Festooned with Yellow Bellies

Is there anyone left in Cahore, Ballygarrett, Roney Point, or Courtown Harbour, we are wondering

Is there anyone left in Cahore, Ballygarrett, Roney Point, or Courtown Harbour, we are wondering. The coast around Gorey in Co Wexford must be deserted. Even publican Jim Kehoe, owner of The Schooner bar in Ballygarrett, has left his premises in the hands of his sisters (who are "rowing in at home," he explains) to join the celebrations at the opening of Cahore artist Eithne Ryan's exhibition at the Kennedy Gallery on Dublin's Harcourt Street. Writer Philip Casey, a Gorey man who now lives in Dublin, has came along to check out her latest work. Also there are Pat Cleary and his wife Lisa Patterson. The artist's mother, Eithne Mulgrew, her daughters, Aileen Ryan (16) and Clare Ryan (19) and aunt and uncle Eileen Walsh and Aidan Walsh are here. And the man in the jaunty beret? This is the artist's uncle, Paddy Walsh, an artist himself. He is here with his wife, Maureen Walsh. Maeve Donovan, commercial director of this newspaper and Ryan's cousin, has come along to open the gig, noting: "Many of the paintings are set at the turn of the day . . . striking explorations of the moody, dramatic sea and sky that surrounds this island". The exhibition continues until Friday, April 21st.