection between these two items. Lady Edith Gordon as she was, also wrote a book The Winds of Time, a very interesting memoir of life in Kerry during the War of Independence and the Civil War, viewed from a seldom noted position. For instance, she points out that most of the Unionist population of Kerry travelled north to sign Carson's covenant in their own blood. Yes, indeed "the house has fallen, the beaten men come into their own".
There are enormous advantages to living in the Kingdom and indeed in any part of rural Ireland in comparison to living in the city. The whole environment is conducive to exercise and the outdoor life - the air is clean, traffic gridlock rare and the stresses of city life absent. There are disadvantages also, including less speedy access to hospital services - a problem that may come into sharper focus when and if the next phase of the Hanly report is rolled out. Clearly this will not be before the local and European elections but the good people of Kerry and other areas whose hospital services will be at least altered, should be asking the awkward questions now. The Ennis situation "now you see it, now you don't" is a timely warning to make sure that the local medical services are not weakened by the process of reform. This is a hugely important area with implications throughout the health service and to which I shall repeatedly return.
Last, but not least, seven miles away in the town of Killorglin is a very brave young man called Billy Burke. He suffers from cystic fibrosis and is hanging on to life despite deteriorating lung function. Billy was turned down for lung transplant in Newcastle where, as of now, most Irish patients go. However, he was accepted in Manchester with the proviso that the donated lungs would have to come from Ireland. There appears to be a problem with this, as apparently the unit in Newcastle receives all Irish lung donations.
Simple humanity would mandate an exception to the usual arrangements to give this young man his only chance. Common sense would dictate that the unit in the Mater in Dublin originally due to open on April 1st, 2001 is equipped and staffed to work as soon as possible, so that situations like this do not arise. We are now three years late and delay costs lives.
• Dr Maurice Neligan recently retired as a leading cardiac surgeon.