Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 1 The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 2

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 THE

MayoEstablished 1892 s Volume 113 Newswww.mayonews.ie s [email protected]

Wednesday, February 23, 2005 E1.60 | £1.30 Changed to tabloid on Relaunch in tabloid format on November 2, 1968 September 7, 1988 Redesign of The Mayo News on February 23, 2005 A labour of love

HE day we decided pages! the malicious destruction of a tors. A special word for our to do a supplement Going through old copies of boat; a man being summoned designer Kevin Loftus, who to mark the 120th the newspaper in recent weeks, to court for having a dance-hall mixed good humour, patience, birthday of The I have noticed some continuity in his barn; and condemnation skill and ingenuity; Liam Lyons, Mayo News, I was but also huge change. The paper of a woman’s will (sub-headed: whose iconic photographs are Tsitting at my desk in the office looks completely different. In ‘Completely Cut Off Husband ‘worth the admission price when the phone rang. It was the early decades, the front page Because Of Alleged Infidelity’). alone’ (as we sports writers shortly before 8pm. was filled entirely by advertise- All human life, captured in say); Managing Editor Neill The phone regularly rings ments. There were virtually no print. O’Neill, who was determined long after office hours here. A pictures, and articles regularly Some stories in this supple- that this anniversary would not lot of people seem to think there ran into thousands of words. ment show their age. There are go unmarked; and all in The is a constant presence in The And yet, an interesting story descriptions of dwellings con- Mayo News, particularly our Mayo News. And, in a sense, from any era can still fascinate. taining cattle and fowl, while Editor, Michael Duffy. Happy there is. Unless there’s a 121- Researching family history last sexist, racist and sectarian lan- reading, and we hope you’ll join year-old hiding somewhere, October, I went through old guage lace much public com- us again five years from now, there’s nobody alive in the local newspapers online for ment. But the reader will spot when we celebrate our 125th county today who lived in a mentions of my home place. tales with modern twists too birthday with a bumper edi- world without The Mayo News. Among other things, I found – debates about drink, houses tion! And if there’s somebody older land agitation (threats, assault, in unsuitable places, people than the paper knocking around and intimidation); the impris- trying to make ends meet in Daniel Carey the place, I’m disappointed that onment of a groom at a wed- difficult times. Editor I haven’t read about it in these ding; an attack on a publican; Thanks to all our contribu- The Mayo News 120

CONTRIBUTORS writers: Daniel Carey, Aiden Clarke, Billy Horan, Edwin The Mayo News 120th anniversary souvenir supplement. McGreal, Ciara Moynihan, Seán Rice, Áine Ryan. Editor: Daniel Carey. Designer: Kevin Loftus. Proof-reader: Seán Staunton. Photographs: Ballinrobe Archaeological and Historical Society, Aiden Clarke, Frank Dolan, Michael Front-page image: The Mayo News original masthead, and Donnelly, Françoise Henry, Liam Lyons, Conor McKeown, wooden letters used mainly in the printing of posters, designed by Michael McLaughlin, National Library of Ireland Kevin Loftus, based on a photograph by Michael McLaughlin. (Laurence Collection), Sportsfile. Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 1892-1902 3

QUOTE 03 12 1892 20 05 1893 NUMBER THE number “Did you ever hear an of large fires which immoral song sung occurred in Ballinrobe before in Mallaranny?” within a six-month period, according to Question asked by Mr JJ Louden, a Mayo News BL during the trial of a man report charged with an attempted following the stabbing in a railway carriage destruction of the military between Newport and Mallaranny barracks November 28, 1896 4 July 6, 1901

Help for the evicted the simple life

AVRUS, about a mile ment offering half the costs, the from Ballinrobe, was neighbours being willing to pay on Monday and Tues- the other half. Ryan, however, day the scene of the would not agree and the evic- interesting spectacle tion was carried out by the ofL a band of volunteer workmen sheriff’s bailiff, Quinn, and a engaged in the charitable labour posse of police on the 5th of erecting a new house for a inst. widow, Mrs Lyden, who was a The new house is built within short time since evicted from a few yards of the widow’s her residence on the roadside former residence and was fully between the Neale and Ballin- completed when Mrs Lyden robe by Mark Ryan of Lavrus, was installed amid the cheers who obtained a decree of pos- of a considerable gathering. The session at the last October Ses- action of the young men who sions. provided her with a new home The house or rather hovel shows that the old spirit of from which the poor old crea- resistance to eviction and aver- ture was evicted was erected a sion to evictors is as strong few years ago within the ruins today as it was in old Neale as of an old building used as a it was in the days of the Land hospital during the Famine League when they opposed Capt period, by volunteer labour also, Boycott, taught the people of it being considered at the time Ireland the advantages of ‘exclu- that the ground was common- sive dealings’ and added another age. word to the English language. The Rev Father Canavan, CC, endeavoured to effect a state- 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

