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Tuesday, december 4, 2012
The Mayo News 120
1
2
The Mayo News 120
The first broadsheet masthead used in December 1892
English Express Edition 55p
Vol. XCVIII
Wednesday, August 1, 1990
Price: 50p.
Redesign of The Mayo News on August 1, 1990
MayoNews
THE
Established 1892 s Volume 113
Changed to tabloid on
November 2, 1968
Relaunch in tabloid format on
September 7, 1988
www.mayonews.ie s [email protected]
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
E1.60 | £1.30
Redesign of The Mayo News on February 23, 2005
A labour
of love
T
HE day we decided
to do a supplement
to mark the 120th
birthday of The
Mayo News, I was
sitting at my desk in the office
when the phone rang. It was
shortly before 8pm.
The phone regularly rings
long after office hours here. A
lot of people seem to think there
is a constant presence in The
Mayo News. And, in a sense,
there is. Unless there’s a 121year-old hiding somewhere,
there’s nobody alive in the
county today who lived in a
world without The Mayo News.
And if there’s somebody older
than the paper knocking around
the place, I’m disappointed that
I haven’t read about it in these
pages!
Going through old copies of
the newspaper in recent weeks,
I have noticed some continuity
but also huge change. The paper
looks completely different. In
the early decades, the front page
was filled entirely by advertisements. There were virtually no
pictures, and articles regularly
ran into thousands of words.
And yet, an interesting story
from any era can still fascinate.
Researching family history last
October, I went through old
local newspapers online for
mentions of my home place.
Among other things, I found
land agitation (threats, assault,
and intimidation); the imprisonment of a groom at a wedding; an attack on a publican;
CONTRIBUTORS
The Mayo News 120th anniversary souvenir supplement.
Editor: Daniel Carey. Designer: Kevin Loftus.
Proof-reader: Seán Staunton.
Front-page image: The Mayo News original masthead, and
wooden letters used mainly in the printing of posters, designed by
Kevin Loftus, based on a photograph by Michael McLaughlin.
the malicious destruction of a
boat; a man being summoned
to court for having a dance-hall
in his barn; and condemnation
of a woman’s will (sub-headed:
‘Completely Cut Off Husband
Because Of Alleged Infidelity’).
All human life, captured in
print.
Some stories in this supplement show their age. There are
descriptions of dwellings containing cattle and fowl, while
sexist, racist and sectarian language lace much public comment. But the reader will spot
tales with modern twists too
– debates about drink, houses
in unsuitable places, people
trying to make ends meet in
difficult times.
Thanks to all our contribu-
tors. A special word for our
designer Kevin Loftus, who
mixed good humour, patience,
skill and ingenuity; Liam Lyons,
whose iconic photographs are
‘worth the admission price
alone’ (as we sports writers
say); Managing Editor Neill
O’Neill, who was determined
that this anniversary would not
go unmarked; and all in The
Mayo News, particularly our
Editor, Michael Duffy. Happy
reading, and we hope you’ll join
us again five years from now,
when we celebrate our 125th
birthday with a bumper edition!
Daniel Carey
Editor
The Mayo News 120
writers: Daniel Carey, Aiden Clarke, Billy Horan, Edwin
McGreal, Ciara Moynihan, Seán Rice, Áine Ryan.
Photographs: Ballinrobe Archaeological and
Historical Society, Aiden Clarke, Frank Dolan, Michael
Donnelly, Françoise Henry, Liam Lyons, Conor McKeown,
Michael McLaughlin, National Library of Ireland
(Laurence Collection), Sportsfile.
1892-1902
03 12 1892
QUOTE
“Did you ever hear an
immoral song sung
before in Mallaranny?”
20 05 1893
Question asked by Mr JJ Louden,
BL during the trial of a man
charged with an attempted
stabbing in a railway carriage
between Newport and Mallaranny
November 28, 1896
Help for the evicted
L
AVRUS, about a mile
from Ballinrobe, was
on Monday and Tuesday the scene of the
interesting spectacle
of a band of volunteer workmen
engaged in the charitable labour
of erecting a new house for a
widow, Mrs Lyden, who was a
short time since evicted from
her residence on the roadside
between the Neale and Ballinrobe by Mark Ryan of Lavrus,
who obtained a decree of possession at the last October Sessions.
The house or rather hovel
from which the poor old creature was evicted was erected a
few years ago within the ruins
of an old building used as a
hospital during the Famine
period, by volunteer labour also,
it being considered at the time
that the ground was commonage.
The Rev Father Canavan, CC,
endeavoured to effect a state-
The Mayo News 120
4
NUMBER
THE number
of large fires
which
occurred in
Ballinrobe
within a
six-month
period,
according to
a Mayo News
report
following the
destruction of
the military
barracks
July 6, 1901
the simple life
ment offering half the costs, the
neighbours being willing to pay
the other half. Ryan, however,
would not agree and the eviction was carried out by the
sheriff’s bailiff, Quinn, and a
posse of police on the 5th
inst.
The new house is built within
a few yards of the widow’s
former residence and was fully
completed when Mrs Lyden
was installed amid the cheers
of a considerable gathering. The
action of the young men who
provided her with a new home
shows that the old spirit of
resistance to eviction and aversion to evictors is as strong
today as it was in old Neale as
it was in the days of the Land
League when they opposed Capt
Boycott, taught the people of
Ireland the advantages of ‘exclusive dealings’ and added another
word to the English language.
January 16, 1897
y A typical family scene in Keel village, Achill in 1892. Pic:Courtesy of the Laurence Collection
Police brutality – shocking scenes at Kilmaine
O
N Monday the little town of
Kilmaine was the scene of the
most revolting police outrages.
It is beyond the power of
words to describe the brutal
manner in which young and old people of
both sexes were set upon, bludgeoned,
kicked, and trampled on by a force of
police.
The people were even followed out miles
from the village and across fields, and
batoned in a most brutal manner. Mr Redmond, MP, was hurled around the street.
Mr O’Donnell, MP was assaulted and dragged
through the street, and Mr Peter Regan got
his hand broken … while dozens of old men
and women and little children were tram-
pled upon and bludgeoned in a most cowardly and revolting manner, and never at
any time during the day was the slighest
provocation given by the people.
Mr William Redmond, MP, Mr John
O’Donnell, MP, Mr Peter Regan and Mr JY
Lyons drove from Claremorris to Kilmaine
for the purpose of addressing a meeting
under the auspices of the United Irish
League. This was fair day in Kilmaine and
a very large number of people were
present.
Mr Redmond … and his friends were met
by the leading Nationalists of the district
… Mr Redmond, Mr O’Donnell and Mr
Regan stepped on to the platform, and
Patrick Boyle – one of the most sterling
Nationalists in Mayo – was moved to the
chair.
At this point over 150 police, under the
command of District Inspectors Carbery
(Claremorris) and Lowndes (Ballinrobe)
marched to the platform. [Mr O’Donnell
and Mr Regan were told they could not
address the crowd.]
[After Mr Redmond addressed the crowd],
Mr John O’Donnell, MP came forward, and
was received with ringing cheers … At this
stage Mr Lowndes DI and a score of constables rushed up and caught Mr O’Donnell
by the legs and pulled him violently off the
platform, bruising and injuring him severely,
his head striking the ground.
After some moments Mr O’Donnell was
raised from the ground, and was being forcibly dragged in the direction of the barrack by the police when Mr Redmond
jumped off the platform and caught a hold
of Mr O’Donnell and demanded to know
who was in charge, and by whose authority
a peaceable meeting was suppressed.
Mr Lowndes, DI: “I refuse to state who
my authority is.”
At this point the people were cheering
loudly for Mr O’Donnell and some policemen in plain clothes began to beat them
with sticks which they carried. This was
resented by the people, and some free fights
ensued
November 2, 1901
3
4
The Mayo News 120
1902-1912
13 02 1904
QUOTE
“Fourteen hours a day
is too long”
A member of Mayo Asylum
Committee, backing an application
by male staff at the Castlebar
District Lunatic Asylum seeking a
reduction in hours worked – at the
time, they worked 88 hours per week.
February 14, 1912
An ill-fated match in Swinford
T
HE story is going the rounds
of an interesting matrimonial
incident, said to have occurred
recently in a parish, not a hundred miles from Swinford. The
names we give are advisedly fictitious, so
as to avoid identification, but they cannot
take from the facts.
Mary was a fine handsome country girl,
and on last fair day of Swinford, she met
John, a good-looking bit of a boy, and before
they parted in the evening they had easily
agreed to get wed.
All the ‘conditions of sale’ so to speak,
were arranged as John had no one to consult, but his big brother Patsey. Mary was
her own mistress, and so they made the
bargain, and arranged that this event should
be finally determined a couple of days
after.
Meanwhile John informed his brother,
who wished to see Mary before giving his
consent. This was easily arranged also, but
the result was not so satisfactory as John
anticipated for his big brother informed
him in no uncertain tone that no one would
20 04 1912
NUMBER
39
THE number of
old age
pensioners struck
off the lists in the
Ballaghaderreen
district during one
week, on the
grounds that the
parties had not
attained the
statutory age according to the Census
returns. The Mayo News reports that some
heartrending scenes were witnessed when
the recipients of the pensions were made
aware of the fact on last pension day.
October 2, 1909
final goodbye
marry that girl but himself!
The wedding day came, and John turned
up in the little country church with his
intended bride. Patsey also was there, and
when the important business came on, an
altercation arose between the two brothers
as to which was the bridegroom, and which
the best man.
In this dilemma the clergyman naturally
asked the bride – as there was only one
bride – to arbitrate. The operation took her
almost as long as the original match-making,
and she announced that she thought she
would have ‘the tall fellow’, meaning Patsey.
The clergyman told her to take a day to
consider it, and next morning, as she had
not changed her mind, she was married to
Patsey. John is now on the lookout, but he
says he won’t be fooled again. When he next
makes a match, it will be in writing, as he
does not think a woman’s mind is a very
sound foundation on which to build the
hopes of a lifetime.
May 5, 1906
Runaway horse in Westport
ON Wednesday last a horse attached to a
cart was startled by a motor car coming down
the Quay Road, Westport. The horse, on hearing the sound of the motor horn, suddenly
broke away from the owner, Mr Patrick
O’Donnell, of Louisburgh, at the Octagon,
and dashed along Shop Street at a furious
gallop.
Constable Mackey, who happened to be at
the door of the barracks at the time, was
attracted by the unusual noise caused by the
runaway, and dashed out and luckily grasped
the reins as the infuriated animal was passing him, and, after a struggle, succeeded in
checking its speed.
At this juncture Mr Patrick Grady, of
Clooneen, came to the assistance of the constable, and between them they succeeded in
quieting and bringing the animal to a standstill, and delivered it over to the owner.
Had the horse escaped the constable, much
injury would undoubtedly have been done,
as it was gathering greater force in its mad
career as it approached the declivity at the
head of Bridge Street, where it could not then
be checked until it had caused considerable
damage, and where it would likely be stopped
by coming into contact with some building.
The incident was witnessed by many spectators, who were loud in applauding the
prompt and gallant action of the constable,
who narrowly and bravely averted an accident which might have caused loss of life, as
no one could estimate the damage which
might be caused had its flight not been checked
on the occasion. Much credit is due to Constable Mackey for his commendable act.
December 12, 1908
y This striking stained-glass window, designed by Michael Coleman, in St
Patrick’s Church in Lahardane shows Annie Kate Kelly (on the lifeboat)
waving a heartbreaking goodbye to friends and neighbours on the
Titanic. Eleven of the 14 people from Addergoole, Co Mayo who travelled
on the ill-fated ship were lost in April 1912. Among them were Catherine
and Mary Bourke, who would not leave John Bourke, their husband and
brother respectively, behind. Pic: Michael McLaughlin
The Mayo News 120
A pioneering voice for
a peripheral people
BY THE SEASIDE The railway depot at Westport
Quay which, more than the modern town, was the
centre of much enterprise as the fledgling Mayo
News hit the streets in its early days. Pic: Courtesy of the Laurence Collection
Áine ryan
News reporter
[email protected]
L
IKE all the communities skirting the remote western seaboard, Westport was still teetering under
the grey pall of repeated famine and its many cruel
effects, when brothers PJ and William Doris founded
The Mayo News as 1892 came to a close.
The previous decades had brought much distress and hardship to the largely rural and peasant families living along the
boggy boreens and dirt roads that meandered – from Newport and Achill, Louisburgh and Leenane, Aughagower and
Killawalla – into the small, seaside town.
Mass emigration, high mortality rates and general impoverishment coupled with the disenfranchisement that underpins a colonised country had predominated in the years after
the Great Famine of the 1840s.
However, as a new century approached, chinks of hope were
beginning to hover on the horizon while a period of cultural
and political awakening – sometimes called the Celtic Dawn
– began to foster the seeds of subtle but radical change.
During the last decades of the 19th century, a plethora of
organisations – such as the Land League, the United Irish
League, the GAA – were founded, precipitating a revived
sense of the right to self-determination, political independence and cultural distinctiveness. Of course, as history shows,
this idealism – symbolised in the ‘poetic’ Easter Rebellion of
1916 – would lead to much bitterness and a Civil War whose
reverberations still define party politics.
Ironically, this schism is personalised in the story of the cofounders of The Mayo News, PJ and William Doris. William
was a founder member of the Land League and served time
in prison for his political activities, but later became an MP
for the moderate Nationalist Party (also known as the Irish
Parliamentary Party). On the other hand, PJ, the longtime
editor, was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
and later a supporter of Sinn Féin, the radical Republican
Party, founded in 1905. Ultimately, the two brothers would
fall out over their political views and never reconcile their
differences.
Campaigning journalist
AS a campaigning journalist PJ Doris would subsequently
flout the strictures imposed by martial law, imposed in 1919
in Westport after the assassination of the Resident Magistrate,
JC Milling, in his pursuit of truly representing the desperate
plight of the majority of his rural readers. Three years earlier
he had been interned in Frongoch, along with many other
brave Westport activists.
But back to those first editions of The Mayo News that consistently documented this growing swell of nationalistic principles. An often used headline, ‘The Land for the People’,
encapsulated this radical movement while reportage was
filled with a rhetoric that was both formal and dramatic,
reflecting the seismic changes that were afoot.
Of course, the real societal tensions that were the norm in
the newspaper’s catchment area were more complex than
the one being played out between the ascendancy landlord
and the feudal tenant. The prevalence of graziers and landgrabbers was another pivotal – and sordid – element of the
narrative of the land war.
It is worth noting that at the height of the Great Famine, the
Marquess of Sligo – the owner of Westport House and its vast
lands – had a total tenantry of 36,000 people.
And, interestingly, by the turn of the 20th century, the population of rural Westport was still 30,780 while the town has
3,892 residents. That is a sizeable potential readership for the
recently established local newspaper even if one-third of the
population was illiterate.
