Adrian Chiles sobbed on live radio during an interview with Katriona O'Sullivan, a professor of psychology at Maynooth University and author of the memoir Poor. Chiles, a broadcaster and Guardian columnist, described the moment he choked up on air after more than 30 years of live broadcasting.
A life of chaos and survival
O'Sullivan grew up in Coventry in harrowing poverty, the child of two heroin users. She and her siblings went hungry for food and love. After a chaotic life in Birmingham, she moved to Dublin as a single mother with next to nothing. She entered Trinity College Dublin through an access programme, later earning a PhD and becoming a professor.
Teachers who made a difference
O'Sullivan credits two teachers at her primary school: Ms Arkinson, who was Irish and said, “An Irish girl in my class – what a treat,” and Miss Hall, a teacher’s assistant who taught her how to wash and gave her clean pants. O'Sullivan writes: “I loved Ms Arkinson and I knew she loved me. Her eyes said so. The way she helped me said so.”
The line that broke Chiles
During the interview, Chiles was moved by a sentence in O'Sullivan's book about school dinners. She wrote of her classmates: “Other kids, the loved ones, they sometimes complained, but I didn’t give a shit what was served. I’d have eaten anything.” Chiles said the phrase “the loved ones” made him sob, reflecting on what it must be like to think everyone but you is loved.
A happy ending with a warning
O'Sullivan's story ends well. She arrived in Dublin during the Celtic Tiger, when social services, childcare, addiction treatment, and access courses were available. But in the epilogue, she insists her success was due to political decisions in a time of plenty, not just individual effort. “Most people who start out in the world she knew never make it out,” Chiles writes. O'Sullivan warns against taking her story as proof that anyone can succeed with enough effort, noting that many services in Ireland and the UK have since been cut.