N Monday the little town of pled upon and bludgeoned in a most cow- Nationalists in Mayo – was moved to the raised from the ground, and was being for- Kilmaine was the scene of the ardly and revolting manner, and never at chair. cibly dragged in the direction of the bar- most revolting police outrages. any time during the day was the slighest At this point over 150 police, under the rack by the police when Mr Redmond It is beyond the power of provocation given by the people. command of District Inspectors Carbery jumped off the platform and caught a hold words to describe the brutal Mr William Redmond, MP, Mr John (Claremorris) and Lowndes (Ballinrobe) of Mr O’Donnell and demanded to know Omanner in which young and old people of O’Donnell, MP, Mr Peter Regan and Mr JY marched to the platform. [Mr O’Donnell who was in charge, and by whose authority both sexes were set upon, bludgeoned, Lyons drove from Claremorris to Kilmaine and Mr Regan were told they could not a peaceable meeting was suppressed. kicked, and trampled on by a force of for the purpose of addressing a meeting address the crowd.] Mr Lowndes, DI: “I refuse to state who police. under the auspices of the United Irish [After Mr Redmond addressed the crowd], my authority is.” The people were even followed out miles League. This was fair day in Kilmaine and Mr John O’Donnell, MP came forward, and At this point the people were cheering from the village and across fields, and a very large number of people were was received with ringing cheers … At this loudly for Mr O’Donnell and some police- batoned in a most brutal manner. Mr Red- present. stage Mr Lowndes DI and a score of con- men in plain clothes began to beat them mond, MP, was hurled around the street. Mr Redmond … and his friends were met stables rushed up and caught Mr O’Donnell with sticks which they carried. This was Mr O’Donnell, MP was assaulted and dragged by the leading Nationalists of the district by the legs and pulled him violently off the resented by the people, and some free fights through the street, and Mr Peter Regan got … Mr Redmond, Mr O’Donnell and Mr platform, bruising and injuring him severely, ensued his hand broken … while dozens of old men Regan stepped on to the platform, and his head striking the ground. and women and little children were tram- Patrick Boyle – one of the most sterling After some moments Mr O’Donnell was November 2, 1901 The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 4 1902-1912

QUOTE 13 02 1904 20 04 1912 NUMBER THE number of “Fourteen hours a day old age pensioners struck off the lists in the is too long” Ballaghaderreen district during one week, on the A member of Mayo Asylum grounds that the Committee, backing an application parties had not attained the by male staff at the Castlebar 39statutory age according to the Census District Lunatic Asylum seeking a returns. The Mayo News reports that some heartrending scenes were witnessed when reduction in hours worked – at the the recipients of the pensions were made time, they worked 88 hours per week. aware of the fact on last pension day. February 14, 1912 October 2, 1909

An ill-fated match in Swinford final goodbye

HE story is going the rounds marry that girl but himself! of an interesting matrimonial The wedding day came, and John turned incident, said to have occurred up in the little country church with his recently in a parish, not a hun- intended bride. Patsey also was there, and dred miles from Swinford. The when the important business came on, an namesT we give are advisedly fictitious, so altercation arose between the two brothers as to avoid identification, but they cannot as to which was the bridegroom, and which take from the facts. the best man. Mary was a fine handsome country girl, In this dilemma the clergyman naturally and on last fair day of Swinford, she met asked the bride – as there was only one John, a good-looking bit of a boy, and before bride – to arbitrate. The operation took her they parted in the evening they had easily almost as long as the original match-making, agreed to get wed. and she announced that she thought she All the ‘conditions of sale’ so to speak, would have ‘the tall fellow’, meaning Pat- were arranged as John had no one to con- sey. sult, but his big brother Patsey. Mary was The clergyman told her to take a day to her own mistress, and so they made the consider it, and next morning, as she had bargain, and arranged that this event should not changed her mind, she was married to be finally determined a couple of days Patsey. John is now on the lookout, but he after. says he won’t be fooled again. When he next Meanwhile John informed his brother, makes a match, it will be in writing, as he who wished to see Mary before giving his does not think a woman’s mind is a very consent. This was easily arranged also, but sound foundation on which to build the the result was not so satisfactory as John hopes of a lifetime. anticipated for his big brother informed him in no uncertain tone that no one would May 5, 1906

