Pádraic Ó’Conaire was born on this day in 1882. The Royal Irish Academy have his profile here, and there is a lovely piece from the Galway Advertiser last year here – I particularly like the picture of De Valera gazing upon the original O’Conaire statue in Eyre Square. De Valera and O’Conaire were born the same year, were in college together and knew each other. The current statue – bronze and hopefully vandal-proof – was unveiled last year by one of De Valera’s successors as Irish president , Michael D Higgins.