*Marty Morrissey. Photograph: Pascal Brooks
ON HIS return to the airwaves, Marty Morrissey has paid tribute to his late mother, Peggy.
Quilty’s Marty presented The Marty Morrissey Show on RTÉ Radio One on New Year’s Day in what was his first return to work since Peggy’s sudden death following a car crash on December 7th.
He began the show by expressing his gratitude for the groundswell of support he has received in the past month. “As you probably know I lost my mother three weeks ago tragically and heartbreakingly in a car accident on a road that she travelled sometimes three of four times a day between Quilty and Miltown Malbay and the Wild Atlantic Way”.
Marty described his mother as “very special, a force of nature to be honest. An only child from north Cork, she married an only child from west Clare, and they had an only child – that’s me and where once there were three of us, now there is only one. Don’t get me wrong, we had our moments but wasn’t I the lucky one to have had my mother for so long, but your mom is your mom and I miss her terribly.
“I’ve been very lucky to have received such strength and comfort these past few weeks from friends and strangers alike. Your kindness and warmth has been overwhelming and your cards, letters, emails and texts have been a massive help. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m also aware that many of you have suffered terrible losses in recent times and I want you to know that I’m thinking of you,” he continued.
From Cork, Peggy met Marty’s late father Martin while he was working in Cork, they left Ireland for New York as newlyweds in the early 1950s. There, his father set up a travel business, Morrissey Travel, in the Bronx.
When she became pregnant with Marty in 1958, Peggy flew back to Ireland in order to have her baby in Cork. Marty was born at Mount Alvernia Hospital in Mallow. Peggy returned to New York with her baby son one month later.
The Morrissey’s moved to West Clare when Marty was aged ten after the family purchased a pub in Quilty.
