I don't know much about him either but I enjoyed his books and his interviews in the "Irish Post". I also enjoyed his, tongue in cheek, I think, ideas of what he would do if he ever became Prime Minister: pay the parents of children who didn't vandalise things, and make daily sea bathing compulsory for all citizens! (He swam in the[North] sea every day himself).

The consensus seems to be that he was the least talented of the writers in his family but it was a very talented family.