Busy port
WESTPORT Quay, more than the modern town, was the
centre of much enterprise as the fledgling Mayo News hit the
streets in its early days. A railway station, at the site of the
present St Colmcille’s National School, serviced the many
mills and large stores that lined the area. It was a busy streetscape from Mulloy’s Mill at Ardmore to the clog factory, Hall’s
Mill (later Pollexfen’s) and the Bath Hotel, where Victorian
and Edwardian ladies, in their big white bustling dresses, were
regularly seen in the waters at the Point.
Not only was the Quay a busy port, with regular sailings to
Liverpool and Glasgow, but it was a marine hub for the many
communities that lived from Inishbofin to the Inishkeas, Achill
to Clifden. Hookers, yawls, currachs and lighters may have
been dwarfed by the large steamships that weighed anchor
off the deepwater harbour of Inishlyre, but they were a pivotal part of the busy agrarian and fishing industry that pulsated around every inlet and cove in Clew Bay.
If the Quay Hill was dominated also by very tall stores, the
town itself was overlooked by the Workhouse, where St
Patrick’s and Pearse Terrace are now. Streets were rough and
pot-holed while the town was illuminated at night by the
gasworks, located opposite the main railway station on Altamont Street. A regular sight was cows – brought from the
Paddock and Horkans Hill – being milked in the evenings at
front doorsteps. Pigs were kept by many urban householders
while water was drawn from the fountain at the bottom of
High Street and at Tubber Hill. However, after the establishment of Westport Urban District Council in 1898, pumps were
installed on all the streets.
Essentially, the early editions of The Mayo News provide an
invaluable documentary of a peripheral society that was centrally involved in a great movement towards change. It is no
surprise that the Land League was founded in County Mayo
but an equally important movement, the United Irish League,
was established in 1898 by Westport resident, William O’Brien,
a journalist and MP.
Then a remote town far from the centres of power in Dublin and London, Westport and its congested rural hinterland
provided a seedbed for agrarian activism. Week in, week out,
the brave newspaper editor, PJ Doris, gave a voice to this
struggle and to the many readers who were empowered by
the rousing paragraphs and columns of their newspaper, The
Mayo News.
5
6
The Mayo News 120
1912-1922
13 02 1915
QUOTE
“The man who is shot for
refusing to obey immoral orders
is a martyr; the man who shoots
another in obedience to
immoral orders is a murderer”
Most Rev Dr Gilmartin, at Tuam Cathedral,
pleading with young men to ‘obey God rather
than man’ as the country heads towards
Civil War April 15, 1922
03 01 1920
NUMBER
0
THE number of
references in the
obituary of noted Bohola
athlete Martin Sheridan
to the Olympic flagbearing controversy of
1908. The US team
refused to dip their flag
to King Edward VII, and
Sheridan, a five-time
Olympic gold medallist, is said to have
asserted of the stars and stripes: ‘This flag
dips for no earthly king’. The quote inspired
the title of a Setanta Sports documentary
this year – but is apocryp,hal, and was not
reported until 1952. May 18,1918
Sequel to ‘General John Regan’ riot in Westport
WHEN His Honour County Court Judge
Doyle, KC, took his seat on the bench on
Wednesday morning to resume the business
of the Castlebar Sessions, the first case take
up was that in which Mr Thomas Neylon,
District Inspector, Royal Irish Constabulary,
claimed £1,000 for injuries alleged to have
been received by him on the night of February 4 last, when at attempt was made to
produce [the play] ‘General John Regan’ in
the Town Hall, Westport …
He remembered the evening of February
4 last; he went to the Town Hall in consequence of a complain made. ‘General John
Regan’ was being played, and when the second act was on the stage was rushed, and
the place was turned into a regular pandemonium. The actors were assaulted and the
scenery was pulled down; he cautioned the
rioters and ordered the police to note their
acts with a view to prosecution. He specially
warned Michael Scott, and told a policeman
to take his name.
The rioting lasted for some time, and the
whole performance was broken up, and
some of the actors were badly handed. After
that the crowd went to Joyce’s Hotel and
smashed the windows, and when the police
Cattle and fowl in dwelling
T
HE Swinford Rural District
Council prosecuted Mary
Ryan, Kiltimagh, for having
her house in an unsanitary
condition ...
Chairman: “Is Mrs Ryan here?”
Mr Keegan: “She is, sir.”
Mr Moran, RO, said he appeared for
the Swinford Rural District Council,
and informed the magistrates that the
house in which the defendant lived was
unfit for human habitation. It was in a
most dilapidated state and very insanitary, he assumed in consequence of
her keeping cattle and fowl–
Chairman (apparently astonished):
“Cattle and fowl?”
Defendant: “Don’t mind that, sir; there
is nothing of the kind kept in my
house.”
Mr Moran, RO: “The house is in a
shocking condition. The floor is like a
manure pit, sir” ...
The Chairman addressed the defendant thus: “What have you now to say
for yourself?”
The defendant made a somewhat
complicated statement about requesting Mr Moran, RO on several occasions
to make a new door in the house for
the convenience of her mother-in-law,
which operation would also facilitate
her (defendant) greatly. She admitted
she had a new house which she could
at any moment take up occupation.
Mr Moran, RO: “She has got a new
house was built some short time ago
by the Congested Districts Board.”
Chairman (to defendant): “Why do
you keep cattle in your house?”
Defendant: “I only kept one cow for
a few days.”
Mr Moran, RO, said he had Dr Madden in court who would given evidence
if necessary appertaining to the condition of the house.
Mr TW Kelly, JP (to defendant): “Why
don’t you go into the new house?”
The defendant said it was owing to
the interference of her mother-in-law
that she was for such a length of time
without going into occupation of the
new house.
The chairman made an order that the
house be closed up as soon as
vacated.
Defendant: “Where am I to go?”
Chairman: “You can go where you
like, but we are not going to allow you
to keep cattle in the house.”
Defendant: “then where am I to go
to?”
Chairman: “Have you not got a new
house, and why not go into it?”
October 18, 1913
were approaching, the crowd flung stones
at them, and he had to order a baton
charge.
The crowd again assembled at the Octagon, and stones having been thrown at the
police, he ordered another baton charge; in
all he ordered about four or five charges.
Witness went to Peter Street and was standing near a lamp-post, and was quite recognisable at a distance.
At the time everything was quiet in the
town, but there were some people about.
He was struck in the mouth with a stone,
the blow stunned him, and he sustained
serious injuries. When he recovered, he
went towards the Octagon and was staunching his wound, when another attack was
made on him; when he was at the Town
Hall, a man caught him from behind, knocked
him down and kicked him, and the police
took away the man; the man returned and
witness hit him with his baton.
He bled a good deal and was taken to Dr
Allman’s, where he remained an hour, and
when he was returning home he disguised
himself.
April 11, 1914
HE LIVED TO TELL THE TALE
y Patrick Moran from Errew, Castlebar, a fireman aboard the Lusitania, pictured
with his wife Kate in May 1965, 50 years after the sinking of the famous ship.
On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German
U-Boat, 11 miles off the southern coast of Ireland, and sank in just 18 minutes
with the loss of 1,198 lives. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons
The Mayo News 120
7
At the forefront
of agrarian activism
William O’Brien
features a lot in
The Mayo News
Aiden Clarke
I
N 1895 William O’Brien and his
wife Sophie decided to come and
live in the Clew Bay area to finish
his Granuaile novel ‘A Queen of
Men’. Disillusioned by the split in
the Irish Parliamentary Party, he had
resigned his seat as MP for Cork City.
They rented a house at Old Head for
a year before buying a house two miles
from Westport called Altamont Villa.
They changed the name of the house to
Mallow Cottage in honour of William’s
home town.
William quickly endeared himself to
the local population by offering advice
on tenants’ rights and by taking up the
cause of the evicted. The cases of the
widows Kitterick and Sammon received
international attention. His intervention
also allowed the Clare Island tenants to
purchase their farms from the Congested
Districts Board. He proposed to the CDB
a loan fund to purchase new boats and
equipment for the fishermen at Murrisk.
He invested £350 of his own money in
the scheme.
By 1898 he had decided to set up a new
organisation, the United Irish League,
with the purpose of commemorating the
United Irishmen of 1798. It was to be a
new Land League; and it was to be the
means of bringing unity to Irish politics.
Landlords found a loophole in the Land
Act of 1881. They began to let their land
on 11 month leases which were not subject to the land courts. This attracted
large graziers who, as Fergus Campbell
points out, had a close, lucrative economic relationship with landlords.
The first public meeting was held at
The Octagon, Westport, where a crowd
of over 4,000 overflowed into the surrounding streets.
The Mayo News of January 29, 1898,
reported:
“It was quite evident that the severe
distress at present experienced in many
of the districts around Westport and the
indifference displayed by the Government in relation to it has roused a very
determined spirit amongst the people
in West Mayo … The people came in
from all the districts for miles around
Westport, marching in processional
order, four or five deep, headed by bands
and with banners bearing mottoes appropriate to the present time. Cavalcades
of horsemen accompanied each of these
processions and they were also followed
by long lines of vehicles of all descriptions. Special trains were run from Achill,
A FINE SETTING The room in
Mallow Cottage, two miles from
Westport, where William O’Brien,
Michael Davitt and John Dillon met to
draw up the constitution of the United
Irish League. Pic: Courtesy of Aiden Clarke
Newport and Mulranny ...
“The Kilmaclasser men made a splendid show. They were mostly young fellows and the greater number of them
carried imitation pikes of the ’98 pattern.
Newport and other districts also sent
large contingents bearing pikes … Westport possesses a splendid brass band,
and this band played the different contingents through the town. Drummin
also sent a great cavalcade of horsemen,
with a band and a banner on which there
was a picture of Wolfe Tone … Louisburgh was also well represented ... There
were bands also from Tiernaur, Islandeady, Aughagower and Clogher.”
There were speeches from William
O’Brien, Dr. Ambrose MP, John Dillon
MP, Timothy Harrington MP and several
clergymen. Among the platform party
were PJ Kelly (Chairman, Westport Board
of Guardians) and William and PJ Doris
(founders of The Mayo News). The article also lists the names of the contingents
from the different areas and the names
of the provisional organising committee
elected by the meeting. Although women
were to be allowed to vote in the forthcoming Mayo County Council election,
there is no mention of any women
present.
Michael Davitt did not attend as he
was out of the country at the time. Some
time later O’Brien, Davitt and John Dillon met in Mallow Cottage to draw up
a Constitution for the new organisation.
Organised by its general secretary John
O’Donnell, from Tavanagh, Westport,
the United Irish League proved very
popular. Its branches swept over most
“It was to be
a new Land
League”
of the country, dictating to the demoralised Irish Party leaders the terms for
reconstruction, not only of the party but
of the nationalist movement in Ireland.
It soon became the largest organisation
in the country, at its peak comprising
1150 branches and 84,355 members.
The League reconciled the fragmented
Irish Parliamentary Party in Westminster by bringing them together in a new
grass roots organisation around a programme of agrarian agitation, political
reform, the settlement of the Irish land
question and the pursuit of Irish Home
Rule.
The UIL agitation focused attention
on the fact that many families lived on
patches of land too small to provide a
decent livelihood even without rent. The
UIL strongly believed that only agitational politics combined with constitutional pressures, rather than physical
force, were the best means of achieving
its goals. Its most often used tactic was
that of boycotting specific landowners
and graziers.
This resulted in a crackdown by the
Home Secretary which meant that
between 1901 and 1902 13 Irish MPs,
amongst others, were imprisoned under
the Crimes Act. By the spring of 1902
the counties of Cavan, Clare, Cork, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipper-
ary and Waterford were included under
the Act.
Despite the crackdown, the UIL continued to grow and stepped up its programme of agitation so that the government drew up the Land Purchase (Ireland)
Act (1903) which finished off the landlords control over tenants and made it
easier for tenants to purchase land.
In the period 1903 to 1909 over 200,000
tenants became owners of their holdings
under the Act. This was followed by the
1909 Land Act which ultimately facilitated the transfer of about nine million
acres of land to former tenants by 1914.
By the founding of the Free State in 1922
some 316,000 tenants purchased their
holdings amounting to 11.5 million
acres.
The UIL was also instrumental in the
Labourers (Ireland) Act (1906), which
in five years financed the building of
over 40,000 cottage homes, each on an
acre of land. This unique social housing
programme – unparalleled anywhere in
Europe – brought about an unprecedented
agrarian revolution, changing the face
of the Irish countryside.
William O’Brien re-entered parliamentary politics and was elected MP for
Cork. This led to William and Sophie
leaving Westport and returning to Mallow.
William died suddenly in London in
1928. After surviving World War II in
France, Sophie died in 1960 in her 100th
year.
Aiden Clarke of Westport Historical
Society is editor of the Society’s journal,
‘Cathair na Mart’.
8
The Mayo News 120
QUOTE
“Some people cannot
get married once”
1922-1932
24 11 1928
20 08 1932
WD Coyne, DJ, presiding over a case
where a Castlebar man sought
possession of a house where his
tenant was “after getting married the
second or third time”
and had gone to live elsewhere
March 17, 1923
back on the island
y Ann Cawley, pictured on Inishkea North by French archaeologist
Françoise Henry, who carried out archaeological digs on the
island. Cawley was among the islanders moved from the Inishkeas
to the nearby Mullet peninsula in the 1930s after most of the young
men from the islands died in a terrible storm at sea in 1927. She
was later employed as Henry’s cook and housekeeper and is
pictured holding seagull chicks, which she liked to tame. 5
NUMBER
THE number of
shillings which a man
from Inishbiggle
Island received in
relief. He appeared
before the County
Board of Health
requesting an
increase to 10s. He
could not feed his
wife and three
children on the 5s, he
said. His yearly rent
was 3s 10d, and he
had not a cow or a
calf. August 17, 1929
West British and Trinity atmosphere
condemned in library controversy
A
Pic: From ‘Françoise Henry in Co Mayo: The Inishkea Journals’, edited by Janet T Masquardt
MEETING of the
Co Mayo Library
Committee was
held in Castlebar
on Monday, the
Most Rev Dr Naughton, the
Lord Bishop of Killala, presiding.
The chief business before the
meeting was the question of
whether a Miss Harrison nee
Dunbar should or should not
be appointed. At a previous
meeting the committee refused
to appoint her, giving as their
reason that she had not an
adequate knowledge of Irish.
Since that meeting the County
Council had approved of the
ruling of the committee and
the Local Government Department had sent down a letter to
the County Council stating that
the County Council (and the
Library Committee) were compelled to appoint her and that
the Minister for Local Government had no option but to
compel them ...
Monsignor Dalton moved
that the Library Committee
adhere to the resolution passed
at the last meeting. As far as
he could see, nothing had intervened to change the situation
than then existed … They [had
been ordered] in effect to
appoint Miss Dunbar [whose]
outstanding qualification
seemed to be that was a Protestant and educated at Trinity
College and these were extraordinary qualifications for the
position of librarian in the
Gaeltacht and in Co Mayo ...
