My much loved colleague in the Sociology Department at UCC, Paddy O'Carroll (who wrote under the pen name 'J.P. O'Carroll') passed away last Saturday morning in Marymount Hospice Cork.
When I arrived in Sociology at UCC, having just finished a PhD at Maynooth in 1997, Paddy was one of the most senior members of the Department and was also working in the field of Irish sociology. He was very good to me. He himself had worked in the Department since 1973 along with other colleagues who had arrived in the 1970s and focused specifically on Irish sociological questions (including Joe Ruane, Teresa Dowling and Ciaran McCullagh).
Sociology was established in this period as a stellar and important discipline in the University's intellectual landscape and in the national sociological community. Damian Hannan was Professor of Sociology in that period and TCD Sociologist Hilary Tovey also taught for a period in the Department around that time. These colleagues established Cork as a vibrant teaching and research centre for Irish sociology.
Paddy was a unique person. He was very open minded, he had a great and mischevious sense of humour, a wide range of interests, he was extremely well read, he loved travelling and - perhaps most of all - he loved talking with colleagues.
He was a big man with a very big heart and a trojan intellect.
One of his most renowned papers was 'Strokes, cute hoors and sneaking regarders: the influence of local culture on Irish political style.'
Having grown up in Co Meath myself, we both shared an interest in rural sociology and in rural Ireland, in particular in local political cultures which he had published seminal articles on. We also shared a research interest in the politics of the 1983 referendum on abortion.
I will miss our frequent talks and conversations about Irish sociology greatly.
One of my fondest personal memories of Paddy was when he rang me in the Bons in Cork, about an hour after I had given birth to my second child, Rosa. I answered my phone expecting him to congratulate me. I was incredibly impressed at how quickly he was ringing me and was amazed the news had got out so quickly. When I answered, Paddy (very typically) launched into a 15 minute tour de force about a Sociology article I had recently sent him. It took that long for me to get a word in eventually so I could say - 'Paddy I just had a baby an hour ago.' We laughed about that so many times after. And true to form, Paddy did come in soon after to see the new baby as he did with my other children.
After Paddy retired, he continued to regularly call into the Department and the wide ranging conversations and fun continued.
UCC was privileged to have had a scholar of Paddy O'Carroll's stature, integrity and standing in the University for so many years. I will miss him and his presence in the Department greatly.
Another blog about Paddy by Kieran Healy can be viewed at http://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2015/03/22/paddy-ocarroll/
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