Runaway horse in Westport

ON Wednesday last a horse attached to a Had the horse escaped the constable, much cart was startled by a motor car coming down injury would undoubtedly have been done, the Quay Road, Westport. The horse, on hear- as it was gathering greater force in its mad ing the sound of the motor horn, suddenly career as it approached the declivity at the broke away from the owner, Mr Patrick head of Bridge Street, where it could not then O’Donnell, of Louisburgh, at the Octagon, be checked until it had caused considerable and dashed along Shop Street at a furious damage, and where it would likely be stopped gallop. by coming into contact with some build- Constable Mackey, who happened to be at ing. the door of the barracks at the time, was The incident was witnessed by many spec- attracted by the unusual noise caused by the tators, who were loud in applauding the runaway, and dashed out and luckily grasped prompt and gallant action of the constable, the reins as the infuriated animal was pass- who narrowly and bravely averted an acci- ing him, and, after a struggle, succeeded in dent which might have caused loss of life, as checking its speed. no one could estimate the damage which y This striking stained-glass window, designed by Michael Coleman, in St At this juncture Mr Patrick Grady, of might be caused had its flight not been checked Patrick’s Church in Lahardane shows Annie Kate Kelly (on the lifeboat) Clooneen, came to the assistance of the con- on the occasion. Much credit is due to Con- waving a heartbreaking goodbye to friends and neighbours on the stable, and between them they succeeded in stable Mackey for his commendable act. 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 quieting and bringing the animal to a stand- and Mary Bourke, who would not leave John Bourke, their husband and still, and delivered it over to the owner. December 12, 1908 brother respectively, behind. Pic: Michael McLaughlin Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 5 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

and later a supporter of Sinn Féin, the radical Republican mills and large stores that lined the area. It was a busy street- Áine ryan Party, founded in 1905. Ultimately, the two brothers would scape from Mulloy’s Mill at Ardmore to the clog factory, Hall’s News reporter fall out over their political views and never reconcile their Mill (later Pollexfen’s) and the Bath Hotel, where Victorian [email protected] differences. and Edwardian ladies, in their big white bustling dresses, were regularly seen in the waters at the Point. Campaigning journalist Not only was the Quay a busy port, with regular sailings to IKE all the communities skirting the remote west- AS a campaigning journalist PJ Doris would subsequently Liverpool and Glasgow, but it was a marine hub for the many ern seaboard, Westport was still teetering under flout the strictures imposed by martial law, imposed in 1919 communities that lived from Inishbofin to the Inishkeas, Achill the grey pall of repeated famine and its many cruel in Westport after the assassination of the Resident Magistrate, to Clifden. Hookers, yawls, currachs and lighters may have effects, when brothers PJ and William Doris founded JC Milling, in his pursuit of truly representing the desperate been dwarfed by the large steamships that weighed anchor The Mayo News as 1892 came to a close. plight of the majority of his rural readers. Three years earlier off the deepwater harbour of Inishlyre, but they were a piv- LThe previous decades had brought much distress and hard- he had been interned in Frongoch, along with many other otal part of the busy agrarian and fishing industry that pul- ship to the largely rural and peasant families living along the brave Westport activists. sated around every inlet and cove in Clew Bay. boggy boreens and dirt roads that meandered – from New- But back to those first editions ofThe Mayo News that con- If the Quay Hill was dominated also by very tall stores, the port and Achill, Louisburgh and Leenane, Aughagower and sistently documented this growing swell of nationalistic prin- town itself was overlooked by the Workhouse, where St Killawalla – into the small, seaside town. ciples. An often used headline, ‘The Land for the People’, Patrick’s and Pearse Terrace are now. Streets were rough and Mass emigration, high mortality rates and general impov- encapsulated this radical movement while reportage was pot-holed while the town was illuminated at night by the erishment coupled with the disenfranchisement that under- filled with a rhetoric that was both formal and dramatic, gasworks, located opposite the main railway station on Alta- pins a colonised country had predominated in the years after reflecting the seismic changes that were afoot. mont Street. A regular sight was cows – brought from the the Great Famine of the 1840s. Of course, the real societal tensions that were the norm in Paddock and Horkans Hill – being milked in the evenings at However, as a new century approached, chinks of hope were the newspaper’s catchment area were more complex than front doorsteps. Pigs were kept by many urban householders beginning to hover on the horizon while a period of cultural the one being played out between the ascendancy landlord while water was drawn from the fountain at the bottom of and political awakening – sometimes called the Celtic Dawn and the feudal tenant. The prevalence of graziers and land- High Street and at Tubber Hill. However, after the establish- – began to foster the seeds of subtle but radical change. grabbers was another pivotal – and sordid – element of the ment of Westport Urban District Council in 1898, pumps were During the last decades of the 19th century, a plethora of narrative of the land war. installed on all the streets. organisations – such as the Land League, the United Irish It is worth noting that at the height of the Great Famine, the Essentially, the early editions of The Mayo News provide an League, the GAA – were founded, precipitating a revived Marquess of Sligo – the owner of Westport House and its vast invaluable documentary of a peripheral society that was cen- sense of the right to self-determination, political independ- lands – had a total tenantry of 36,000 people. trally involved in a great movement towards change. It is no ence and cultural distinctiveness. Of course, as history shows, And, interestingly, by the turn of the 20th century, the pop- surprise that the Land League was founded in County Mayo this idealism – symbolised in the ‘poetic’ Easter Rebellion of ulation of rural Westport was still 30,780 while the town has but an equally important movement, the United Irish League, 1916 – would lead to much bitterness and a Civil War whose 3,892 residents. That is a sizeable potential readership for the was established in 1898 by Westport resident, William O’Brien, reverberations still define party politics. recently established local newspaper even if one-third of the a journalist and MP. Ironically, this schism is personalised in the story of the co- population was illiterate. Then a remote town far from the centres of power in Dub- founders of The Mayo News, PJ and William Doris. William lin and London, Westport and its congested rural hinterland was a founder member of the Land League and served time Busy port provided a seedbed for agrarian activism. Week in, week out, in prison for his political activities, but later became an MP WESTPORT Quay, more than the modern town, was the the brave newspaper editor, PJ Doris, gave a voice to this for the moderate Nationalist Party (also known as the Irish centre of much enterprise as the fledglingMayo News hit the struggle and to the many readers who were empowered by Parliamentary Party). On the other hand, PJ, the longtime streets in its early days. A railway station, at the site of the the rousing paragraphs and columns of their newspaper, The editor, was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood present St Colmcille’s National School, serviced the many Mayo News. The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 6 1912-1922