Mr B Joyce seconded that the
appointment be no made …
because he disapproved of the
whole system of the Appointments Commission. It was
stated that this was a ‘recommendation’. It was not a rec-
ommendation for on the showing of the Government it was
an order which the Government threatened to enforce
...
Right Rev Chancellor Hegarty
supported the motion … [He
said] the more capable and the
more honest this librarian happened to be the more unsuitable she would be (hear, hear)
… If she is really sincere in her
religious views, she cannot
help but to recommend books
that are not welcome to the
general thought of the people
… what might suit the Ministry
and Rathmines would not suit
Mayo …
The Other Side
Dr McBride proposed that
Miss Harrison be appointed.
There was nothing in the Irish
Constitution to prevent a Protestant or a pupil of Trinity
College from seeking any office
in the State … Trinity College
had turned out some of the
greatest Irishmen of the generations … It would be an awful
thing to take the religious question into consideration. They
had suffered religious persecution in the past and they should
not begin it now.
The Rev Mr Jackson seconded
… The person selected for most
of these appointments is given
a certain time to qualify in the
Irish language, and there should
be no exception in her case …
Reference had been made to
conditions north of the Boyne.
He believed it would be a splendid thing, and a step towards
the unity which they all desired,
if it could go forth that a lady
of a different religion had been
unanimously appointed to the
position of librarian in Co
Mayo.
Hot And Cold
Mr Moclair supported Monsignor Dalton’s resolution. The
Government was alternately
blowing hot and cold about
Irish. At the Mental Hospital
Committee they compelled the
agriculturist to have a knowledge of Irish so that he could
talk to the vegetables better
and make the cows work overtime. (Laughter.) While Miss
Harrison was learning Irish
what was to become of the
library?
Bro Kelly said in his opinion
Miss Harrison was not a fit
subject to be appointed as
librarian in Co Mayo. This antiIrish institution (Trinity College) had an evil history as far
as Ireland was concerned … He
was not going to … select from
an atmosphere entirely unsympathetic or hostile to the culture of Ireland a lady to act as
librarian … Her past was not
an Irish past, and he doubted
that her future would be an
Irish future … Dr McBride had
told them that Trinity College
produced some of the greatest
Irishmen. True; and Heaven
produced some of the greatest
devils in hell. (Hear, hear.)
Mr Higgins said that the letter from the Department was
an insult to every decent man
in the county.
There was no ‘recommendation’ to appoint this lady, but
there was an order given to
appoint her. On a vote Dr
McBride’s amendment was
defeated by 10 votes to 2, the
minority being the doctor and
the Rev Mr Jackson. Monsignor
Dalton’s resolution was then
put and carried by an exactly
similar vote.
December 6, 1930
The Mayo News 120
1932-1942
QUOTE
“No subject gives rise to
more public controversy
than this craze for
dancing”
29 09 1934
28 01 1939
A judge hearing a case in Achill about
an unlicensed all-night Fianna Fáil
victory dance
NUMBER
80
THE number of houses built on a bog in
Castlebar, described as a ‘scandal’ by The
Mayo News. It was the subject of an enquiry
on oath. August 10,1935
November 26, 1938
Thirty years on
y The Mayo 1936 team, the first from the county to win the All-Ireland senior title, who played against the Jimmy Magee All Stars in July 1966. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons
The Mayo News backs neutrality
T
HE declared intention of our
Government to maintain an
attitude of strict neutrality as
far as possible in the present
war, will receive general
approval in the country.
We are sure every Irishman will sympathise with Poland in her hour of trial, but,
from our past experience of the workings
of international politics, we cannot regard
Poland as anything but a pawn between
the major powers. Herr Hitler has in recent
months shown little regard for small
nations or minorities who stood in his
way.
Despite all her declarations in favour of
small nations, and the ending of aggression, England still persists in a glaring
breach of all these declarations by enforcing the partition of our own country against
the clear will of its people, and in the portion of our land which she has cut off from
us has allowed a free hand to a parcel of
fanatical bigots, whose biggest interest in
life lies in opposing and crushing their
fellow countrymen who refuse to become
renegades and lend sanction to the rape
of their country.
Thus, between Hitler, the apostle of
atheistic and materialistic racialism, and
the ‘democratic’ government of Britain,
there is little to choose, and we must for
once try to mind our interests and protect
ourselves as far as is possible from the
injurious effects, economic and otherwise,
which the war is bound to occasion even
in neutral countries.
With proper check on emigration and
immigration, on imports and exports, we
should be able to ride the storm, not without inconvenience, but certainly without
danger of starvation – a danger to which
many other European countries will be
exposed.
Some of our people, with recollections
of the huge profits amassed during the
last war in various businesses by sales of
supplies to England, anticipate another
chance of a similar nature. We fear they
will be disappointed. The Government
A proud Fianna Fáiler
makes his case
must see that whatever the attraction of
the prices offered from across Channel
for our produce, exports must be limited
so as to ensure that there shall be no shortage at home. And our internal distributive
system must be drastically overhauled so
as to ensure that supplies of all kinds are
divided in the most equitable manner, and
that the weak and poor are not deprived
of necessities through the action of hoarders of profiteers.
As for the ordinary individual, every
man and woman must contribute his or
her own share towards making matters
as easy as possible. The best way to do
this is by each individual continuing to
discharge his or her duties in the most
efficient and careful manner possible,
however small or great these duties may
be, and to co-operate with the Government in every possible way in their efforts
to steer the ship of State through this
troubled period.
A Chara,
For an article in Mayo News of September 22 –
re Nangle in Achill – in which I gave historical
facts along with some remarks about [curbing]
landlordism and shoneenism, and that we would
beat communism, etc, in The Mayo News following I’m called a hypocrite and liar and threatened
with reprisals if I open my mouth by the signatories to a piece of vile abuse that must have
been hatched in a poisoned or demented
brain.
I believe I should say: ‘Oh, Lord, forgive them
for they know not what they do’.
I am getting my article and the slander article
examined to see what may be the outcome. But
even in their wrathful vengeance they have given
me a title which I am very proud of and hope to
be always worthy of – ‘The Great Man Behind
De Valera’. Thanks very much. Up Fianna Fáil!
September 9, 1939
October 6,1934
Yours truly,
PJ Corrigan,
Chairman, FF Co Ceanntair, Achill
9
10 The Mayo News 120
Hot metal,
black magic
and staying
afloat
Five ‘lifers’ talk about their time in The Mayo News
Edwin mcgreal
reporter
[email protected]
W
HEN he walked in the door
to commence a job as a printer
for The Mayo News in 1969,
Pádraic Geraghty thought all
his dreams had come true.
The 16-year-old from Westport had just completed his Inter Cert at Westport Vocational
School and felt he had landed on his feet by getting a job in The Mayo News.
“Tony Moore was in The Mayo News and he
lived down the Lodge Road, below me, and everyone used to say ‘Jesus, Tony Moore has a great
job’,” says Pádraic to howls of laughter from his
long-term work colleagues around the interview
table.
“‘That’s a company job you know, as good as a
government job’, they’d tell you, that it would be
great if anyone could get in there,” he recalls.
But he wasn’t long in the door when another
picture was painted for him.
“I was so happy the day I got into The Mayo
News. The only down side was Joe Kenny, the
printing works manager, called me the first day
I went in and said: ‘You cannot depend on this
place, you know … that’s why I never built a house,
because you could never depend on this place
in case it went bust’ He’d say: ‘We’re here today
but we mightn’t be here next week!’ I always
remember him saying that yet here I am 43 years
later,” says Pádraic, chuckling at the memory.
Around a table in The Mayo News last week sat
five people with a combined service of 188 years
to the 120-year-old newspaper. Pádraic, the current Production Manager, is here 43 years and
counting. That’s bettered only by Eamon Connolly, who spent 44 years employed here from
1954 to 1988 as a compositor and, eventually,
printing works manager. Martin Curry worked
in ‘The Mayo’, as he calls it, from 1961 to 2002 as
a reporter and Editor.
Seán Staunton served as Editor from 1988 to
2006 and has been a proof-reader since, while
current Advertising Manager Pat Cawley has
been here since 1975, having started off as a
printer.
They’re testament to the constancy of this
newspaper over several generations of Mayo life,
but the cynicism of Joe Kenny when he spoke to
Pádraic Geraghty on that first day in 1969 wasn’t
irrational either.
Run from afar
“IT is a miracle that it came out every week,”
Sean Staunton says, and as the five Mayo News
veterans talk you through their time with the
newspaper, it is easy to see why.
From 1947 until 1988, when the paper went into
liquidation, it was owned by a Dublin-based
company, Foilseacháin Náisiúnta Teoranta (FNT),
who bought The Mayo News printing works in
order to print a weekly Irish language newspaper,
Inniú, together with Irish language magazines
and books. That their purchase included The
Mayo News paper was almost an afterthought to
them.
“It was fortunate that the paper continued to
come out because it was of secondary importance
to FNT,” explains Pat Cawley. “It was number
one to the staff here but we wouldn’t be getting
the backing of the owners. They used to get a
grant for Inniú and once they got through a certain amount of copies of it, they were happy.”
“We were being run by a company from afar
who had no interest in us. It was the determination of the little team here that kept the paper
going,” adds Martin Curry.
With FNT investing all of their energies and
most of their capital into the Irish language publications, The Mayo News was being run on a
shoestring.
“The Dublin office was so tight in relation to
expenditure on The Mayo News,” recalls Martin
Curry. “There was no problem [with spending]
for Inniú but Joe Kenny wouldn’t be able to get
permission to buy something as small as a hank
of strong twine cord to tie up parcels of The Mayo
News. They’d question that.
“Joe would sell scrap paper to the schools for
artwork and out of that he’d buy the hanks from
James O’Connell. Never did FNT so much as
treat the staff to a Christmas drink. We used to
have a Mayo News Christmas staff dinner but
everyone had to pay for themselves,” adds Martin.
Nonetheless, when an FNT director would
come down to Westport to visit The Mayo News
everyone would be on their best behaviour. Well,
kinda, as Pádraic Geraghty recalls.
“Someone would come down from Dublin and
Tony [Moore] or John Foy would have to go up
to the station to collect them to bring them to
their hotel. Tony went up one day and he had a
hole in the front passenger’s seat of the oul’ Opel
Kadett he had. He had a little board over it but
if the board moved at all you could see the road
under you!
“Tony went up to bring down FNT director
Seamus Ó Cathasaigh and Joe Kenny said in front
of Seamus Ó Cathasaigh ‘This is an awful car, it
is a wonder you wouldn’t send up someone else
with a good car’. Tony turns around to Joe and
says: ‘Isn’t it f***ing better than the one you have’
– because Joe had no car!
“That time having Seamus Ó Cathasaigh down,
it was like having the Stations in the house. It
was a big occasion and we used to be told: ‘Even
if you’re doing nothing, pretend you’re doing
something because he won’t know what you’re
at anyway so look busy’,” Pádraic says, laughing.
From Monaghan to Mayo
EAMON Connolly started work in The Mayo
News in 1954 as a compositor, having served his
apprenticeship in his native Monaghan. He wasn’t
sure what was in store when he left the borderlands that year, but he’s 58 years in Westport now
and considers it home.
“I’d say ye guys here probably don’t appreciate
your own surroundings, which no one ever does.
When I came in here first on the bus on the top
of Sheeaune and it was an August weekend and
the sun was setting over Clew Bay and it looked
marvellous,” he recalls.
“From day one I really loved Westport. You
were really made feel at home. When I arrived
in Westport I had nothing. I got involved in handball and had no way of getting to Newport to the
four-walled court, so Perry Reilly used to carry
me on the bar of the bike to Newport and back.
By God my arse was sore when I got home!”
But the bumpy journeys were worth it – Eamon
won an All-Ireland handball doubles title with
Seamus Fleming for Mayo in 1956. He has the
distinction of having won Ulster and Connacht
handball titles.
The Mayo News 120
11
FIVE LIVES, ONE NEWSPAPER Clockwise from bottom left: Pádraic
Geraghty, Seán Staunton, Eamon
Connolly, Martin Curry and Pat Cawley
talk to Edwin McGreal (bottom centre,
with back to camera). Pic: Conor McKeown
“It is a miracle
that it came out
every week”
His work as a compositor was part of the operation of the production of The Mayo News that
is so far removed from modern systems that it
is hard to believe the paper successfully came
out every week.
Nowadays, a page in The Mayo News can be
made in less than ten minutes. In the old days of
the hot metal printing it could take a full day for
a single page to be typed and made in production.
Martin Curry or the late Gerry Bracken, Editor
from 1960 to 1985, would come to him with a
headline for a story which he would work on.
Individual moulds for each letter would have to
be picked while the reporter would be working
on the rest of the story.
“I’d say the young generation would find it really
difficult to comprehend how labour-intensive it
really was. The bulk of everything printed was
picked by individual letters for every word in the
body of the text,” explained Martin Curry.
Pádraic Geraghty explained how it would take
at least an hour to compose each column of the
six columns per page. On top of that was the
headlines and putting the various elements of
the page into one block. It is little wonder The
Mayo News was, for many years from the 1950s
to the 1980s, only eight or 16 pages, but the workload involved in that was immense.
“Sometimes I remember coming in at 9am in
the morning and not leaving until 9am the next
morning. It took us a full week to do the 16 pages,”
recalls Pádraic Geraghty.
Martin Curry remembers some of the big stories he, Chris Lavelle and Gerry Bracken worked
on in his time here. Grace Kelly’s visits; Australia’s second most wanted man, Robert Trimbole, living in Westport; the Pope’s visit to Knock
in 1979, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s visit and
far too many tragedies as well.
Padraic Geraghty remembers one of these, the
brutal murder of pensioner Josie Joyce, on the
Newport Road, in Westport in 1983.
“The biggest run I can remember on sales in
The Mayo News was when Josie Joyce got murdered. We had to keep printing extra papers. It
was the night before the hurling All-Ireland, on
Saturday night. I met Josie that morning or on
the Friday because I used to go down there
because we had land below him and I’d always
meet him coming up Attireesh [on the Newport
Road in Westport].
“He said to me ‘who’s going to win the AllIreland Sunday?’ so it was a couple of days before
the final. It was on the front page for a good few
weeks before yer man was caught. The whole
front page was done up, little bits of articles. I
remember Chris [Lavelle], one week, to fill a
piece, said ‘black magic could be involved here’,”
he said, laughing.
Technological transformation
THE Mayo News was one of the last newspapers
to leave hot metal behind when they changed
over to a new computerised system in August
1988.
“The transition from producing a newspaper
in one week in hot metal to producing the following week’s issue on what was then the most
sophisticated, computerised system in Ireland,
that was the irony of it,” says Martin Curry.
“People would never appreciate how lads like
Pádraic Geraghty, John Joe Geraghty and Peter
Murray in production had to switch in an instant
to bringing out the newspaper under a totally
new system where you’re operating a mouse
instead of watching out for a splash of hot metal,”
added Martin, before Pádraic Geraghty took up
the story.
