School Failure saw the light and realised he must be the Master of his own destiny

Pat O’Sullivan had an idyllic childhood despite – or perhaps because of – a lack of mod cons.

“My parents were small farmers and the valley we lived in wasn’t electrified until I was 12. The house was lit with gas lamps and heated by an open fire. Going back further still, I can even remember, though my own children don’t believe me, the day the toilet was put in. Prior to that it was a hole in the groud,” said O’Sullivan, 43, who grew up as one of eight siblings in Dromid, Co Kerry.

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