QUOTE 13 02 1915 03 01 1920 NUMBER THE number of “The man who is shot for references in the obituary of noted Bohola refusing to obey immoral orders athlete Martin Sheridan to the Olympic flag- is a martyr; the man who shoots bearing controversy of 1908. The US team another in obedience to refused to dip their flag to King Edward VII, and immoral orders is a murderer” Sheridan, a five-time Most Rev Dr Gilmartin, at Tuam Cathedral, Olympic gold medallist, is said to have 0asserted of the stars and stripes: ‘This flag pleading with young men to ‘obey God rather dips for no earthly king’. The quote inspired than man’ as the country heads towards the title of a Setanta Sports documentary this year – but is apocryp,hal, and was not Civil War April 15, 1922 reported until 1952. May 18,1918

Sequel to ‘General John Regan’ riot in Westport

WHEN His Honour County Court Judge Regan’ was being played, and when the sec- were approaching, the crowd flung stones serious injuries. When he recovered, he Doyle, KC, took his seat on the bench on ond act was on the stage was rushed, and at them, and he had to order a baton went towards the Octagon and was staunch- Wednesday morning to resume the business the place was turned into a regular pande- charge. ing his wound, when another attack was of the Castlebar Sessions, the first case take monium. The actors were assaulted and the The crowd again assembled at the Octa- made on him; when he was at the Town up was that in which Mr Thomas Neylon, scenery was pulled down; he cautioned the gon, and stones having been thrown at the Hall, a man caught him from behind, knocked District Inspector, Royal Irish Constabulary, rioters and ordered the police to note their police, he ordered another baton charge; in him down and kicked him, and the police claimed £1,000 for injuries alleged to have acts with a view to prosecution. He specially all he ordered about four or five charges. took away the man; the man returned and been received by him on the night of Feb- warned Michael Scott, and told a policeman Witness went to Peter Street and was stand- witness hit him with his baton. ruary 4 last, when at attempt was made to to take his name. ing near a lamp-post, and was quite recog- He bled a good deal and was taken to Dr produce [the play] ‘General John Regan’ in The rioting lasted for some time, and the nisable at a distance. Allman’s, where he remained an hour, and the Town Hall, Westport … whole performance was broken up, and At the time everything was quiet in the when he was returning home he disguised He remembered the evening of February some of the actors were badly handed. After town, but there were some people about. himself. 4 last; he went to the Town Hall in conse- that the crowd went to Joyce’s Hotel and He was struck in the mouth with a stone, quence of a complain made. ‘General John smashed the windows, and when the police the blow stunned him, and he sustained April 11, 1914