“The biggest thing about switching over I
remember is that you were wearing overalls and
there was ink under your nails and gone in through
your skin under the old system and the day we
came in here under the new system, you could
have worn your best suit, you could go home
without a bit of dirt on you,” he said.
Modern times
THE Mayo News went into liquidation in 1988
and were trailing far behind other newspapers
in terms of their technology. A consortium of
four local businessmen – Joe Berry, Jim Kiely,
George Conroy and Colam O’Neill – took over
and Seamus Gavin subsequently came on board
too. Seán Staunton was appointed as Editor and
owner investment, which the paper lacked for
so many years, started to come and the paper
expanded.
“I think people like Eamon [Connolly] and
Gerry Bracken, God rest him, and Martin [Curry]
did a quite remarkable job in keeping the paper
afloat in very difficult times,” says Seán Staunton.
“I was lucky enough that gradually the economy
was beginning to improve and that in turn helped
the paper and people like Pat [Cawley] went out
and advertising was more forthcoming than in
tougher times,” he added.
Joe Berry bought the paper outright shortly
after and it has been in the hands of the Berry
family since.
The paper has often printed in excess of 100
pages since – a far cry from the six pages often
printed in Eamon Connolly’s first year here in
1954. European Design Awards have been won,
Sport and Living sections have expanded and
blossomed, but the paper continues to strive to
be the voice of its community and the loyalty of
its readers remains a striking constant.
“The thing I would be aware of after coming in
was the important place the paper has in the local
community and how it was valued by readers
out there,” admits Seán Staunton. “I know things
are changing and you have websites now, but my
view is that the internet will never totally replace
newspapers. I don’t think you’ll ever reach a stage
where a paper like The Mayo News will disappear. One of the things that astounds me, to this
day, is the loyalty of readers of The Mayo News
in Westport and, particularly, in places like Achill,
Louisburgh and Newport.”
The five men around the table are just a sample
of those who have kept The Mayo News going
for 120 years. They list out scores more names,
too many to mention for fear names will be left
out. People from near and far have worked for
The Mayo News at its offices in, firstly, James
Street and, currently, The Fairgreen in Westport.
All helped to keep The Mayo News going through
thick and, more often, thin. Two world wars, a
war of independence, a civil war, the Easter Rising and man on the moon have all come and gone
and The Mayo News remains. The legacy of the
paper’s staff is a fine one.
a journey down memory lane from the archives of liam lyons
yA FAMILIAR FACE Kiltimagh’s Louis Walsh, world-famous band manager (front), coming from school in 1970.
Facebook user Tommy Regan has identified the three lads at the back as Michael Coleman, Pádraig McLoughlin and Aiden McDonagh.
y A BUSY DAY ON THE FARM Paddy and Margaret O’Grady, Murrisk,
with their children and triplet calves, pictured in November 1983.
y A NEW HOME Joe Foy, Castlebar, got a surprise when he went
to the garage to put on his football jersey in 1971 and found a bird
had nested in it!
y HERE IS YOUR HOST RTÉ personality Gay Byrne (bottom centre)
visited The Squealing Pig pub in Ballyglass in April 1975.
y DON’T LET GO Vestie Tunn
McNally in Westport, 1956.
ney, Fonsie Canning and Gerry
The Mayo News 120
www.liamlyons.com
y EASY DOES IT The story behind this picture, of a sheep rescue up Sheefry
Mountain by members of Westport Fire Brigade in April 1970, is captured in The
Mayo News headline ‘Fireman mount Operation Sheep’.
out in the open air
Patrick O’Reilly, Louisburgh,
bringing a horse under
control in 1972.
y IT’S COLD OUTSIDE Two Swinford children well wrapped up,
November 1966.
y SHOULDER-HIGH Achill Sound captain James Mulloy
celebrates after winning the Scanlon Cup on Easter
Sunday, 1966. They beat St Joseph’s, Dooniver in the final.
y WELL DRESSED This group of young Swinford men were in high
spirits in November 1966.
13
QUOTE
“Small dogs are
all right until they
get into bad
company”
1942-1952
04 09 1943
23 04 1949
Justice Liam Coyne, hearing
a court case in which it was
decided to restrain an
Alsation May 6, 1950
1
NUMBER
THE number of
people who proposed
to end both
emigration and
partition by playing
the tin whistle. A
Ballyhaunis man,
summoned to court
for begging, informed
Mr AA Rochford, DJ,
of his extended
plans, stating that his
ultimate goal was to
make Ireland a fit
place to live in.
May 28, 1949
Bid to open ‘pubs’ on Sundays
A
MOTION in the name of Mr W
Cresham requesting the Minister
for Justice to have the licensing
laws amended so as to permit
the opening of public houses on
Sundays between 12.30 and 2pm and 5 and
7pm in urban and rural areas was passed by
Castlebar Urban District Council at their
monthly meeting on Friday night, despite
vehement opposition by Councillor
O’Quigley.
Mr O’Quigley contended that the Council
had no mandate to deal with this matter …
[he] said a similar motion had come before
the Council at their February meeting and it
was passed and circulated throughout Ireland.
He saw no reason for bringing it up again as
when a Bill is dealt with in the Dáil, there is
no more about it. Councillor Collins, he con-
tinued, had seconded the former resolution.
Addressing Mr Collins, the Chairman [Mr
A Wynne] asked what had become of the
resolution.
Mr Collins: “It went all over the world. They
turned it down in Westport. They are a proper
pioneer town” …
Mr Cresham said that an amendment was
needed in the licensing laws. They were all
aware that illegal Sunday drinking was going
on and they could not get the people to stop
it. In Corporation towns drink was available
on Sundays and people in rural areas could
have drink in the towns, but a town resident
would have to travel outside the three-mile
boundary before getting it. He saw no reason
why the arrangements prevailing in some
areas should not apply to all.
There was no harm in taking a drink, he
added, and the people of Castlebar were never
reputed as being rowdy. Liquor was one of
the biggest sources of revenue to the Government. The working man would not have money
every day of the week and there was nothing
wrong about his taking a drink on a Sunday.
Mr Heverin … second[ed] the motion …
People would get drink on Sunday anyway
and they had better have them do it legally.
He knew a number of people in Castlebar
who hired cars or cycled outside the limit on
Sundays in order to obtain drink.
The Chairman remarked that the serving of
drink at the Golf Club was not restricted while
the poor man could get none ...
Mr O’Quigley said … [the Council] were not
empowered to deal with this matter. It was
doubtful if the Councillors’ own wives would
supply this motion ...
a quick cuppa
y Pictured after the station Mass in Mulchrone’s of Moyhastin, Westport during the 1950s. From left, seated:
Fr Tom Cummins, ADM, Westport; Perry Reilly, Mass server, and Fr Tom Lynch, CC, Westport. Standing: Mrs
Mulchrone Snr and Mrs Mulchrone Jnr. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons
He had visited every house in the town and
he was assured that the people of Castlebar
and the people of McHale Road did not want
the Sunday opening. The local traders or any
other section of the community had not asked
for it …
The supporters of this motion would have
the young boys of 15 … go to the public houses
on Sunday instead of the sports field … This
would create a nice moral fibre amongst the
youth … During all the years he was associated with the GAA, he had never met a
drinker.
The motion was passed by five to two, the
votes being as follows: Messrs Wynne, Gavin,
Heverin, Cresham and Collins (for), and
Messrs O’Boyle and O’Quigley (against).
October 25, 1947
Clew Bay
monster
creates a stir
A SIX-STONE, six-foot monster gave the fright of
their lives to Micky O’Malley and J Bourke, Ardagh,
Newport, on last Sunday evening. While they were
fishing for pleasure, he hopped into their boat and
promptly attacked them.
Since then people from all over Burrishoole parish have come to view the monster, among them
being many visitors from abroad. None of them
could give an opinion as to its species, though many
have long experience of fishing in Irish and tropical waters.
The fish, six foot long, and six stone in weight, is
flat shaped and coloured like a plaice. It tapers to
the back into a big fin and has two feet at its posterior. Its mouth is ten inches in length and there
are two natural holes at the back of its head.
When it came into those Ardagh fishermen’s net
on Sunday evening it attacked them straight away.
It bit [a] portion of the boat with great ferocity but
eventually an oar was thrust back its neck and it
choked.
July 26, 1952
The Mayo News 120
A sense of place
60 years of ups
and downs in
Ballinrobe
billy
horan
S
INGULARLY reflecting the
county’s life in all its manifestations has been the privilege of
The Mayo News for the last 120
years. Circumstances have dictated the emotional reaction to a perusal
of its content, particularly if the reader
is in involuntary exile.
Learning of the sudden passing of John,
who sat beside you in primary school,
through the medium of the local notes,
renders the loneliness of a New York
bed-sit well nigh unbearable. In a pleasing contrast, the sporting headline proclaiming that Martin’s last-gasp point
from an acute angle had earned the club
its first ever senior county title, evoked
tears of unconfined joy. A tinge of regret,
too, perhaps – you might have been in
Martin’s place had not economic realities
ordained otherwise.
An invitation from Gerry Bracken, at
the prompting of a local informant, Jim
Burke, deeply immersed in all things Irish,
led to my becoming the Ballinrobe correspondent in the early 1950s. My first
assignment, a sporting one, was keeping
an eye on a seven-a-side football tournament in The Green, the precursor of
Flanagan Park. Tournaments of this nature
were major attractions then, as teams
from UCG (adorned with county stars),
Oughterard (fortified by the talented
Keogh brothers) and The Neale (buttressed by Joe, Stan and Michael of the
Mellotte clan) were the main contenders.
Ballinrobe has smiled, cried, given vent
to its dissatisfaction, and enthused many
times since in the intervening years.
Would that a fallible memory could be
more precise in reproducing details!
Prevailing on an industrialist to locate
a worthwhile factory in the town was a
primary target of the Balinrobe Development Company. Regrettably, success did
not attend the endeavour, despite endless
Monday night meeting in Ozanam House,
pre-election promises, trips to Dublin to
engage with government ministers, and
IDA expectations. The committed communal service of people like John Colleran,
Brendan Sweeney and Tony Jennings
deserved better.
Not all the striving to enhance Ballinrobe’s image has been in vain. Its racecourse, under the shadow of the Partry
mountains, is now generally accepted as
the best endowed provincial track, following recent extensive renovations. No
less an authority than Pádraig Harrington
A WATCHFUL EYE Joe Byrne pictured in the
signal box at Ballinrobe Railway Station. Part
of the town’s soul was ruptured in the final
hours of 1959, when the Ballinrobe Express
pulled out of the railway station for the last
time, writes Billy Horan. Pic: Courtesy of Ballinrobe
Archaeological and Historical Society www.historicalballinrobe.com
“Heroism is now
needed more
than ever”
has spoken in glowing terms of the picturesque golf course. “This must be the
finest championship course in the west
of Ireland,” he enthused. Fishing, described
as that ‘Gentle Lunacy’ in a topical talk
on Radio Éireann many years ago, is a
fertile Ballinrobe resource, and the promotion of events like the World Cup has
brought an international dimension.
C
ontemporary Ballinrobe has
a lively artistic heartbeat,
amply demonstrated by the
yearly acclaimed productions
of the Musical Society, and
in more recent times, by the contributions of the Archaeological and Historical Society. Such a characteristic should
occasion no surprise, as Ballinrobe had
a thriving Drama Festival in the 1960s.
Leading groups from the four provinces
performed the works of Seán O’Casey,
John B Keane, TC Murray, Galway’s MJ
Molloy and others, and waited with bated
breath on the final night, to see if adjudicators like Micheál Ó hAodha or Gabriel
Fallon had given them that coveted nom-
ination to the All-Ireland finals in the
Dean Crowe Hall, Athlone. No less a
sporting figure than Galway’s Mattie
McDonagh showed he could act, as well
as score crucial goals, on the stage of the
Town Hall.
Ballinrobe had an illustrious visitor on
Sunday, October 4, 1970, in the person of
Patricia Nixon, who was spending three
days in the country with her husband,
Richard, the American President, at the
height of the Vietnam War. A Ryan of
Mayo stock, Mrs Nixon came west to visit
relatives from the Hollymount area, and
The Green in Ballinrobe was thronged
for the occasion.
Part of Ballinrobe’s soul was ruptured
in the final hours of 1959, when the Ballinrobe Express pulled out of the railway
station for the last time. Economic realities dictated that its lifespan of 67 years
had to end, sceptical locals were dubious
of the planned replacement. As the train
prepared to make its final journey on that
December day, one remembered that it
was the mode of transport used to convey
a fearful student to a college in Tuam,
while aged parents said goodbye to their
offspring, seeking a decent wage in another
land.
The closure of the Agricultural Institute
in Creagh, once a sanatorium, tending to
people suffering from the dreaded disease, tuberculosis, evoked a very hostile
reception, but all to no avail, despite
impassioned pleas.
The unexpected intervention of the
Grim Reaper has caused many heartbreaking moments, expressed in empty
seats in classrooms, vacancies on teams
and unfulfilled potential. One can still
feel the sense of shock induced by the
sudden passing of men like Peter Browne,
Richie Bell, Christy O’Haire and our
recently retired ebullient parish priest,
Monsignor Tom Shannon, so passionate
about the Harry Clarke windows adorning St Mary’s Church. Peter was an eternal optimist as far as the fortunes of Mayo
and Ballinrobe football were concerned,
and Richie laid the foundations of the
success of ladies’ football in the county,
while coaching All-Ireland-winning sides
– junior and senior – in Ballinrobe Community School, Nobody was more deserving of being described as a gentle giant
than Christy, and how we enjoyed the
activities at the South Mayo GAA Board
meetings!
An imposing life-size statue now dominates Cornmarket. It is that of John King,
born in a village close to the town on
February 7, 1865, and one of Ballinrobe’s
most notable sons. John was twice awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honour for
extraordinary heroism in the American
Navy, which acknowledged his contribution by the commissioning of the USS
John King in 1961.
Heroism is now needed more than ever
in recession-blighted Ireland. Would that
the inspiring example of King cultivate
a sense of place, so essential in any recovery, as The Mayo News has been doing
for the past 120 years.
15
1952-1962
QUOTE
“We are a rich country, but
a little bit daft”
19 12 1952
Clann na Talmhan TD Joseph Blowick,
addressing an after-Mass meeting at
Lecanvey on Easter Sunday ahead of the
general election. “We are daft because
those who govern have millionaire ideas,”
he explained. “They can spent £2.5
million on rebuilding Dublin Castle, £890
on a carpet for the Dáil and £1/4 million
for a racehorse.” April 24, 1954
Princess Grace accorded
tremendous Mayo reception
F
OR the past week admirers
from all over the country have
been following … the dreamcome-true visit by Princess
Grace of Monaco to her ancestral Mayo. Amid scenes of unprecedented
pageantry, spectacle and splendour the
charming Princess and her husband
Prince Rainier were given a reception
unrivalled in the country of her forbears.
