Editing Michael Hartnett (section)

==Early life and background==
Michael Harnett was born in [[Croom Hospital]], [[County Limerick]].<ref>Hartnett liked to cite his birth in Croom hospital, as Croom was an area connected with the ancient Gaelic poets</ref> Although his parents' name was Harnett, he was registered in error as Hartnett on his birth certificate. In later life he declined to change this as his legal name was closer to the Irish Ó hAirtnéide. He grew up in the Maiden Street area of [[Newcastle West]], County Limerick, spending much of his time with his grandmother Bridget Halpin, who resided in the townland of Camas, in the countryside nearby. Hartnett claimed that his grandmother was one of the last native speakers to live in County Limerick, though she was originally from north [[County Kerry|Kerry]]. He claims that, although she spoke to him mainly in English, he would listen to her conversing with her friends in Irish, and as such, he was quite unaware of the imbalances between English and Irish, since he experienced the free interchange of both languages. When he began school, he claims that he was made aware of the tensions between both languages, and was surprised to discover that Irish was considered an endangered language, taught as a contrived, rule-laden code, with little of the literary attraction which it held for him. He was educated in the local national and secondary schools in Newcastle West. Hartnett emigrated to England the day after he finished his secondary education and went to work as a tea boy on a building site in London.