Cattle and fowl in dwelling HE LIVED TO TELL THE TALE

HE Swinford Rural District she had a new house which she could Council prosecuted Mary at any moment take up occupation. Ryan, Kiltimagh, for having Mr Moran, RO: “She has got a new her house in an unsanitary house was built some short time ago condition ... by the Congested Districts Board.” TChairman: “Is Mrs Ryan here?” Chairman (to defendant): “Why do Mr Keegan: “She is, sir.” you keep cattle in your house?” Mr Moran, RO, said he appeared for Defendant: “I only kept one cow for the Swinford Rural District Council, a few days.” and informed the magistrates that the Mr Moran, RO, said he had Dr Mad- house in which the defendant lived was den in court who would given evidence unfit for human habitation. It was in a if necessary appertaining to the condi- most dilapidated state and very insan- tion of the house. itary, he assumed in consequence of Mr TW Kelly, JP (to defendant): “Why her keeping cattle and fowl– don’t you go into the new house?” Chairman (apparently astonished): The defendant said it was owing to “Cattle and fowl?” the interference of her mother-in-law Defendant: “Don’t mind that, sir; there that she was for such a length of time is nothing of the kind kept in my without going into occupation of the house.” new house. Mr Moran, RO: “The house is in a The chairman made an order that the shocking condition. The floor is like a house be closed up as soon as manure pit, sir” ... vacated. The Chairman addressed the defend- Defendant: “Where am I to go?” ant thus: “What have you now to say Chairman: “You can go where you for yourself?” like, but we are not going to allow you The defendant made a somewhat to keep cattle in the house.” complicated statement about request- Defendant: “then where am I to go ing Mr Moran, RO on several occasions to?” to make a new door in the house for Chairman: “Have you not got a new 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. the convenience of her mother-in-law, house, and why not go into it?” On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German which operation would also facilitate U-Boat, 11 miles off the southern coast of Ireland, and sank in just 18 minutes her (defendant) greatly. She admitted October 18, 1913 with the loss of 1,198 lives. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 7 At the forefront of agrarian activism

William O’Brien features a lot in The Mayo News

Aiden Clarke

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 Ithe 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. A FINE SETTING The room in They changed the name of the house to Mallow Cottage, two miles from Mallow Cottage in honour of William’s Westport, where William O’Brien, home town. Michael Davitt and John Dillon met to William quickly endeared himself to draw up the constitution of the United the local population by offering advice Irish League. Pic: Courtesy of Aiden Clarke 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 Newport and Mulranny ... ary and Waterford were included under Districts Board. He proposed to the CDB “The Kilmaclasser men made a splen- “It was to be the Act. a loan fund to purchase new boats and did show. They were mostly young fel- Despite the crackdown, the UIL con- equipment for the fishermen at Murrisk. lows and the greater number of them a new Land tinued to grow and stepped up its pro- He invested £350 of his own money in carried imitation pikes of the ’98 pattern. gramme of agitation so that the govern- the scheme. Newport and other districts also sent League” ment drew up the Land Purchase (Ireland) By 1898 he had decided to set up a new large contingents bearing pikes … West- Act (1903) which finished off the land- organisation, the United Irish League, port possesses a splendid brass band, lords control over tenants and made it with the purpose of commemorating the and this band played the different con- of the country, dictating to the demor- easier for tenants to purchase land. United Irishmen of 1798. It was to be a tingents through the town. Drummin alised Irish Party leaders the terms for In the period 1903 to 1909 over 200,000 new Land League; and it was to be the also sent a great cavalcade of horsemen, reconstruction, not only of the party but tenants became owners of their holdings means of bringing unity to Irish politics. with a band and a banner on which there of the nationalist movement in Ireland. under the Act. This was followed by the Landlords found a loophole in the Land was a picture of Wolfe Tone … Louis- It soon became the largest organisation 1909 Land Act which ultimately facili- Act of 1881. They began to let their land burgh was also well represented ... There in the country, at its peak comprising tated the transfer of about nine million on 11 month leases which were not sub- were bands also from Tiernaur, Island- 1150 branches and 84,355 members. acres of land to former tenants by 1914. ject to the land courts. This attracted eady, Aughagower and Clogher.” The League reconciled the fragmented By the founding of the Free State in 1922 large graziers who, as Fergus Campbell There were speeches from William Irish Parliamentary Party in Westmin- some 316,000 tenants purchased their points out, had a close, lucrative eco- O’Brien, Dr. Ambrose MP, John Dillon ster by bringing them together in a new holdings amounting to 11.5 million nomic relationship with landlords. MP, Timothy Harrington MP and several grass roots organisation around a pro- acres. The first public meeting was held at clergymen. Among the platform party gramme of agrarian agitation, political The UIL was also instrumental in the The Octagon, Westport, where a crowd were PJ Kelly (Chairman, Westport Board reform, the settlement of the Irish land Labourers (Ireland) Act (1906), which of over 4,000 overflowed into the sur- of Guardians) and William and PJ Doris question and the pursuit of Irish Home in five years financed the ​building of rounding streets. (founders of The Mayo News). The arti- Rule. over 40,000 cottage homes, each on an The Mayo News of January 29, 1898, cle also lists the names of the contingents The UIL agitation focused attention acre of land. This unique social housing reported: from the different areas and the names on the fact that many families lived on programme – unparalleled anywhere in “It was quite evident that the severe of the provisional organising committee patches of land too small to provide a Europe – brought about an unprecedented distress at present experienced in many elected by the meeting. Although women decent livelihood even without rent. The agrarian revolution, changing the face of the districts around Westport and the were to be allowed to vote in the forth- UIL strongly believed that only agita- of the Irish countryside. indifference displayed by the Govern- coming Mayo County Council election, tional politics combined with constitu- William O’Brien re-entered parliamen- ment in relation to it has roused a very there is no mention of any women tional pressures, rather than physical tary politics and was elected MP for determined spirit amongst the people present. force, were the best means of achieving Cork. This led to William and Sophie in West Mayo … The people came in Michael Davitt did not attend as he its goals. Its most often used tactic was leaving Westport and returning to Mal- from all the districts for miles around was out of the country at the time. Some that of boycotting specific landowners low. Westport, marching in processional time later O’Brien, Davitt and John Dil- and graziers. William died suddenly in London in order, four or five deep, headed by bands lon met in Mallow Cottage to draw up This resulted in a crackdown by the 1928. After surviving World War II in and with banners bearing mottoes appro- a Constitution for the new organisa- Home Secretary which meant that France, Sophie died in 1960 in her 100th priate to the present time. Cavalcades tion. between 1901 and 1902 13 Irish MPs, year. of horsemen accompanied each of these Organised by its general secretary John amongst others, were imprisoned under processions and they were also followed O’Donnell, from Tavanagh, Westport, the Crimes Act. By the spring of 1902 Aiden Clarke of Westport Historical by long lines of vehicles of all descrip- the United Irish League proved very the counties of Cavan, Clare, Cork, Lei- Society is editor of the Society’s journal, tions. Special trains were run from Achill, popular. Its branches swept over most trim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipper- ‘Cathair na Mart’. The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 8 1922-1932