But as I watched the hundreds of pressmen, photographers and TV men descend
on the thatched cottage at Drimurla,
like bees on a hive, to record the historic
and touching visit by the Princess to
the humble home of her grandfather, I
could not help recalling the day over
five years ago – January 21, in fact – when
The Mayo News announced exclusively
to the world that it was from the whitewashed cottage in the tiny village of
Drimurla, near Newport, that John H
Kelly emigrated to the USA.
The true facts were revealed in that
issue following the announcement of
the fairytale wedding between Grace
Kelly and Prince Rainier – an announcement that brought the world press to
Westport in an effort to trace her ancestors. And after a whistle-stop tour of
Kelly homes, a village in Drummin was
erroneously headlined as that from
which the Hollywood star’s grandfather
emigrated.
A cancelled visit by the Prince and
Princess to Ireland last year caused great
disappointment. Then two months ago
came the news – which made many
hearts flutter – that the royal couple
would travel on a State visit to attend
the Music Festival in Dublin. But the
sceptics ruled out any hope of a visit by
her Serene Highness to her ancestral
home and cousins in Mayo. How wrong
they were proved to be.
.
June 24, 1961
Preparing Ireland for
Communism?
“THEY are preparing Ireland hard and
fast for Communism,” said a Manulla
NFA member at a meeting of the local
branch on Monday night, during a discussion on the Irish language.
He said: “When our Irish boys and
girls sit for examinations in England
and fail, they are mocked by the English people and they are told that it’s
their clergy at home in Ireland who are
to blame by having Irish shoved down
their throats.
“Our clergy are not to blame,” he said,
“but our children are told that, and
unfortunately many of them believe it,
and gradually lose their faith.”
Another member said there should
be an international language.
“A sound knowledge of your native
tongue was all right 50 years ago when
the majority of people seldom ever
passed the parish boundary.
But in these days of travel, and when
seven out of every ten pupils have to
flee their native shore, it is essential
that children should be taught through
the medium of English – the language
that is necessary for them to earn their
livelihood.”
Irish is all right, he said, for those in
cities and towns who have the ‘pull’ to
secure the ‘plum’ jobs.
November 23, 1957
04 02 1961
NUMBER
53
THE number of miles
which Westport cyclist
Mickey Palmer rode the
night before won two
races at the 1953 Laught
Sports in Co Galway,
including the All-Ireland
10,000 metres. Palmer
competed in Dublin the day before and on
the return journey, had to change trains in
Athlone – where he left his bag after him.
Having spent the night in Ballinasloe, he
cycled back to Athlone in the morning and
then re-traced his steps before going on to
Ahascragh, Mountbellew and Moylough
before arriving in Laught. July 18, 1953
signing autographs
y Joe Lynch, the singer and actor, who later played Dinny in the RTÉ series Glenroe,
pictured with his fans in Mulligan’s Hall, Achill in 1956. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons
Mud water in
Louisburgh taps
Dear Sir,
Public money has been lavished since the
foundation of the Free State (the now Republic) on the improvement of the Irish roads
so that the Lord and Lady Bagstops would
not suffer a bumpy journey to their country
residences. This and other wasting of public
money lead to bankruptcy which has set in
like a malady. One of the results of this selfinflicted poverty is that the people of Louisburgh must drink from the same trough as
the animals of the field – the river with its
brewery colour.
You may ask what are your local improvement bodies doing. That is a question I cannot answer except to give you the rumours
which fly around. Some say that they discuss
at their meeting Caesar and Virgil; others
that they sing fireside songs and speak of
their plans for becoming directors of Bord
na Móna and Gaelteara Éireann. These reports
are probably untruths but a good sense of a
humour is a glorious characteristic amongst
the people of the rural areas.
The digression ... does not take away from
the prevailing danger of a serious epidemic
breaking out in the village. It is because of
this danger that I ask The Mayo News to
demand that the County Council build a new
reservoir in Carramore or repair the old
one.
– ’Burgh man
June 7, 1958
1962-1972
QUOTE
09 10 1965
“That is the only thing that is
holding it up. A hen and
eggs?”
Thomas Giblin of Westport Urban
District Council seeks clarification on
why fences of barbed wire across a back
entrance road to St Patrick’s Terrace
were still intact despite an order for its
removal. May 11, 1963
Hospital morgue scandal
“THIS is an absolute disgrace and a slur
on the people of this county. That it should
have been allowed to exist is more disgraceful still,” said Mr Joseph McNally, at
a meeting of Westport UDC on Monday
night when he strongly protested against
the location and condition of the morgue
at St Mary’s Hospital, Castlebar.
Mr McNally said he regretted the necessity of raising the matter, but as he had
occasion to attend the removal of the
remains of his late uncle, Mr Alfred McNally,
from the morgue on January 20, he could
not, in conscience, ignore the scandal he
had observed. He was relating facts gained
from first-hand experience, he said.
The morgue, he said, was directly adja-
cent to a piggery and its accompanying
smell. “The road to it, or to be more correct, the pot-holed pathway, is unmargined
from the piggery filth and, without exaggeration, one would go boot high in this
filth and mud,” he said.
Added to all this, he said, was the fact
that the only source of light available there
after dark was what came through the door
of the morgue itself. This leaves the surrounding area in complete darkness where
people must grope their way through all
this mud and filth to reach their cars in
the funeral cortege.
“Must the people of Mayo continue to
suffer this humiliation of bearing their
own dead away from the stain and smell
Calf with
no eyes
25 01 1969
The Mayo News 120
4
NUMBER
of a piggery while the members of the
County Council talk in millions about
roads, tourist facilities, airports, etc, to
gain publicity and popularity in the hope
of a further five-year installment?” he
asked.
“The County Council is responsible for
this hospital. Rates are being paid by the
people of the county to maintain all the
institutions in the county, not particular
sections of them,” he said. “The County
Councillors were voted into the Council
to do a job. What, I ask you, are they doing
about this scandal?”
Mr L McLochlainn, County Manager, who
attended Monday night’s meeting, said the
matter had, in fact, been raised at the
County Council meeting last Saturday. He
assured Mr McNally that the County Engineer had definite plans for the removal of
the morgue from its present location and
that the matter was being speedily recti-
THE number of
cushions stolen
(or borrowed,
according to the
defendants) by
Dublin campers
from the Achill
Head Hotel. ‘Had
No Pillows, So
They Took
Cushions From
Hotel’ was the
memorable Mayo
News headline.
September 18,
1965
fied.
When the matter was raised at a Mayo
County Council meeting, Mr MJ O’Toole
said the location of the morgue was in a
very poor place beside the cow byre and
the condition of the building was desperate.
“The walk to the morgue is disgraceful
and the whole thing is a disgrace to the
county … I was ashamed to be a member
of Mayo County Council when I attended
a funeral there recently.”
Mr MJ Gilvarry, RMS, St Mary’s Hospital,
said the hospital visiting committee had
been talking about the need for a new
mortuary for years. It was a disgrace, but
a new mortuary was in an advanced state
of design and it would sited beside the
hospital church where there was a good
approach.
March 11, 1967
a packed pavilion
S
HIRLEY, the latest arrival on a Newport farm,
is receiving VIP treatment. But the threeweeks-old brown and white calf cannot see
the people fussing about it, because the animal was born without having any eyes.
Since its birth to a French-bred Charolais cow on the
farm of Francis Chambers at Fauleens, Newport,
‘Shirley’ has baffled all animal authorities. It has normal eyelids, but there are only holes where there should
be eyeballs. In every other way the animal is perfect.
The calf has to be fed with a baby’s bottle, but will
only accept it from housewife Hilda Chambers, who
was first to feed it after birth and the animal has got
used to the feel of her hands.
Said veterinary surgeon Charles Lydon: “I have never
heard of a calf born without eyes and there seems to
be no explanation for it. It is certainly a unique
case.”
Commented farmer Francis Chambers: “Shirley,
named by the family because of its French breeding,
is causing us a problem, especially to my wife Hilda,
who will have to keep bottle-feeding it until it is nine
months. It could then be sold as veal. We have a constant stream of visitors to our small farm to see the
calf with a difference.”
April 4, 1970
y A dance scene from the Pavilion Ballroom, Westport in 1965. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons
17
QUOTE
“There is no door
on the main street
that urine did not
flow in”
1972-1982
15 06 1974
18 08 1979
Councillor Frank Durcan on
the downside of ‘The
Occasion at the Castle’, a
rock festival in Castlebar
August 19, 1981
birthday treat
NUMBER
0
THE number of day
schools who had won
the Hogan Cup
(awarded for the
colleges football
senior championship)
before St Colman’s,
Claremorris beat
Carmelite College,
Moate in
Roscommon. Gabriel
Cuddy scored 1-3 for
the Mayo side.
April 30, 1977
Mayo gardaí gunned down
FORTY-EIGHT hours after the brutal shooting of two Mayo-born gardaí by armed and
masked bank raiders, the county, and country
in general, was still reeling from the shock of
the shock of the dastardly killings which has
brought condemnation from all sections of the
community.
The two Castlerea-based Gardaí, Detective
Garda John Morley (37), the former Mayo
football star and Garda Henry Byrne (29), both
married and natives of Knock, were gunned
down when they tried to apprehend the bank
raiders near Ballaghaderreen, after they had
raided the Bank of Ireland in the town and got
away with £35,000, later recovered in one of
the abandoned cars …
A few miles outside [Ballaghaderreen] on
the Loughglynn Road, a Castlerea-based Garda
patrol car, driven by Garda Derek Kelly, a native
of Kiltimagh, with Sergeant Michael O’Malley,
a native of Louisburgh, in the front seat, and
[John Morley and Henry Byrne], tried to intercept the raiders, but the squad car was rammed
by the raiders, who opened up on the gardaí
with a hail of bullets.
Garda Byrne died instantly and Garda Morley, who was armed, gave chase, but was shot
by the raiders and died later at Roscommon
County Hospital. Sergeant O’Malley said: “The
gang opened fire on the patrol car and we were
in it. They fired through the side windows and
just kept firing and firing.”
It is understood that one of the gunmen was
wounded in the battle. Another man, Conor
O’Shea, in his late twenties, believed to be a
native of Cork and having a Dublin address,
was found by the Gardaí injured at the end of
nearby Granlahan wood and was taken under
heavy escort to Galway Regional Hospital.
Last night hundreds of gardaí, assisted by
military tracker dogs and two Army helicopters, joined in one of the biggest manhunts
ever witnessed in this country, which is being
centred around the wooded areas near
Ballinlough and Cloonfad.
On going to press, the manhunt for the raiders – believed by detectives, who know their
names, to have strong connections with the
INLA and IRSP, but denied by the organisations – was still going on, but hopes were fading for a quickly capture of the killers. One of
them is believed to come from Kiltimagh, the
home town of the driver of the patrol car, Garda
Derek Kelly.
July 9, 1980
Letter posted in Dublin on
May 2 delivered in Westport
on October 18
T
y Erris woman Honor Keane trying her first cigarette, aged 100, in 1973. Pic: Liam Lyons
HE ‘Pony Express’ mail delivery
system of the old Wild West might
be considered, in this age of modern communications, to have
been a very inefficient and unreliable service for business. But The Mayo
News has just discovered a ‘Snail Express’
postal service … achieving less than one mile
travel per day.
A letter, clearly (typed) addressed to ‘Editor,
Mayo News, James Street, Westport, Co Mayo’
was posted in central Dublin on Tuesday, May
2, 1978, by Arrow Ltd, Advertising Agents.
The letter contained copy and lay-out instruc-
tions for ‘a display advertisement to be included
in a feature in The Mayo News for Achill Sound
Pharmacy Ltd. The advertising feature
appeared in our issue of July 1.
Although Arrow Ltd were very efficient in
forwarding the copy for their clients – Sterling
Winthrop (Ireland) Ltd – display advert, almost
two months in advance of publication date of
the feature, their letter only arrived at our
offices on the afternoon mail delivery of
Wednesday last, October 18 – 169 DAYS AFTER
IT WAS POSTED IN DUBLIN!
October 28, 1978
The Mayo News 120
19
Viva Il Papa!
Knock was transformed for the Pope’s visit in 1979
Sean rice
columnist
[email protected]
I
T was 1979 and Ireland was en fete
for the visit of Pope John Paul II.
Having attracted a million people
to the Phoenix Park and almost
300,000 to Galway, a further quarter of a million awaited the arrival of the
pontiff in Knock.
The Mayo village was transformed for
the occasion. Mayo County Council had
poured millions of pounds into its facelift.
The shabby old stalls were removed from
the street, a new Basilica built, the grounds
of the shrine re-modelled, and the glassenclosed area at the gable wall of the old
village church, where the Apparition
occurred 100 years earlier, modernised.
From every corner of the country pilgrims gathered to welcome Pope John
Paul to the centenary celebrations of the
Apparition . . . the ‘goal of his journey’.
Extraordinary outpourings of emotion
followed him everywhere.
Your scribe was among the dozens of
Irish and international press people covering the visit, and even the most cynical
among them acknowledged the poignancy of the occasion.
From early morning the people teemed
into the village. Many travelled the night
before, sleeping in al fresco in specially
constructed corrals around the perimeter of the shrine.
Some slept nearby in their cars, and as
dawn broke on that Sunday morning they
took up the best positions for a view of
the Pope touring among them.
In my report filed to the Connacht
Tribune I wrote: “As morning progressed
a great snake of humanity wound towards
ENORMOUS CROWD A section of the huge
attendance gathered at Knock
for the visit of Pope John Paul
II in 1979. Pic: Frank Dolan
the little village, and when the first beads
of mist touched their faces around nine
o¹clock the sombre colouring became a
sea of red and green and yellow and
black.” They had come prepared for the
weather.
“By noon the mist had cleared and a
couple of hundred thousand people had
brought life to the distant hills. Thousands of chairs had been unfolded and
hundreds of thousands of home-made
sandwiches and beverages consumed in
what looked like a gigantic tea party.”
The Pope had been expected at 2 o’clock
but was delayed by the fever among his
‘young people of Ireland’ in Galway. The
hiatus provided an opportunity for the
psychologists to set the mood for his
eventual arrival.
The Army Band of the Western Command under Col Jim McGee and the 160
voice Tuam Diocesan choir under the
direction of Canon Charles Scahill raised
the spirits with renderings of ‘When the
Saints go Marching In’ and ‘Down by the
Riverside’ etc, and a festive atmosphere
embraced the great gathering like a summer breeze ... in complete contrast to
the low, sullen clouds brooding above
them.
A great sense of expectancy hung everywhere. Prelates, photographers, journalists and celebrities wandered about
the place, among them faces that would
be famous on other occasions. President
Hillery, and an Taoiseach Jack Lynch
were escorted to their seats, no more
than a murmur greeting their arrival.
“A great sense of
expectancy hung
everywhere”
“Over at the glass-enclosed gable where
it all began a hundred years ago, an unaccustomed silence reigned, the only occasion in a century it was not the centre of
attraction.
