Irish Times journalist and author Frank McNally has given the ordinary, everyday grind “a new lease of life that nobody else can”, presidential candidate Heather Humphreys said at the launch of his new book on Wednesday.

Reading Mr McNally’s memoir, titled Not Making Hay, has been a “very welcome and calming distraction” from the campaign, said the Fine Gael candidate.

The memoir, she said, “moves effortlessly from the hilarious to some really very poignant moments”, some of which “really stopped me in my tracks”.

Launching the book, which explores themes that have featured in his column, An Irish Diary, over the past two decades or so, she pointed to various “wonderful stories” before remarking how it is “very clear that you can take the man out of Monaghan but you can’t take the Monaghan out of the man”.

Mr McNally’s memoir spans his upbringing in his native county before his move to Dublin in his late teens, after which he worked as a civil servant until his subsequent career in journalism.

“I didn’t think there’s many people who could find the parallel between their old car and the peace process but that’s what Frank does,” said Ms Humphreys.

Noting that the book’s title is a nod to On Raglan Road by Patrick Kavanagh, “a Monaghan man who left his mark on Dublin and across this country”, she said Mr McNally’s works in An Irish Diary also “have left their mark”.

Mr McNally told those present that the subject of his very first column was the Orange Order and the village of Drum, Co Monaghan, where Ms Humphreys is from.

“Even though I wrote it as kind of a humorous thing, I personally was proud that there was such a community in Monaghan, that this was part of our life, that we had these two traditions and that they were respected and the Orange marches were not an issue in Monaghan,” he said.

[ Skipping pages – Frank McNally on trawling through the discarded library of a lifetimeOpens in new window ]

Mr McNally said that if there is ever a united Ireland, “such respect for minorities is obviously going to be essential, and I think Monaghan is, as it was then, a microcosm of what the country at large will need to be”.

Patrick O’Donoghue, senior commissioning editor at Gill Books, told those present at Books Upstairs on D’Olier Street how he had been chasing Mr McNally for several years to write a “long overdue” memoir.

“For me, and I’m sure for many of you in the room, Frank has been hiding in plain sight as one of Ireland’s finest writers this century,” he said.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has warned anyone involved in the illegal burial of the remains of Dublin boy Daniel Aruebose that they must come forward and speak to gardaí.

He added the manner the child was buried, in a field in Donabate, north Dublin, was a crime even if those who concealed the body were not involved in his death.

“You’re not allowed to bury the bodies of people, even if you had no involvement in the death of the person,” Mr O’Callaghan told reporters in Trim, Co Meath.

“You’re not allowed bury bodies in that manner and it’s a criminal offence to do so.”

The Minister said the Garda needed “to be given time” to investigate given that it was a “sensitive investigation”.

“But I’m confident in the investigation,” he said.

Gardaí “needed to be commended” for the search operation that found Daniel’s remains, saying it was “a very difficult task” in a large area.

[ ‘A dark cloud over Donabate’: Dublin community holds vigil for Daniel ArueboseOpens in new window ]

He said the people who had information about what happened to Daniel, including how he died and why he was buried in the way he was, had “an obligation” to come forward to gardaí and share that information.

[ Daniel Aruebose case timeline: What we know so far, from early family life to present dayOpens in new window ]

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said there had been “16 days of really tough searching” in Donabate before Daniel’s skeletal remains were found last week.

The Garda investigation team was now “doing everything they can” to establish how Daniel died and why he was secretly buried, he said.

“The postmortem was concluded and those results are back and they’re with investigators; they’ll looking at those at the moment,” he said.

[ Daniel Aruebose death: Person of interest has no plans to return to IrelandOpens in new window ]

“We’ve obviously many other avenues that we have to go with, we have still a way to go before we would be able to speak publicly about some of the outcomes.”

Though gardaí have not released the results of the postmortem examination on the remains of Daniel – who is believed to have died aged about three in 2021 – it is understood no cause of death was established.

His remains, including bones, had decomposed in the moist earth to such an extent that it was not possible to determine the cause of death, though more scans and analysis were being carried out.

Gardaí have been told in interviews with people who knew Daniel that he died of natural causes and was discovered in his bed. They have claimed his body was buried in the field in Donabate in the panic after his death.

The secret burial concealed his death until last month when a check of a social welfare payment raised concerns for his safety and whereabouts.

Those initial concerns among staff at the Department of Social Protection were escalated to the Garda by Tusla, the child and family agency.

Some of the people who knew Daniel were interviewed. Information supplied during those interviews resulted in the field just outside Donabate village, on Portrane Road, being identified as the boy’s burial ground.

His skeletal remains were found in the field last Wednesday during the third week of the search.