QUOTE 24 11 1928 20 08 1932 NUMBER THE number of “Some people cannot shillings which a man from Inishbiggle get married once” Island received in relief. He appeared before the County Board of Health WD Coyne, DJ, presiding over a case requesting an where a Castlebar man sought increase to 10s. He possession of a house where his could not feed his wife and three tenant was “after getting married the children on the 5s, he second or third time” said. His yearly rent was 3s 10d, and he and had gone to live elsewhere had not a cow or a March 17, 1923 5 calf. August 17, 1929

back on the island West British and Trinity atmosphere condemned in library controversy

MEETING of the ommendation for on the show- Hot And Cold Co Mayo Library ing of the Government it was Mr Moclair supported Mon- Committee was an order which the Govern- signor Dalton’s resolution. The held in Castlebar ment threatened to enforce Government was alternately on Monday, the ... blowing hot and cold about MostA Rev Dr Naughton, the Right Rev Chancellor Hegarty Irish. At the Mental Hospital Lord Bishop of Killala, presid- supported the motion … [He Committee they compelled the ing. said] the more capable and the agriculturist to have a knowl- The chief business before the more honest this librarian hap- edge of Irish so that he could meeting was the question of pened to be the more unsuit- talk to the vegetables better whether a Miss Harrison nee able she would be (hear, hear) and make the cows work over- Dunbar should or should not … If she is really sincere in her time. (Laughter.) While Miss be appointed. At a previous religious views, she cannot Harrison was learning Irish meeting the committee refused help but to recommend books what was to become of the to appoint her, giving as their that are not welcome to the library? reason that she had not an general thought of the people Bro Kelly said in his opinion adequate knowledge of Irish. … what might suit the Ministry Miss Harrison was not a fit Since that meeting the County and Rathmines would not suit subject to be appointed as Council had approved of the Mayo … librarian in Co Mayo. This anti- ruling of the committee and Irish institution (Trinity Col- the Local Government Depart- The Other Side lege) had an evil history as far ment had sent down a letter to Dr McBride proposed that as Ireland was concerned … He the County Council stating that Miss Harrison be appointed. was not going to … select from the County Council (and the There was nothing in the Irish an atmosphere entirely unsym- Library Committee) were com- Constitution to prevent a Prot- pathetic or hostile to the cul- pelled to appoint her and that estant or a pupil of Trinity ture of Ireland a lady to act as the Minister for Local Govern- College from seeking any office librarian … Her past was not ment had no option but to in the State … Trinity College an Irish past, and he doubted compel them ... had turned out some of the that her future would be an Monsignor Dalton moved greatest Irishmen of the gen- Irish future … Dr McBride had that the Library Committee erations … It would be an awful told them that Trinity College adhere to the resolution passed thing to take the religious ques- produced some of the greatest at the last meeting. As far as tion into consideration. They Irishmen. True; and Heaven he could see, nothing had inter- had suffered religious persecu- produced some of the greatest vened to change the situation tion in the past and they should devils in hell. (Hear, hear.) than then existed … They [had not begin it now. Mr Higgins said that the let- been ordered] in effect to The Rev Mr Jackson seconded ter from the Department was appoint Miss Dunbar [whose] … The person selected for most an insult to every decent man outstanding qualification of these appointments is given in the county. seemed to be that was a Prot- a certain time to qualify in the There was no ‘recommenda- estant and educated at Trinity Irish language, and there should tion’ to appoint this lady, but College and these were extraor- be no exception in her case … there was an order given to dinary qualifications for the Reference had been made to appoint her. On a vote Dr position of librarian in the conditions north of the Boyne. McBride’s amendment was Gaeltacht and in Co Mayo ... He believed it would be a splen- defeated by 10 votes to 2, the y Ann Cawley, pictured on Inishkea North by French archaeologist Mr B Joyce seconded that the did thing, and a step towards minority being the doctor and Françoise Henry, who carried out archaeological digs on the appointment be no made … the unity which they all desired, the Rev Mr Jackson. Monsignor island. Cawley was among the islanders moved from the Inishkeas because he disapproved of the if it could go forth that a lady Dalton’s resolution was then 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 whole system of the Appoint- of a different religion had been put and carried by an exactly was later employed as Henry’s cook and housekeeper and is ments Commission. It was unanimously appointed to the similar vote. pictured holding seagull chicks, which she liked to tame. stated that this was a ‘recom- position of librarian in Co Pic: From ‘Françoise Henry in Co Mayo: The Inishkea Journals’, edited by Janet T Masquardt mendation’. It was not a rec- Mayo. December 6, 1930 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 1932-1942 9

