It is certainly unusual, even slightly disconcerting, to interview the author of a book who opens proceedings by stating: "First and all I'll tell you, I'm not a writer." Andy McGovern continues: "A few letters to my mother, a few headage forms filled in - that's all the writing I knew. The work I knew was physical work."
Yet the south Leitrim man has not only produced an entertaining collection of local stories, but he wrote them solely with his right foot.
Deprived, by motor neurone disease, of the use of his arms, he has nonetheless climbed Croagh Patrick twice, mastered the use of a computer to operate a website and the Internet, and is busily engaged in campaigning and fund-raising on behalf of the disabled.
He also visits his local pubs in Mohill or Cloone to enjoy a glass of stout and the craic. "You get great `info' from the lads," he says. "I take my drink through a straw and don't mind at all."
The 66-year-old asserts with feeling that he will "live for the moment". He is a man with a mission, and has no time for pretensions, no interest in praise or personal recognition. "If I can help out a disabled person, that's my aim from now on," he says.
Born on a small farm in south Leitrim, he grew up with the hard work of ploughing, turf-cutting and hay-making, with little financial return. In 1953, he emigrated to London and worked as a barman, and later in the construction industry.
Eleven years later, having married and started a family, he returned to south Leitrim, set up on a small farm and worked as a lorry driver.
Later, with the help of a loan, he bought a JCB, the first of its kind in the district, and became self-employed. "I could say that I was on the first rung of the ladder to success," he has written. "One advantage of being on the first rung of the ladder is that when it snaps, you don't have far to fall."
In the mid-1970s, when he was 45 with six young children, illness struck and was eventually diagnosed as the terminal condition known as motor neurone disease (MND), for which there is no known cause or cure.
His arms became progressively weaker and finally useless, but Andy counts himself fortunate to have survived 21 years so far - the average life expectancy with the disease is only about a quarter of that. "I enjoy what I'm left with," he says. "I can walk great - I could visit four houses today if I wanted to."
In between, there have been visits to Lourdes and many hospital sessions. He describes in detail on his webpage (http://home page.tinet.ie/andymcg) his thoughts and experiences and how he came to acceptance of his condition.
When it was suggested to him that he should write a book, his immediate reaction, he says, was: "When will pigs fly?" But the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association came to his assistance with a computer and, after months of effort and dedication, he acquired the necessary skill to operate it with his foot.
"To tell you the truth, I went through hell with this auld computer at the start," he says, "but once I got the first sentence of the book down, I knew I was there.
"It created an enormous challenge for me, but above all it gave me a great purpose in life."
The book, They Laughed at This Man's Funeral, is full of fun and zest for life, drawing on his own youthful experiences and the stories surrounding his late father, Jimmy, an almost legendary local "character" and wit.
Actor Mick Lally described it as "a document of a lost way of life" and "wonderfully beguiling, frequently crazily humorous . . .".
Andy is now dedicated to supporting the work of the MND Association, which represents and assists the small group of about 280 MND sufferers spread throughout Ireland. He is helping to develop a newsletter highlighting disability in Co Leitrim, and he hopes to climb Croagh Patrick once more.
His book, published by the Irish MND Association, Carmichael House, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7, is available from it or from major booksellers, at £6.99.
The author will be giving a reading tomorrow at the M.J. MacManus Writers and Arts Day at the Bush Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon. His e-mail address is andymcg@tinet.ie