How did Ireland move from the authoritarian, stultifying and cruel country of much of the twentieth century to the relatively liberal state we now enjoy? The bad old days gave us mother-and-baby homes, Magdelene laundries, institutional child abuse and its egregious cover-up, and the attempted blocking of the free movement of citizens to maintain state control over women’s bodies. This book charts that journey, through the author’s published letters to the editor that were contemporaneous with the subjects addressed, and in prose that accompanies each letter.

But there’s more, much more: The Reconstitution of Ireland deals also with such things as hare coursing; divorce and abortion referendums, EU membership; the physics of raindrops; politics; economics; international affairs; noise pollution; the wars in Gaza and Ukraine; and many other matters. Up front and centre is something that is still a major issue: the domination of Irish state-funded education by the Christian churches.

Praise for The Reconstitution of Ireland:

Recommended for anyone who wants to understand the transformation of Ireland over the last 50 years

Recensito in Italia il 31 marzo 2025

This volume is a salutary lesson to any writer of any kind: throw nothing away. McKenna has compiled, through the letters he has had published in The Irish Times over the last 46 years, an overview of the gradual revolution that has taken place in Ireland over that time. The themes of divorce, contraception, the Celtic Tiger, clerical child abuse, weaselly politicians, the separation of Church and State (and in the case of state education, the shameful failure to achieve that separation) are all covered, and more. McKenna frames his letters with commentary to help the reader (whether new to the subject, having forgotten just how far we have come or needing a reminder of how much better life now is – in some respects) understand the context in which they were written. Those letters have a pithy style and are forensically well argued. The book is also illustrated at key points: my favourite amongst those images is Brian O’Driscoll showing off the Heineken Cup to an ecstatic little girl, Michaela Morley, in her bed in Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Read this book to understand modern Ireland.

Katherine Mezzacappa, Author of The Maiden of Florence

Seamus McKenna’s primary qualification is in Civil Engineering. He holds an MBA from Trinity College Dublin, and an MA in Creative Writing from Dublin City University (DCU)

He’s been a reader from the youngest age. In earlier years books such as Fear of Flying by Erica Jong, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Robinson by Muriel Spark, practically everything that Graham Greene ever wrote, John McGahern’s major works, The Feast by Margaret Kennedy, White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh made lasting impressions.

His novel, The Maker’s Name, was published in 2024. He was thrilled when Kirkus Reviews recommended it to readers, saying, inter alia,: “McKenna skillfully weaves together a story of one family through several decades… This is an engaging, fast-paced story filled with treachery, backstabbing, and blind ambition … The narrative moves quickly and smoothly while managing to carefully construct the foundation for the brothers’ rivalry.”

He’s been having his letters and articles published in The Irish Times and other publications since 1978.

On 21st July 2024 he broadcast his short-form piece “Chickens, Hurling and a Famous Bootmaker” on RTE Radio 1’s Sunday Miscellany (New writing for radio).

He lives in Maynooth with his long-suffering but supportive wife, Marilyn. They have a son and a daughter, two granddaughters and two grandsons.