QUOTE 29 09 1934 28 01 1939 NUMBER “No subject gives rise to more public controversy than this craze for dancing”

A judge hearing a case in Achill about 80THE number of houses built on a bog in an unlicensed all-night Fianna Fáil Castlebar, described as a ‘scandal’ by The victory dance Mayo News. It was the subject of an enquiry November 26, 1938 on oath. August 10,1935

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 A proud Fianna Fáiler makes his case

HE declared intention of our fellow countrymen who refuse to become must see that whatever the attraction of A Chara, Government to maintain an renegades and lend sanction to the rape the prices offered from across Channel For an article in Mayo News of September 22 – attitude of strict neutrality as of their country. for our produce, exports must be limited re Nangle in Achill – in which I gave historical far as possible in the present Thus, between Hitler, the apostle of so as to ensure that there shall be no short- facts along with some remarks about [curbing] war, will receive general atheistic and materialistic racialism, and age at home. And our internal distributive landlordism and shoneenism, and that we would approvalT in the country. the ‘democratic’ government of Britain, system must be drastically overhauled so beat communism, etc, in The Mayo News follow- We are sure every Irishman will sympa- there is little to choose, and we must for as to ensure that supplies of all kinds are ing I’m called a hypocrite and liar and threatened thise with Poland in her hour of trial, but, once try to mind our interests and protect divided in the most equitable manner, and with reprisals if I open my mouth by the signa- from our past experience of the workings ourselves as far as is possible from the that the weak and poor are not deprived tories to a piece of vile abuse that must have of international politics, we cannot regard injurious effects, economic and otherwise, of necessities through the action of hoard- been hatched in a poisoned or demented Poland as anything but a pawn between which the war is bound to occasion even ers of profiteers. brain. the major powers. Herr Hitler has in recent in neutral countries. As for the ordinary individual, every I believe I should say: ‘Oh, Lord, forgive them months shown little regard for small With proper check on emigration and man and woman must contribute his or for they know not what they do’. nations or minorities who stood in his immigration, on imports and exports, we her own share towards making matters I am getting my article and the slander article way. should be able to ride the storm, not with- as easy as possible. The best way to do examined to see what may be the outcome. But Despite all her declarations in favour of out inconvenience, but certainly without this is by each individual continuing to even in their wrathful vengeance they have given small nations, and the ending of aggres- danger of starvation – a danger to which discharge his or her duties in the most me a title which I am very proud of and hope to sion, England still persists in a glaring many other European countries will be efficient and careful manner possible, be always worthy of – ‘The Great Man Behind breach of all these declarations by enforc- exposed. however small or great these duties may De Valera’. Thanks very much. Up Fianna Fáil! ing the partition of our own country against Some of our people, with recollections be, and to co-operate with the Govern- the clear will of its people, and in the por- of the huge profits amassed during the ment in every possible way in their efforts Yours truly, tion of our land which she has cut off from last war in various businesses by sales of to steer the ship of State through this PJ Corrigan, us has allowed a free hand to a parcel of supplies to England, anticipate another troubled period. Chairman, FF Co Ceanntair, Achill fanatical bigots, whose biggest interest in chance of a similar nature. We fear they life lies in opposing and crushing their will be disappointed. The Government September 9, 1939 October 6,1934 The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 10 Hot metal, black magic and staying afloat