“Nor did many of the multitude cast
their eyes towards the village cemetery
on the southern hill facing the basilica
where lie the bones of many of those to
whom the story of Knock was unfolded
on that dreary August evening in 1879.”
At 3.40 the hills around the village
reverberated to the cheers greeting the
Pope’s helicopter as it penetrated the
gloom in the southern sky. It landed on
the east side of the Basilica where Archbishop Joseph Cunnane and Monsignor
James Horan met His Holiness with
scores of other people joining in the
welcoming crush.
Not until he reached the roof of the
ambulatory, though, was he in full view
of all the people. And for the vast majority of the concourse quarter of a mile
away that was as near as they got to the
pontiff.
The impressive ceremonies completed,
darkness had begun to fall ... and his tour
among the people was cancelled. The
disappointment among them was palpable as they watched the helicopter lift
off and scoot back to Dublin without a
word of an apology from those in authority.
For some the cancellation of the tour
was not important. To have been there
was the core of the occasion.
You couldn’t but feel for the elderly
people, though, laden with bags, shuffling in the rain and the darkness through
the traffic chaos back to their cars and
buses, their dream of a close-up of the
Pope unfulfilled. More consideration by
those in charge of the visit at the other
venues would have avoided all that.
A miracle and a case
of mistaken identity
MARION Carroll was cured at Knock. She was taken there
on a stretcher, almost all of her body organs having ceased
to function.
She had lost the power in her limbs, lost control of her
kidneys, lost her eyesight, lost her speech. She was on the
brink of death.
In the Basilica the stretcher was placed under the statue
of Our Lady. Looking up at the statue, Marion pleaded:
“You are a mother too; you know how I feel.”
Minutes later she was standing unassisted in the nearby
rest home … restored to full health, her mind a whirl of
joy.
Your scribe travelled to Esker Monastery outside Athenry
to interview Marion about her miraculous cure. We were
to meet before the concluding ceremonies of a mission at
the Monastery, but people milling around her precluded
a pre-Mass interview.
At her invitation and that of Redemptorist Fr Vincent
Kavanagh, I was invited to record her story as she talked
to the congregation. From the sacristy I joined her and the
procession of priests and sat beside Marion in the sanctuary under the blinding glare of lights.
Candles were the only source of light down the body of
the chapel, scores of small candles everywhere, their flickering flames distorting faces in the congregation and casting eerie shadows across the walls, Marion told the congregation of the gradual decline of her health a short time
after her marriage at the age of 21. For 17 years she went
downhill suffering from multiple sclerosis.
She was confined to a wheelchair as one by one most of
her organs ceased to function. She was reluctant to accept
an invitation from a local ambulance driver to be taken to
knock, preferring to spend whatever time was left to her
with her husband Jimmy.
Eventually she agreed to make he journey from her home
in Athlone. After receiving the blessing of the sick in the
Basilica, “I got this beautiful feeling and a whispering
breeze telling me that if the stretcher was opened I could
get up and walk,” she said.
Later in St John’s Home at Knock, she became emotional
and asked the wife of the doctor who had travelled with
them would she sound foolish if she said she thought she
could walk.
The woman called a nurse. “When she opened the
stretcher my two legs swung out and I stood up. After all
these years I was not even stiff. My speech was perfect,
my hands and arms were perfect.”
You can imagine the joy in her home that evening when
she walked unaided from the ambulance into the house
having kept the miracle from her husband a secret until
she got home.
Halfway through her talk in the chapel telling how her
husband, an army sergeant, stood by her throughout every
day of her illness, it dawned on your scribe that because
I had been sitting beside her, the congregation would have
deduced that yours truly was in fact her husband Jimmy.
In the glare of the lights I broke into a cold sweat and
visibly shrank into the chair aware that the eyes of the
congregation were pinned on me.
No sooner had I said my goodbyes and hastened to leave
the church than members of the congregation were gathering to congratulate me. But I managed to slip away into
the Esker darkness and leave Marion to deal with the curiosity of the droves wanting to shake her hand.
1982-1992
09 03 1988
04 09 1985
QUOTE
“Make me a little Hitler
and I’ll deal with the
problem”
NUMBER
0
THE number of
members of the Fine
Gael/Labour
government who
attended the laying of
the foundation stone for
the £12,000 General
Hospital in Castlebar. The ceremony was
performed by Western Health Board chairman
and Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Killilea, but
boycotted by the Minister for Health Barry
Desmond, who indicated that he should have
been invited to perform it. Four members of
Castlebar UDC turned down invitations
because of ‘the insult’ to the Minister.
May 28, 1986
Ailbe Malone, Castlebar Town Engineer,
on dealing with the issue of dumping
before the advent of on-the-spot fines
December 26, 1984
Knock Airport takes off
“THIS is a great day for Connacht,”
exclaimed an exuberant Monsignor James
Horan of Knock after he welcomed the
crew of the first of three Aer Lingus Boeing jets on their arrival at the new Connacht Regional Airport on Friday morning.
Several thousand people loudly cheered
in enthusiastic agreement.
The new and highly controversial airport,
now generally known as ‘Knock Airport’,
will not be officially opened until next
April. But on Friday it became operational
for three Aer Lingus flights conveying over
400 people on a special one-week pilgrimage to Rome.
The inaugural passenger flights from the
airport, organised by the Knock Shrine
Society through Joe Walsh Tours, attracted
national and international media attention
and were covered by RTE, BBC and ITN
television crews.
The historic occasion was witnessed at
first hand by a crowd in the region of 15,000
(some estimates put it as high as 20,000)
who crowded around the terminal building and the perimeter fences to watch the
Aer Lingus jets land and take off again
from Irelan’s longest runway (7,500
feet).
People of all ages – men, women and
children – from all walks of life and from
all parts of Mayo and many areas in Con-
Mary Robinson
makes history
N
EVER again will Irish
political parties claim
that there is no such
thing as ‘a women’s
vote’. There is, and it
was very much in evidence on
Wednesday last when a majority
of women united – perhaps for the
first time ever – to put one of their
own in The Parj.
Mayowoman Mary Robinson is
set to become the seventh President
of Ireland and the first woman ever
to hold the office. She will also
become the youngest imcumbent
of the office and at just 46 years of
age may well have reached the ‘ripe
old age’ of 60 before having to pack
her bags to return to the humdrum
life of ordinary citizens.
Her election to the highest office
in the land was neither a victory
for left-wing politics or a rejection
of conservative politics. She successfully sold herself to the electorate as an unlabelled candidate
and, while Fianna Fáil and Fine
Gael pondered the Presidential
nacht, assembled on the transformed (from
bog wasteland) summit of Barnacogue
mountain where the ‘miracle’ airport has
been created at a cost, to date, of £12 million.
The fact that the vast majority had to
walk miles from the main Knock-Charlestown Road because of restrictions on traffic to the airport didn’t dampen their
enthusiasm or their desire to ‘be there’.
Enterprising hawkers had a brisk demand
for flags and balloons, sold from makeshift
roadside stalls. Mobile take-away food
caterers had a bonanza and brilliant sunshine in the late morning boosted ice-cream
sales.
Inside the crowded terminal building
those ‘privileged’ with passes milled about,
savouring the sense of occasion, soliciting
confirmation from one another that the
dream of Knock Airport was now a magnificent reality, shrugging off as trivial the
fact that expensive coats had become
stained from freshly-painted walls.
The matter-of-factness of the PA
announcements – ‘Passengers for Flight
EI 3962 from Knock to Rome please report
now to the Depature Lounge’ – created the
atmosphere of a ‘normal’ international
airport.
October 30, 1985
behind the counter
office, she grasped the initiative
and launched her campaign a full
six months ago, visiting every corner of the country, travelling to
England to meet emigrants, and to
Belfast to have discussions with
people on both sides of the political divide.
But she appealed mainly, but not
exclusively, for the women’s vote,
but the ‘experts’ said there was no
such thing. The same ‘experts’ said
she launched her campaign much
too early, would peak too soon and
then go into rapid decline. Hindsight – a very exact science – proved
them wrong on both counts.
We congratulate Mary Robinson
on winning the highest office in the
land and we have no reason to
believe that she will not be a President for all the people, a champion
of community development and
environmental care, and a worthy
ambassador of Ireland wherever
she goes.
November 14, 1990
y Dan McGing behind his display of freshly-sliced bacon in his grocery shop and bar in 1983,
located where Matt Molloy’s pub is now on Bridge Street, Westport. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons
1992-2002
10 11 1993
QUOTE
“Dr Seamus Caulfield’s resignation
from the Office of Public Works
Ceide Fields Committee is almost
akin to the Pope resigning as Head
of the Roman Catholic Church”
06 02 2002
The
Vol. CVIV
TÁNAISE Mary Harney announced that Fort Wayne Metals
Research Products Corporation of
the U.S., a leading developer and
producer of precision wire products for the worldwide medical
devices industry, is to invest
�3.4m, with the support of IDA
Ireland, in the establishment of a
European Centre, for the manufacture and distribution of its products at Castlebar. The new facility
is to create 80 new jobs over the
next five years. Fort Wayne Metals wll be the first tenant at the
new IDA Business and Technology Park in the town.
The Tanaise, announcing the
arrival of Fort Wayne Metals to
Inside . . .
Wednesday, February 6, 2002
Ireland said: “The company is
currently focusing its growth
strategy on the European market
and this new Irish operation will
be an integral part of that strategy. This is a very important investment for both the medical
devices industry here and for Co.
Mayo, not least because of the
employment setbacks suffered by
the county in recent months. It
will further strengthen the
healthcare supplier base in Ireland as well as Ireland’s reputation as the leading location for
healthcare investment in Europe.
It will provide skilled employment opportunities for the people of Mayo and in doing so will
also provide an enormous boost
to the local economy.”
The Castlebar operation will
manufacture, in a high quality,
skilled operation, precision wire
for the medical devices industry
in Europe, where the company
has a strong customer base. the
new operatioin will be housed in
a customised 25,000 sq. ft. facility, which Fort Wayne Metals is
to construct at the Park and which
it aims to have completed by the
end of the year. It will partner the
National Centre of Biomedical
Engineering Science at National
University of Ireland Galway to
carry out research in some specific areas.
‘Significant announcement’ for
Westport Harbour investment
THE Minister for the Marine and
Natural Resources, Mr. Frank
Fahey, T.D., will visit Westport
this Friday, 8 February and is
expected to make a “significant
announcement” of a substantial
investment in Westport Harbour.
Funding for work in the harbour will be announced and hopes
are high locally that, when a
feasibility study is completed, the
Minister will also provide funding for the development of a marina.
Recently the Minister for the
Environment and Local Government, Mr. Noel Dempsey, T.D.,
approved an order bringing all of
the harbour area, including Roman Island, inside the Westport
town boundary.
His visit to Westport on Friday
has been arranged by Senator
Frank Chambers who told the
Mayo News that he was confident the Minister would make a
“significant announcement” of a
substantial investment in the harbour.
The Minister has already met
members of Westport Harbour
Board to discuss the board’s plans
to upgrade and redevelop the
harbour.
“Minister Fahey has now informed me that he will make a
firm and positive announcement
when he comes to town on Friday. This will be based on the
examination by his Department
of the harbour board’s plans for
the harbour. It will pay a major
part in realising the potential of
the harbour as a commercial and
tourist amenity,” he said.
World class . . . and in Westport
WESTPORT is set to be
crowned Ireland’s golf capital
for a weekend when Westport
Golf Club plays host to the
Smurfit Irish P.G.A. Championship from April 25-28.
HOTEL WESTPORT
SUNDAY LUNCH
Served weekly in the
‘Islands Restaurant’
This announcement last Friday evening was followed dramatically by confirmation that
Ireland’s three Ryder Cup
qualifiers, Darren Clarke,
Padraig Harrington and Paul
McGinley will be in Mayo to
compete
for
£110,000
prizemoney.
The participation of three
genuine world class golfers is a
major coup for organisers, who
will have to prepare for a major influx of visitors to Ireland’s
tidiest town for the event.
“This is undoubtedly great
recognition for the progressive
work undertaken by the club
over the past number of years,”
commented Haulie Hoban,
Westport Golf Club captain.
“The club is looking forward
to seeing how some of the
world’s top professionals will
cope with the challenge presented by the Westport course.
“It is a tremendous honour
to be staging such a tournament and it places our club
very much to the forefront of
championship golf courses. In
addition, it again confirms
● Haulie Hoban, Westport Westport as a major tourist
attraction.”
Golf Club Captain.
Westport pub stand-off prompts crisis meeting
MEETING will be held
today (Wednesday) in
Portlaoise in an attempt
to resolve the much-publicised controversy surrounding the refusal by Westport publicans to serve members of the
travelling community.
Members of the Vintners’ Federation
of Ireland plan to issue a statement on
the stand-off and to state whether their
members intend to continue their transgression of recently-introduced equality legislation.
The story, which was exclusively
published in last week’s Mayo News,
has caused controversy right across the
country with varying degree of support
and criticism for the stance taken by
the publicans. Westport members of
the VFI have publicly stated that they
feel the drastic move was forced upon
them after a number of incidents in
recent weeks where travellers behaved
in a troublesome manner and threatened to take the publicans to court
under equality laws if they were not
served.
The row between publicans and travellers has been simmering since the
introduction of equality legislation two
years ago. However, Gearóid Ó Riain
from the Mayo Travellers Support
Group feels the public in general are
not fully aware of the power of the
equality legislation.
“In the legislation, only one of the
grounds relates to membership of the
travelling community. There is a total
of nine different grounds including age,
disability, marital or family status and
religionunderwhichcasecanbebrought
and complaints have been made over
discrimination in pubs on seven of the
nine grounds. Publicans have refused
all kinds of people for no particular
reason,” he said.
Mr Ó Riain also stated that the argument that publicans do not want to turn
away business does not hold up.
“The reason publicans don’t want to
serve travellers is because they are
afraid it will affect their business. They
do not want to disturb their own happy
status quo but these people are given
a licence by the State to provide a service. The public have to decide do they
want the petty prejudice of other people to dictate how we treat the marginalised in society,” said Mr Ó Riain.
Before today’s meeting, Westport
publicans were keen to emphasise that
their original refusal not to serve travellers, which has now been in force
NUMBER
English Express Edition £1.15
Tánaiste announces
80 new Castlebar jobs
An editorial in The Mayo News slammed the
OPW as ‘a law unto themselves’ in a dispute
about the need for a professional
archaeologist on the site that inspired the
‘Mayo 5000’ concept March 23, 1994
A
The Mayo News 120
Price: �1.40
Sport . . .
12 page
Colour
Sports
Section
Web Sites: www.mayonews.ie & www.mayonews.com
It’s three in a row for the‘Mayo News’
● EURO EXCELLENCE . . . Pictured receiving the European Award Certificate for Design
Excellence at last week’s presentation ceremony in Aachen, Germany were, left to right: Mike
Finnerty, Sports Journalist; Declan McGuire, General Manager, Mayo News; Meinrad Rahofer,
Director, Office for Newspaper Design and Dermot Berry, Chief Executive, Mayo News. This
is the third successive year the newspaper has claimed this coveted European prize for the
continuous high quality of its design and layout. See page 10 for full report.
