'The voice of the people': Joe Duffy takes his final call on Liveline
The - at times - emotional last show for the veteran broadcaster included a mix of comedic sketches and songs and even a performance by the Dublin Fire Brigade Pipe Band, as well as tributes from Micheál Martin and Michael D Higgins.
The Dublin Fire Brigade Pipe Band at Joe Duffy's final farewell show. Picture: Andres Poveda
The Taoiseach called him the 'authentic voice of the people' who 'kept us all on our toes over the years', while the president called him 'the voice of those on the margins' throughout his 'long and remarkable career'.
After his familiar introduction at the start of the show, Joe was sung a rendition of the 1970s hit Thank you For Being A Friend by The Camembert Quartet.
Show producer Brenda Donohue told him he had been 'more than a friend' to everyone on the show over the years before bringing on Caroline Davis of Caroline's Breast Care in County Carlow.
She reminded Joe about how allowances for specialised bras for women who underwent a mastectomy were reinstated after women shared their stories on the show over two days last year.
June Rogers at Joe Duffy's final farewell show. Picture: Andres Poveda
Cork author Pete O'Toole was another of the former guests to appear. He thanked Joe for helping him sell his self-published books and for helping 'vindicate' him as a writer.
Brenda interrupted the show to let Joe know 'we have a caller on the line'.
It turned out to be the Taoiseach who told him: 'You were and are the voice of the people. You were authentic. You gave the people a platform and I think you never left your roots. Your working-class background stood to you.
'You had a unique capacity to mediate between the people and authority and allow them to tell their stories.'
He added: 'Over the years, I can remember many a civil servant coming running into me in the afternoon saying, Liveline's gone mad. It's gone on fire. We've got to do this and that and the other.
'The one difference between you and social media, if I may say, is that you had balance on every show, somebody has got to give the other side of the story."
Claudia Boyle performing on Joe Duffy's final farewell show. Picture: Andres Poveda
He described the presenter as a wonderful platform for people, survivors of institutions, people who may not often get the opportunity.
'They just picked up the phone, they rang you, and you guided them through to tell their story. People will be forever in your debt.'
He also referenced how the two met up during family holidays on Dunworley Strand, near Courtmacsherry, south west Cork.
Paul Harrington performs 'Song of Bernadette' for Joe Duffy's final farewell show. Picture: Andres Poveda
He said that he shared 'one of the best, great days' he and his wife Mary had with their seven-year-old daughter Leana before she passed away in 2010 at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
'You took some beautiful photographs of Leana in my arms and you sent them to me after Leana died and that's something Mary and I have always treasured," he said.
Comedian Oliver Callan recorded a special episode of his show Callan's Kicks, featuring Joe taking calls from the likes of Bertie Ahern and Bono.
The show came to an end with the reading of a letter from President Michael D Higgins which thanked Joe for his 'remarkable contribution to public life'.
It was one that he had 'shaped with empathy, insight and an unwavering commitment to the voices of Ireland'.
He said: 'Through your work, you have borne witness to the struggles and triumphs of the Irish people, often giving voice to those on the margins and creating a space in which silence could be broken and solidarity expressed, reminding us that behind every headline is a human story, reminding us too that our society is strengthened by the lived experiences of its people.'
Joe Duffy: 'It's been a privilege.' Picture: Andres Poveda
Before the show ended, Joe thanked everyone and said: "It's been a privilege."
Joe Duffy joined RTÉ as a radio producer in 1989 and came to prominence as a reporter on the Gay Byrne Show.
He presented programmes such as Soundbyte before taking over Liveline from Marian Finucane in 1998, attracting some 400,000 listeners to the phone-in programme.
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RTÉ opens call for new presenters including Joe Duffy's replacement on Liveline
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'Also, here in the United States while we, until recently, had constitutional protections that were supposed to preserve your right to choose an abortion, those rights were already being eroded in many places, particularly in red states. And we've seen what has happened since then.' Since Roe v Wade was reversed three years ago, access to abortion across the United States has been dramatically reduced with 12 states now operating complete bans and others imposing restrictions based on gestational limits. Muldoon came to her with the opera proposal a few months after Roe v Wade had been struck down in the United States. 'It seemed very important because even though the opera is very situated in Ireland, the themes are universal.' Sankaram said although she is not Irish, she was watching for the outcome of the Repeal campaign. 'There have always been these laws around what women can and cannot do with their own bodies. Sadly, we in United States are now very much behind where you are in terms of our rights, which is just so depressing.' Custom of the Coast 'asks questions about a women's right to control over their bodies, how that has changed and how it has stayed the same over time ...' 'I think placing these women next to each other really highlights that it's always been this way,' she continues. 'In one case, Anne Bonny was able to use pregnancy to save her own life but Mary Read, who also 'pleaded the belly', died. It's important that it's not just the parallel between Anne Bonny and Savita Halappanavar, it's between Mary Read, Anne Bonny and Savita Halappanavar. 'The three of them together. That's what is interesting about the way this piece works. It's not a slice of realistic opera libretto, it's much more evocative. It's everything happening at once. And you can sort of see how the threads extend through time from Anne and Mary to Savita, and how that might also have an interaction with where we are now.' An engraving from 1878 showing Mary Read and her comrade Anne Bonny who were convicted of piracy during the early 18th century. Photograph: Getty Images The work also chimed with her own pirate obsession. When Muldoon asked if she knew about Bonny, her response was 'of course'. Sankaram's Indian heritage also came into play as she composed the piece. 'Savita was from Bengaluru, which is where part of my family lives. So there is something about what it means to be an immigrant in a new country. And what it means to choose to assimilate or not assimilate, and how you're going to do that, which is part of her story. So it felt resonant for all of those reasons.' Interestingly, a few years ago Muldoon, who was born in Portadown, Co Armagh , found some distant Indian heritage of his own. 