Whenever something happened in Ireland, you tuned in to Marian

Marian Finucane was such a distinctive presence on radio that it’s hard to know who could replace her

Marian was a stalwart to whom we all turned and relied on for discussing the great feminist issues of the day Picture: RollingNews.ie

We’re all getting old. I’m 75 and people are dropping like leaves off a tree, but the news of Marian’s death still took me by surprise. I’d never heard of her being in ill health. It just never occurred to me that Marian Finucane would die.

We used to meet all the time, several times a week, back in the days of wine and roses. She and her husband John used to make roast dinners ...