The Pat Kenny Show Seán Lemass: The Lost Memoir
Apr 5, 2026
Ronan McGreevy, journalist and editor who reconstructed Seán Lemass’s recorded voice into a memoir. He unpacks how 22 hours of recordings were found and shaped into text. He traces Lemass’s revolutionary past, family tragedies, and self-taught turn to economic modernisation. He highlights Lemass’s knack for provocation and decisive politics that helped reshape modern Ireland.
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Lemass's Vivid Kennedy Encounter
- Seán Lemass described meeting John F. Kennedy and noted a reserved, calculating charm beneath the surface.
- He recalled Kennedy's "button eyes" and a cold calculation even when joking, illustrating Lemass's novelist's eye for detail.
How The Lost Memoir Was Rediscovered
- Between 1967 and 1969 Lemass recorded 23 interviews with Dermot Ryan, producing 22 hours and 270,000 words intended as his memoir.
- The tapes languished until 2018 when Ryan gave them to the Lemass family, then UCD, enabling Ronan McGreevy's reconstruction.
The Family Tragedy Hidden For A Century
- Lemass accidentally shot his younger brother Herbert in January 1916, an event largely erased from public memory.
- The inquest appeared in contemporary newspapers but Herbert's name wasn't added to the family gravestone until 2016.