Gastro-enteritis outbreak
closes Castlebar hospital
THE Sacred Heart Hospital in
Castlebar has been infected by
an outbreak of gastro-enteritis
which has forced the Western
Health Board to shut down services at the facility. A number of
cases have also been detected at
the Mayo General Hospital,
Castlebar.
The hospital, which caters
mainly to elderly patients, is now
closed to visitors and will remain
so until the outbreak is contained.
Dr. Sheelah Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of the Western
Health Board stated that a member of staff at the Sacred Heart
suffered symptoms on Tuesday
last. By Wednesday, several
other staff were infected and since
then the virus has spread to infect
patients as well.
Dr. Ryan explained that while
most people just have to wait for
the symptoms of diarrhoea, fever, cramps and flu to pass after
approximately 48 hours, these
illnesses posed particular difficulty for older people.
The virus itself stays in the
system for three days and is so
contagious, it can be spread simply by hand-shaking or coughing. For that reason, visitors have
been asked not to call.
Dr. Ryan also asked that any
member of the public suffering
symptoms of gastroenteritis keep
away from facilities such as hospitals.
“We will try to ensure the minimum of distruption for our patients and thank people for bearing with us”, she said.
Anthrax alert in Ballyhaunis
Freyne of the Ballyhaunis Fire been addressed to a foreign naService arrived at the scene tional living in the town — was
discovered to be safe. The suspromptly.
IT’S not every day the town of
Army experts arrived in pect power was described as “a
Ballyhaunis has an anthrax scare. Ballyhaunis at 12.30pm and car- white food substance” and the
In fact, last Monday morning was ried out preliminary investiga- Post Office was re-opened for
a first. Gardai, fire-officers and tions on the suspect package. At business.
Just an ordinary day in
Army personnel were all called approximately 2pm the package
to the East Mayo town after the — which is understood to have Ballyhaunis really…
alarm was raised at 8.20am when
staff at the local post office noticed a white substance on one of
the parcels they were scanning
routinely.
A few phone-calls later and
the building had been sealed off
with all ten postal workers at the
Office quarantined in the staff
canteen.
Post
Master,
Frank
O’Donoghue had alerted both the
Gardai and the fire-brigade at
this stage and both Garda Inspector Tom Fitzmaurice and Sean
By Mike Finnerty
25
THE number of
votes in favour
of a move to
summer soccer
at a Mayo
League meeting,
out of a total of
41. Clubs voted
17-11 in favour
of the blueprint
drawn up by
incoming League secretary John Durkan
with one abstention. The 12-man League
Management Committee backed the
proposal 8-4. June 1, 1994
the queen of
connemara
since a mass meeting last Tuesday, was
still in place.
Coverage last Saturday in a daily tabloid suggested that travellers were
served in five out of six pubs during a
visit to Westport with a reporter and
photographer. This was followed by a
front-page story in a Sunday tabloid in
which two Westport publicans and one
each from Islandeady and Newport
gave detailed accounts of the abuse
they have suffered at the hands of
‘marauding mobs’ of travellers.
“It’s all very well saying we are picking and choosing our customers, but
the fact remains at our EGM last week,
a number of publicans expressed fear
and intimidation as they felt they were
being held hostage in their own pubs,”
said Chris Lavelle of Westport VFI.
“Action had to be taken, if only to be
used as a deterrent to this sort of situation erupting again.
“We know the problem with regard
to decent law-abiding travellers not
being served has to be addressed, but
these are issues that will be raised at
the national meeting and the views of
our colleagues nationwide will be
expressed.”
August 7, 2002
Thousands flock to Achill’s House of Prayer
OVER the weekend at least
3,000 people from all over
the country flocked to the
new Our Lady Queen of
Peace House of Prayer at
Achill Sound.
The former Sisters of
Mercy Convent has been
purchased by Co Mayo
visionary Mrs Christina
Gallagher, of Foxford, who
claims to receive regular
messages from Our
Blessed Lady.
Mrs Gallagher claimed
in a magazine article that,
earlier this year, while
receiving a message from
Our Lady, she saw an angel
so radiant she was forced
to look away.
She was told the world
of sin was bringing about
its own destruction and
she believes that graces
will flow from her House
of Prayer to counteract
sin.
The past two issues of
Ireland’s Own have car-
ried extensive articles on
the new House of Prayer
and it has also featured in
other sections of the
media.
The June issue of the
magazine also carried an
advertisement inviting
people to send donations
towards the refurbishment
of the building.
One resident told The
Mayo News that local people were adopting a ‘waitand-see’ attitude towards
the new House of Prayer.
He said many of those who
had met Mrs Gallagher
were impressed by her
quiet demeanour. With
her presence in Achill
there was an expectation
among some local people
that Our Lady would
appear to her on the island.
“We could have another
Knock in Achill,” he
said.
July 21, 1993
y Bina McLoughlin came from Leenane to the Murrisk
Heritage Day in February 2001. Pic: Frank Dolan
21
2002-2012
14 08 2012
18 12 2002
QUOTE
“I had been sort of
preparing myself to go
back to prison again”
16 Page
Colour Sports
Supplement
Vol. CVIV
A CLAREMORRIS woman who stole a pass
card and pin number from a lady she was living
with and proceeded to steal �7,600 from her
account has been sentenced to 13 months in
prison at a sitting of the local District Court. Ms.
Marie McCreanor, An Tinteann, James Street,
Claremorris, had been living in sheltered
accommodation when she stole two letters
from the injured party. She said she wanted to
buy furniture for a new house with the stolen
money.
See Page14
By James Laffey
[email protected]
A YOUNG mother is continuing
her recovery in University College
Hospital in Galway after she was
badly injured in a gas explosion at a
fast food outlet in Ballina last week.
Julie Granahan, from Killala,
who is the mother of an 11-year-old
girl, faces over three months in
hospital and numerous operations
to heal severe burns to her hands
and face. The 34-year-old was
working in Tasty Mac’s restaurant
on Teeling Street when an explosion
ripped through the two-storey
building, reducing it to a pile of
rubble.
Speaking from her hospital bed,
Ms. Granahan said she was simply
relieved to be alive after such a
horrific ordeal.
“I don’t know how I am still alive.
I feel lucky to even be here. My face
and my hands got the worst of it,
they still feel like they are burning.
It hurts to even eat or talk but I
could easily be dead so I am
grateful.”
Ms. Granahan was the only
person in the take-away when the
explosion occurred shortly before 5
Swinford family must
be on their best
behaviour at wedding!
SIX members of a large family of Travellers
from Swinford have been warned by a District
Court Judge that they had better be on their best
behaviour when two of their offspring get
married in early January. Judge Mary Devins
told the extended Maughan family at a sitting of
Swinford District Court that she would not
tolerate any public disturbance during or after
the wedding ceremony in Knock on January
13 . The judge made her comments after she
heard evidence of a street brawl involving six
members of the family during the Siamsa Sráide
festival in Swinford last August.
See page 12
THE Corrib Gas story has created history in the
realms of An Bord Pleanála. The oral hearing
has entered the record books as the longest oral
hearing in the history of the State. It lasted
twenty-two days, having finished up late on
Tuesday night of last week. History was also
made on another level at the hearing. It showed
that the lived experience of local people is as
important as the views of ‘experts.’ The
Inspectors asked local people to speak about
their experience of working with turf. A value
was put on the lived experience of local people.
Liamy MacNally reports.
See Page 10
SPORT
Upwardly mobile
WESTPORT native Peter Collins has carved out
an enduring career in the colours of RTE. In our
Town & Country series the former Westport
United Connacht Cup winner talks to SHANE
McGRATH about the journey from fledgling
broadcaster to voice of Formula 1.
See page 2.
Soc’ it to them
CHRISTMAS may be around the corner but that
did not deter soccer aficionados from tying up
a few loose strings at the weekend. Castlebar
Celtic and Bangor Hibs were Sunday winners,
while the Mayo U.21 team kept their last eight
hopes alive. MICHAEL DUFFY and EDWIN
McGREAL report.
See pages 8 and 9.
OLYMPIC
MEMORIES
SPORT Ciaran McDonald and
Crossmolina reach Mayo SFC semi-finals
NEWS Seán O'Connor
Connor recalls
rec
calls
rneys
his Olympic journeys
NUMBER
“It’s great to
be alive . . .”
13-month prison term for
‘manipulative’ woman
who preyed on flat mate
The Corrib Gas
‘buy out’ plan
ROVERS RETURN
TO FINAL FOUR
FOUR TIME WINNER
Price: �1.50
Web Sites: www.mayonews.ie & www.mayonews.com
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
NEWS
Cross farmer Pádraig Nally after his retrial, in which he was found ‘not guilty’ of
the manslaughter of John ‘Frog’ Ward. Mr
Ward died when he was shot on October 14,
2004 by Mr Nally, who spent 11 months in
jail after his original trial. December 20, 2006
English Express Edition £1.20
Future looks bright for
Westport train line
By Michael Duffy
[email protected]
THE much maligned Westport to
Dublin train service received a boost
this week with the news that old,
outdated train carriages will no longer
be used on the line.
Mr. Myles McHugh, Irish Rail’s
Business Development Manager for the
West and Midlands Region, told last
week’s meeting of Westport Town
Council that he had received a
commitment from management that
from the first week in January, all
carriages on the line will be fully
automated and air conditioned.
Mr. McHugh was invited to attend
the meeting after Cllr. Margaret
Adamsdescribed his company’s service
to Westport as “atrocious” criticising
particularly the quality of their rolling
stock.
In his detailed presentation to the
meeting, Mr. McHugh admitted that
serious consideration was given to
closing the Westport line back in 1997.
“The defining moment for the line
was the derailment at Knockcroghery
because a decision had to be taken there
and then whether to upgrade or to close.
“Since then we have been working
on changing the track from the old style
joint track to continuous welded track
and this work is almost complete.”
Mr. McHugh also confirmed that
this improvement in track quality would
take place on the Manulla to Ballina
line in 2003/2004.
The improvement in the quality of
track will cut the journey time to Dublin
by 12-20 minutes when new timetables
are introduced on June 2 of next year.
As part of improvement in the overall
service being provided, plans are also
afoot to introduce a seat reservation
system, also in the middle of next year.
An estimated 440,000 passengers are
anticipated to travel on the Westport/
Dublin line in 2002, which is an increase
of 18%.
In another interesting development,
Mr. McHugh did not rule out the
possibility of the Western Rail Corridor
being reopened when he stated that the
line is in Public Ownership and that the
findings of the impending Strategic Rail
Review were “looked forward to.”
However, councillors were not happy
with the answers they received to two
important questions with regard to the
service.
Both the Westport Chamber of
Commerce and the Town Council had
requested that an early morning train
service be scheduled from Westport as
the current service does not arrive in
Dublin until after 11 a.m., rendering it
“useless to anyone who is on business”,
as stated by Cllr. Peter Flynn.
Mr. McHugh stated the company were
not looking at putting in an early morning
service from Westport, although under
new timetabling the current service
would arrive in the capital at 10.40a.m.
“We are also looking into the viability
of having a link up with the early bird
service in Galway, which departs at
5.20a.m.,” stated Mr. McHugh.
There was also criticism of the fact
that none of the brand new carriages
announced recently in a €117 million
Government spend are to be deployed
on the Westport line.
Mr. McHugh said this was down to
the revenue created on the other lines,
stating that in some cases, “population
dictates.”
(See full debate from town council
meeting in next week’s issue).
p.m. on Thursday evening. She
had initially smelt gas as she opened
the premises but she thought it was
“safe” as it had been checked out
earlier.
“The second I lit the match to
light the fryers everything went blue
and I remember being pushed
back.”
The injured woman managed to
drag herself onto the street where
she was tended to by ambulance
personnel who brought her to Mayo
General Hospital in Castlebar and
then to University College Hospital
in Galway. It was initially feared
that she might lose her badly
burned right hand but doctors have
since confirmed that her injuries
can be successfully treated. Two
other people received minor
injuries in the blast and have since
been discharged from Mayo
General Hospital.
The Health and Safety Authority
has launched an investigation into
the explosion, which shattered
windows on a number of adjoining
buildings on Teeling Street. The
take-away is located on one of the
busiest streets in Mayo and locals
told the Mayo News it was a miracle
more people were not injured.
See report on Page 8
Mayo News
Christmas and
New Year
publishing dates
The next issue of the “Mayo
News” will be published on
MONDAY, 23rd DECEMBER.
ALL COPY for this issue must
be with us by
11.00 a.m. FRIDAY
20th DECEMBER.
The offices of the “Mayo News”
will be closed on
Tuesday, 24th December
and will re-open on
Friday, 27th December.
All copy for the issue of
MONDAY, 30th DECEMBER
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Estd 1892 • £1.70 | �1.90
Westport
under
attack
Pretty
Woman
visits
Louisburgh
> Spate of burglaries hit
Westport area in recent weeks
NEILL O’NEILL
GARDAÍ and community alert
volunteers in Westport have
appealed for vigilance from the
public and all homeowners, following a spate of burglaries in
the last number of weeks. The
current figures for August show
that one house is being burgled
in the locality every day, and
Gardaí admit they have no solid
leads on the crimes.
As of yesterday afternoon, 34
homeowners had reported that
they had been robbed since the
beginning of July, (20 in
July and 14 in August) and it is
apparent that Westport has
become a haven for thieves of
late.
While it is mainly unoccupied
houses that are being targeted,
one homeowner in the Cloona
area disturbed the culprits as
they were attempting to break
into his house at 9pm one
evening.
Homes have been robbed on
the outskirts of the town, mainly
in Carrowholly, Slaugar, Clogher
and Brackloon, and in a number
of areas in the vicinity of the West
Road. Now, Westport Town
>> page 2
FLYING THE FLAG
They catch the bug quite early down Ballintubber way as Ciarán Earley,
aged two, is pictured cheering on his father Tom and the Ballintubber
team as they marched one step closer to a third consecutive Mayo
Senior Football title on Sunday.
HOLLYWOOD royalty visited
Louisburgh over the weekend,
when ‘Pretty Woman’ star Julia
Roberts was in town with her
young family for a break. The
actress, one of the most recognisable women on the planet
- went quietly about her way
on Sunday, when she brought
her children to the beach at Old
Head - stopping off along the
way for an ice cream at the Old
Head Cafe and Shop.
The rumour mill was in overdrive as to what the star of
movies such as Erin Brockovich,
Ocean’s Eleven, Notting Hill
and Sleeping with the Enemy
was doing in west Mayo, and
where she was staying, with
unconfirmed reports mentioning the Delphi area, as well as
a house near Louisburgh belonging to Daniel Day Lewis’ sister
Tamasin.
