Limerick’s virtual hug for Dr Motherway as consultant is named Limerick Person of the Year 2020

AT 9.10am on this soggy, blustery, first Monday morning in May, Dr Catherine Motherway stands on the balcony outside the Pegasus Suite of the Clayton Hotel Limerick with a heavy piece of crystal in hand.

Four nights ago, the head of the Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital Limerick was named Limerick Person of the Year for 2020. But a virus called Covid means it is only now that the actual award presentation is taking place. 

Having just come off on-call duty, the mother-of-two who is the past president of the Intensive Care Society, is heading back home to County Galway with her new title. But this Cork native doesn’t do airs or graces - her day job is saving lives, after all. 

“Seeing all those lovely videos of the other nominees and the fact they are all such wonderful people - I feel I was just doing my job,” says a modest Dr Motherway as she settles into the sofa in the Clayton’s Grill Bar for a cup of coffee after her photoshoot. 

“Congratulations on your award,” smiles the fresh-faced waiter after placing a small jug of milk on the table.

“Thank you,” smiles Dr Motherway, before continuing on. “Those other people were doing absolutely amazing things and excelling in their field so I didn’t actually expect it - it was a complete and utter and absolute shock.”

At around 9.20pm during a virtual ceremony streamed live from the hotel last Thursday,  Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Michael Collins, handed over the all-important envelope containing the name of the Limerick Person of the Year 2020.

The judges who were tasked with selecting the winner were Mayor Collins, Dr Pat Daly, chief executive of Limerick City and County Council, and Donn O’Sullivan, editor of the Limerick Leader. 

As soon as the MC for the night, RTE’s Lorcan Murray, had uttered the words Dr Catherine Motherway, her phone began to light up with texts flying in from family and friends.  

The consultant was close to trending online given the virtual love that was in the virtual air for her across Limerick and beyond.

When asked by Lorcan to put into words how she was feeling, Dr Motherway spoke immediately of accepting the award on behalf of “all the staff in Limerick and around the country who have worked very hard this last year and, for our patients, I thank the panel. 

“For those who we have saved and for those we have lost I would think of those tonight and, in particular, I think of two of my colleagues who we have lost in the last year, this is an emotional moment,” she said, her voice trembling.

The consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care was named the overall winner for her Trojan work on the frontline since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

She had been a calm, reassuring and authoritative voice on the impact of the pandemic when society was facing great uncertainty and was fearful of what might happen.

After logging off from the virtual ceremony which she had been watching on a laptop in her daughter Aoife’s old bedroom in the family home in Ballinasloe, a still dazed Dr Motherway sat down and had a gin with her husband, Christopher Curley. “I wasn’t working the following day, I hasten to add,” she smiles. 

“My phone was hopping to my utter amazement. To be fair, I’ve been very overwhelmed by the good wishes I’ve received from my colleagues at work who are all delighted and from friends and neighbours and family. It’s been a bit overwhelming to be honest with you,” continued Dr Motherway who also has one son, Ciarán Curley. “Over the year we’ve lost a lot of patients - both Covid and non-Covid - we’ve had some very tragic deaths. It’s been a very difficult time for people - even for people who lost people who didn’t die from Covid. And it’s been lonely for people - those of us who have a job, aren’t we lucky!” she asserts.

The consultant, who hails from Ladysbridge in County Cork and now resides in Ballinasloe, County Galway is unstinting in her praise of the Irish public who have abided, for the most part, by the strict Covid-19 rules.

“The country did respond,” she acknowledges, “each and every time we had a surge everybody pulled back and realised ‘we can’t be doing this’. Look at what’s happening across the world - it is devastating.”

This year’s Person of the Year 2020 nominees were: January, Anne Curley; February, Denise Chaila; March, The 68 Project; April, Castleconnell Boat Club; May, Dr Catherine Motherway; June, Michael Dowling; July, Emmet McNamara; August, Captain Liam Halpin; September, Sr Agnes Fitzgerald; October, Oisín O’Callaghan; November, Tony Connolly; and December, Limerick Senior Hurlers.

The Limerick Person of the Year awards are sponsored by the Limerick Leader, media agency Southern, and the Clayton Hotel Limerick, and this year they took place in association with IMS who live-streamed the ceremony.