'I discovered that I actually am part Indian. I'm not suggesting, by the way, that this gives me any particular insight. I don't quite believe in that. But it is the case that one of my great-grandparents, from what I could make out from the DNA information, was of Punjabi heritage.' The historical connections between both countries are nodded to in the piece which mentions the green, white and orange of both flags. 'The Indian movement towards independence was influenced by the Irish movement, so much so that the Indian revolution was staged at Easter,' says Muldoon. Sankaram's opera score is a fusion of traditional Irish and Indian classical music, while structurally Muldoon's libretto is inspired by everything from sea shanties to the Hindi ghazal. The main roles are sung by soprano Anchal Dhir and mezzo-soprano Michelle O'Rourke. It might well be the only opera to include a starring role for the accordion, played by renowned musician Danny O'Mahony. [ Irish women warriors: from Granuaile to Anne Bonny and Countess Markievicz Opens in new window ] Sankaram says, given the tragic subject matter, she wanted to create 'something that was loving and respectful and honest, to show you are honouring that person and uplifting their story'. She drew from the strong cultural traditions in both Ireland and India. 'For me, to come in as someone who isn't Irish, didn't feel quite honest. A lot of it is figuring out how to bring in Irish traditional music and let it be what it is, without my imposing myself on it, I wanted to sort of make a bed for it to exist'. Custom of the Coast is the story with the reproductive lives of three women at its heart. In an era where the question of who gets to tell certain stories is forensically discussed, did Muldoon question whether he was the right person to create this work? 'It's a perfectly reasonable question but I feel it would be a sad day if men were not allowed to write about women, and women were not allowed to write about men ... the two main ideas which I would be very conscious of as I'm writing are ignorance and humility. For me those are absolute sine qua nons, without them nothing really of interest happens. It would be a poor, poor world I think where the imagination is not given free rein. 'And isn't it vital that men do get involved and become troubled and moved by these issues? I think it is.' 'The story had to be told and Paul was the person who came to me with the story,' Sankaram says. 'At the end of the day respect and honour are the most important things. Are you telling the story because you think it's going to make you money? Are you looking for fame? Obviously that's not the case here ... I think it's complex, but as long as the work is approached with love and care, then that's really the bottom line for me.' [ Scannal: Savita review – Heartbreaking chronicle of the medieval essence at heart of Irish healthcare system Opens in new window ] The Catholic Church's dominance over women's lives in Ireland is brought into sharp relief by the opera's venue, St Canice's Cathedral. In the libretto, Muldoon imagines the everyday lives of Hallapanavar and Bonny bringing both women vibrantly to life. At one point, again emphasising the church's influence, there is a line about Halappanavar taking a selfie outside a Magdalene Laundry in Galway: 'I'll never forget the selfie I took outside the old Magdalene laundry on Forster Street. To think that I'd given up the so-called third world for a country famous for bards and biotech only to find the Papal flag unfurled' I ask Muldoon whether this selfie scene was inspired by reports of Halappanavar's life in Galway, or whether he felt free to imagine elements of her inner and outer world. 'Regarding the selfie, I don't remember if that actually happened quite honestly, I don't remember if I made that up. There's always an element of fictionalisation ... it's inevitable that there would be some kind of invention about the piece. Let's face it, at the core of the work is the notion that Bonny and Halappanavar are in some way connected and perhaps engaged in dialogue. Well, that just did not happen, but for the purposes of this piece it happens and I hope we can get deeper insight into both stories from them being connected in that way.' Returning to his dream that inspired the opera, he says 'the ideal is that we are visited by forces beyond us, be it the language, be it a melody. Without sounding too corny or pretentious, there's really no accounting for much of what happens in the business of art-making, you know ... what I find most joyful about it is being surprised, having no idea what's going to happen and seeing what happens and hoping that something interesting happens. That's what it's all about.' Muldoon did not get in touch with the Halappanavar family while writing the libretto, although the director Alan Gilsenan has been in communication with them more recently. Do the creators think the Halappanavar family might travel to Ireland to see the opera? Sankaram says they would be warmly welcomed. The question also makes her think back to her work with rape survivor Mukthar Mai, who did come to see a live performance of the piece based on her ordeal. Mukhtar Mai became a symbol of hope for oppressed women. Photograph: Robert Nickelsberg/ Getty Images 'What she said afterwards was that it was difficult for her to see those experiences reenacted on stage. But then when the lights came on and there were people standing and clapping around her, she realised there had been all of these people with her the whole time.' Muldoon says it would be 'fabulous' if the Halappanavar family felt able to come, that the opera is a 'loving and honouring' portrayal of her. 'But it could be quite painful, you never know how people are going to be able to deal with something like that'. What do they hope audiences will take from the work? 'I hope it's a reminder for people that these rights are fragile. In the United States, we felt comfortable, and then that right was taken away,' says Sankaram. 'I hope it's also inspiring for people who hear it to know that change can be affected, but that it also has to be protected and that it's very much an ongoing thing.' She hopes Custom of the Coast travels to the United States 'because we could use that message here as well'. Muldoon agrees with Sankaram, saying 'all art is political whether we want to believe it or not'. But he also strikes a note of caution regarding the danger of sermonising through opera or other artforms. 'I didn't set out to make a particular point ... I agree with John Keats, who reminded us that we have difficulties with art that has designs on us, just as we have difficulty with people who have designs on us. 'When you can see people want to make you go in a particular direction, we actually don't like that, we shy away from it. And I think the same is true of art. I hope it will raise issues that are important in society but I would say the main ambition of this piece is actually to be itself and allow a space in which the ideas may resonate.' Custom of the Coast is at St Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny on August 8th.