By all accounts the Academy
award-winning actress went
relatively unnoticed during her
appearance at Old Head, with
locals and other visitors to the
area choosing to leave her in
peace. She was also spotted
shopping in Louisburgh on
Sunday.
must be with us by 2 p.m. on
FRIDAY, 27th DECEMBER.
Our offices will be closed on
Tuesday, 31st December,
and will re-open on Thursday,
2nd January 2003.
Your co-operation in meeting
these earlier deadlines would
be greatly appreciated.
Don’t forget – The Mayo News
will be in your newsagent on
MONDAY, 23rd DECEMBER and
MONDAY, 30th DECEMBER
10
THE number of
games Westport
United played to
win the 2004/2005
FAI Junior Cup.
Ballina Town (2-1),
Crossmolina (4-0),
Inver United (1-0),
Tralee Dynamoes
(4-3), Leeside
(3-1), Pike Rovers
(3-0), Killester United (1-0), Carew Park (1-1,
with defeat on penalties and 2-0 in the
re-fixture) and Waterford Crystal (2-0)
provided the opposition. June 22, 2005
Taoiseach-in-waiting delivers ‘blue tsunami’
I
T’S been a long, long wait, but judging by the smile on Enda Kenny’s face
as he approached the podium at 3.30am
last Sunday morning, it was worth
it.
Having spent the majority of his adult life
serving the Mayo public, this time round
the huge gathering at the Count Centre in
Castlebar, some of them who had been there
for 19 hours, were now serving it up to him.
He had been elected to represent the people of Mayo for a remarkable 11th straight
occasion, but this time it was different. This
time he was going to be doing more than
representing the country of his birth once
he got back to Dáil Éireann. This time he
was going to be asked to lead the people of
the country.
No matter what your political allegiance,
it was hard not to get caught up in the
moment as Kenny addressed the room on
what was a predictable, but momentous
day, in so many ways.
There was no cliffhanger in Mayo, indeed
there was very little by the way of normal
election count drama in Castlebar on Saturday. As early as 10.30am, with 33 per cent
of the boxes open, the signals were there
Rossport protesters
defiant after jailing
A TUMULTUOUS seven days end
today with five Rossport men still
behind bars in Cloverhill Prison in
Dublin … [but] the issue looks set to
remain very much alive for the foreseeable future.
Mr Willie Corduff, Mr Micheál Ó
Seighin, Mr Philip McGrath, Mr
Brendan Philbin and Mr Vincent
McGrath were jailed in the High
Court on Wednesday last, and were
told they will remain in jail until they
purge their contempt of court.
This was in the aftermath of an
injunction granted to Shell E&P Ireland Ltd (SEPIL) on April 4 last
against the five men, plus Ms Bríd
McGarry and Ms Monica Muller, for
preventing access to Shell personnel
to lands at Rossport. Counsel for
Shell subsequently requested an
attachment and committal order
against the five, on foot of which they
were jailed.
However, the week in between has
been marked by protests in Rossport,
Galway, Dublin, and a rally attended
by over 2,000 people in Castlebar
last Sunday. Addressing this gathering, Ms McGarry demanded the res-
for all to see. Fine Gael had blitzed the
opposition and the ‘Blue Tsunami’, as so
many had dubbed it, would see them take
four seats.
It was also clear from early morning that
Dara Calleary was going to survive the massacre that took out 13 senior ministers from
the last Fianna Fáil Government. Everyone
knew it was ‘4 and 1’, we just had to wait
and be patient while the count staff went
through with their painstaking work.
The next task for Enda Kenny is to get the
country back on track. After 36 years in
public life, most would have been eyeing
the exit door, but Kenny has his toughest
challenges in front of him. It will be no easy
task but what Kenny needs now is the full
and unequivocal support of his own party
and his coalition partners for the foreseeable future.
The people of Mayo will be proud to call
the Taoiseach one of their own but like
everyone else in the country they want to
see light at the end of tunnel. The hard work
starts in earnest for Enda Kenny on March
9. We wish him the best of luck.
March 1, 2011
head over heels
ignation of Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources,
Noel Dempsey, as well as his predecessors Dermot Ahern and Frank
Fahey.
She also outlined what she termed
the ‘agreed position and overall statement’ of the family of the five men
andprotestorganisers.Thisdemanded
an end to all ‘illegal developments’
at Rossport. Objectors to the laying
of the pipeline say SEPIL do not have
the necessary ministerial consents
for some of the works they are undertaking. Ms McGarry said the gas must
be treated at sea, the ‘criminalisation’
of the five men be expunged, and that
the ‘overall deal’ be re-negotiated ‘for
the Irish people’ …
SEPIL issued a statement on Monday claiming the pipeline, while
designed for a pressure of 345 bar,
will never run at this level … They
also deeply regretted ‘that the
unfounded fears of some landowners
have been recklessly stoked by some
who must bear some of the responsibility for the current situation’.
July 6, 2005
y Castlebar Celtic’s Noe Baba celebrates with a cartwheel flip after scoring against
Manulla in the Mayo Schoolboys U-16 Cup final in March 2012. Pic: Michael Donnelly Photography
The Mayo News 120
From linotype to the
information superhighway
Ciara Moynihan
Living editor
[email protected]
T
HE Mayo News embraced
computerisation in August
1988. It said goodbye to the
hot metal of the linotype
machine and the cast-iron
printing press, and hello to screens,
keyboards and infernal nests of wires
that would spring loose from their connections unbidden.
Understandably, it took everyone a
while to get used to the new technology.
Some longer than others. For years, a
certain reporter (who shall remain nameless but is working away at his desk as
I type this) would frequently let out
blood-curdling roars, indignation at yet
another instance of returning to his
computer only to discover it had crashed
and he had lost all his work. Furious
bouts of ‘switching it on and off and on
again’ would ensue, accompanied, inevitably, by a stream of choice words. In
1996, he finally realised that the screen
was going blank not because the computer had crashed, but because the
screensaver had come on.
Still, eventually, everybody settled into
the brave new world. “That’s that,” they
thought. “We’ve made the leap. Job done.”
The shiny boxes on their desks no longer
drew anxious looks.
However, a few short years after computers were first plugged in at The Mayo
News office, along came mobile phones,
email and the Web. Suddenly everything
changed again. Communication was
instant and not bound to things that
were bound to the wall. Information was
accessible in a flash with the click of a
mouse or the tap of a key. And the technologies were spreading fast.
On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee’s
World Wide Web became publicly available. In 1993, the first online newspaper,
The Tech, was published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students.
By the mid ’90s, there were 18,957 websites in the world.
Mayo got its first internet café – Jazzy
Bee, on James Street, Westport – in late
1996, and Keith Martin – later a councillor – wrote an article in The Mayo News
aimed at demystifying the World Wide
Web.
Noting that many international newspaper had developed websites ‘where it
is possible to read the paper on your
home computer’, Martin finished his
introduction to the internet with a prediction: ‘Perhaps some day you will be
reading The Mayo News from your laptop!’
And now? According to one estimate
I read (and there can only be estimates),
there are around 644 million active
websites and more than 2.27 billion people online. Eight new people come onto
the internet every second.
BRAVE NEW WORLD Deirdre Barry, from
Bonniconlon, pictured during the 2012
All-Ireland Football Final between Mayo
and Donegal. Deirdre was identified for a
front-page caption in The Mayo News
thanks to Twitter users. Pic: Sportsfile
Since the Internet first blinked awake,
pundits have been examining its implications for news dissemination, and for
print media in particular. Regardless of
whether you thought it sounded the
death knell or paved the way to eternal
relevance, one thing was clear. A newspaper needed to have an online presence
– and The Mayo News was not going to
be left behind.
The domain name mayonews.ie was
first registered in 1997, and by 1999, the
site was live. mayonews.ie now boasts
an enviable average of over 218,000 page
views and well over 40,000 unique visitors a month.
Like all newspapers, The Mayo News
“We can break
stories as they
happen”
is struggling with the perennial problem
of how to get its online presence to turn
a dime. But that’s a boring story. Much
more exciting is the interaction that the
internet has allowed us, as a news gathering service, and as a voice of the community. Our news articles carry the email
addresses of our reporters, and so our
readers can click straight through and
email in with their comments on the
stories – and with stories of their own.
Our articles get shared all over the
Internet, and hours – sometimes minutes
– after uploading a story on mayonews.
ie, we can have television stations and
national and international newspapers
on the phone, looking for permission to
use a story or a picture. (Well, sometimes
asking permission anyway.)
Edwin McGreal’s front-page story on
Achill-henge was one such phenomenon.
People just loved it, and it was immediately picked up by the national media.
The next day, the Anglo Avenger’s antics
were front-page splashes across all the
nationals, and soon enough, a decidedly
windswept Teresa Mannion was up to
her knees in muck on a sideways-raindrenched Achill hill, reporting on the
latest Wonder of the West for RTÉ
News.
The website also means that we can
break stories and add updates as they
happen – no need to wait for the Tuesday-morning paper. It means we can get
the stories to our readers before the
daily national press runs with them and
they become old news. And these days,
news becomes old quicker than a skin
forms on your tea.
Our social media presence is allowing
us to interact with our readers like never
before. The Mayo News Facebook Page
has almost 5,000 likes, and our main
Twitter account @themayonews boasts
a phenomenal 8,000 followers (okay,
7,941 at time of writing, but I’d be pretty
confident that by the time you’re reading this, we’ll have burst through the 8k
mark). Our @mayonewsport and @
mayonewsliving accounts are holding
their own in the Twittersphere too.
We get loads of new stories, as well as
comments and reactions, from our readers through Twitter and Facebook. We’ve
even used them to solve some mysteries. For instance, on Tuesday, September
25, we ran a front-page picture of a devastated Mayo fan at the all-Ireland final.
On the Monday night, as we hurtled
towards deadline, we didn’t have her
name – and we didn’t want to use her
image without it.
We tweeted her picture and a call out
to our followers, asking if anyone could
name her. Within an hour, we had her.
The girl in the stands holding her head
in disbelief as Mayo fell to Donegal was
Deirdre Barry, from Carra, Bonniconlon.
The first of our Twitter followers to
identify her was Sarah Sloyan
(@sarahsloyan) from Charlestown. The
county may have lost at Croke Park, but
its paper’s front-page image was saved.
And it said it all.
In this fast-paced world, it’s hard to
predict what technological breakthrough
will come next, but The Mayo News
stands ready to grapple with it and then,
if it can, run with it. If our readers are
into it, then we are too. Just so long as
it’s not robot reporters, Dalek designers
and computer-generated text. Ahem.
23
Headl ne News
Shocking, funny, dated, timely – all human life is here
Robbing the nuns
Clew Bay monster creates a stir
John Dillon – “Conciliation another
name for swindling the people”
November 9, 1904
Mayo meet Roscommon on
Sunday: Chances?–Good
Imprisonment for larceny of
overcoat
Sheep shearing time: give your
wool a good name
Drunk with a gun
The Christmas toy you buy can
keep a Mayo girl at home!
October 27, 1900
April 14, 1906
February 8, 1908
July 26, 1952
July 18, 1953
June 7, 1957
November 22, 1958
February 1, 1913
How to rear puppies at home
September 17, 1927
Book borrowing dangers
December 6, 1930
Afraid of a useless gun
April 8, 1933
Fat man who stays in bed all
winter
October 3, 1936
Five young girls start bog riot
October 17, 1942
December 8, 2009
Achill man finds knife in fish
October 5, 2010
Wanted for Mayo – female dentists Ballina woman poured
of the marrying kind
cornflakes on patrol car
May 15, 1991
Cllr Mee shouts ‘stop!’ to
‘lunatic fringe’ objectors
March 29, 2011
Why summer soccer must not
be entertained
June 24, 1961
March 2, 1994
End of the line for man who stole
fishing rod
Hatching hen holds up removal
of ‘Berlin Wall’
Five sent off as Kiltimagh win
SuBo pays surprise visit to Knock
taxi man’s mum
December 26, 1959
May 11, 1963
Had no pillows, so they took
cushions from hotel
September 18, 1965
October 26, 1929
Bogus sheep dipping summons
September 21, 1983
Golf ball-sized hailstones in Achill
Foreigners must go back to their
own countries, warns Macra chief
Should we eat new bread?
Dandruff is serious
Dogs can run across polluted
Ballyhaunis river
March 4, 2008
September 15, 1993
The culprit was a badger
December 4, 1909
April 1, 1978
Binge drinker parks tractor at
Garda station
Stolen car parked close to Garda
station for three months
Fresh air and how
to take it
December 4, 1909
Planning office accused of
‘hiding behind the petticoats of
An Taisce’
The ‘four-faced liar’ may go
December 18, 1965
Are Westport girls emptyheaded?
February 12, 1966
Castlebar Grand Canyon an
‘absolute death-trap’ – Council
September 30, 1967
July 16, 1997
Garda took call on defendant’s
mobile phone … and
discovered it was stolen!
May 9, 2001
Woman told Garda she was ‘Mrs
Nobody’
June 27, 2001
Newport row began when pint of
Guinness was placed on man’s
head
September 12, 2001
Ballina men were arguing about
debt at 3.15am!
‘Itinerants giving Apache war scene October 31, 2001
to Castlebar street’
Anthrax alert in Ballyhaunis
September 30, 1967
“Nobody can defend himself against
a woman” says Achill litigant
Westport factory workers
November 27, 1943
seeking 8am pub opening
October 10, 1970
Palm tree – “Not living under it”
says solicitor
Defendant called garda ‘a twat’
October 2, 1943
– disqualified
November 23, 1974
Fined for occupying own house
November 25, 1944
50p per hour for GAA pitch
April 17, 1976
Guards called in to County
Council meeting
‘Health Board spending more
February 24, 1945
money on red tape than on
Ballyhaunis man plans to end
medicine’
April 17, 1976
partition
February 6, 2002
Mayo is one long ‘red light district’
February 15, 2006
A 101-year-old juror?
July 3, 2007
June 14, 2011
July 12, 2011
August 9, 2011
Councillor lobbies on behalf of the
‘kebab lovers of Castlebar’
October 18, 2011
Woman ‘mooned’ at staff as she
stole groceries
November 22, 2011
Slash-hook attack causes
chaos at Ballinrobe
Confirmation
February 28, 2012
Man ran barefoot through Knock
claiming he was Jesus
March 20, 2012
Man drank 15 pints and 15 double
vodkas at Mike Denver concert
May 22, 2012
Imagine – John Lennon island
for sale
July 3, 2012
Man took TV from hotel wall to
replace his own
Mayo is one long ‘red
light district’
Imprisonment for larceny of
The culprit was a badger
March 28, 1949
Old Man Trouble as ‘alien’ music
heard in Ballagh’ dressing-room!
September 11, 2007
Man who thought he was at house
party gets 28 days for trespassing
January 22, 2008
July 31, 2012
Engagement ring found in
Mountain Rescue collection bucket
August 14, 2012
Emergency Response Unit called
out to clay-pigeon shoot
August 28, 2012

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