Five ‘lifers’ talk about their time in The Mayo News

to the 120-year-old newspaper. Pádraic, the cur- grant for Inniú and once they got through a cer- of Seamus Ó Cathasaigh ‘This is an awful car, it Edwin mcgreal rent Production Manager, is here 43 years and tain amount of copies of it, they were happy.” is a wonder you wouldn’t send up someone else reporter counting. That’s bettered only by Eamon Con- “We were being run by a company from afar with a good car’. Tony turns around to Joe and [email protected] nolly, who spent 44 years employed here from who had no interest in us. It was the determina- says: ‘Isn’t it f***ing better than the one you have’ 1954 to 1988 as a compositor and, eventually, tion of the little team here that kept the paper – because Joe had no car! printing works manager. Martin Curry worked going,” adds Martin Curry. “That time having Seamus Ó Cathasaigh down, HEN he walked in the door in ‘The Mayo’, as he calls it, from 1961 to 2002 as With FNT investing all of their energies and it was like having the Stations in the house. It to commence a job as a printer a reporter and Editor. most of their capital into the Irish language pub- was a big occasion and we used to be told: ‘Even for The Mayo News in 1969, Seán Staunton served as Editor from 1988 to lications, The Mayo News was being run on a if you’re doing nothing, pretend you’re doing Pádraic Geraghty thought all 2006 and has been a proof-reader since, while shoestring. something because he won’t know what you’re his dreams had come true. current Advertising Manager Pat Cawley has “The Dublin office was so tight in relation to at anyway so look busy’,” Pádraic says, laugh- WThe 16-year-old from Westport had just com- been here since 1975, having started off as a expenditure on The Mayo News,” recalls Martin ing. pleted his Inter Cert at Westport Vocational printer. Curry. “There was no problem [with spending] School and felt he had landed on his feet by get- They’re testament to the constancy of this for Inniú but Joe Kenny wouldn’t be able to get From Monaghan to Mayo ting a job in The Mayo News. newspaper over several generations of Mayo life, permission to buy something as small as a hank EAMON Connolly started work in The Mayo “Tony Moore was in The Mayo News and he but the cynicism of Joe Kenny when he spoke to of strong twine cord to tie up parcels of The Mayo News in 1954 as a compositor, having served his lived down the Lodge Road, below me, and eve- Pádraic Geraghty on that first day in 1969 wasn’t News. They’d question that. apprenticeship in his native Monaghan. He wasn’t ryone used to say ‘Jesus, Tony Moore has a great irrational either. “Joe would sell scrap paper to the schools for sure what was in store when he left the border- job’,” says Pádraic to howls of laughter from his artwork and out of that he’d buy the hanks from lands that year, but he’s 58 years in Westport now long-term work colleagues around the interview Run from afar James O’Connell. Never did FNT so much as and considers it home. table. “IT is a miracle that it came out every week,” treat the staff to a Christmas drink. We used to “I’d say ye guys here probably don’t appreciate “‘That’s a company job you know, as good as a Sean Staunton says, and as the five Mayo News have a Mayo News Christmas staff dinner but your own surroundings, which no one ever does. government job’, they’d tell you, that it would be veterans talk you through their time with the everyone had to pay for themselves,” adds Mar- When I came in here first on the bus on the top great if anyone could get in there,” he recalls. newspaper, it is easy to see why. tin. of Sheeaune and it was an August weekend and But he wasn’t long in the door when another From 1947 until 1988, when the paper went into Nonetheless, when an FNT director would the sun was setting over Clew Bay and it looked picture was painted for him. liquidation, it was owned by a Dublin-based come down to Westport to visit The Mayo News marvellous,” he recalls. “I was so happy the day I got into The Mayo company, Foilseacháin Náisiúnta Teoranta (FNT), everyone would be on their best behaviour. Well, “From day one I really loved Westport. You News. The only down side was Joe Kenny, the who bought The Mayo News printing works in kinda, as Pádraic Geraghty recalls. were really made feel at home. When I arrived printing works manager, called me the first day order to print a weekly Irish language newspaper, “Someone would come down from Dublin and in Westport I had nothing. I got involved in hand- I went in and said: ‘You cannot depend on this Inniú, together with Irish language magazines Tony [Moore] or John Foy would have to go up ball and had no way of getting to Newport to the place, you know … that’s why I never built a house, and books. That their purchase included The to the station to collect them to bring them to four-walled court, so Perry Reilly used to carry because you could never depend on this place Mayo News paper was almost an afterthought to their hotel. Tony went up one day and he had a me on the bar of the bike to Newport and back. in case it went bust’ He’d say: ‘We’re here today them. hole in the front passenger’s seat of the oul’ Opel By God my arse was sore when I got home!” but we mightn’t be here next week!’ I always “It was fortunate that the paper continued to Kadett he had. He had a little board over it but But the bumpy journeys were worth it – Eamon remember him saying that yet here I am 43 years come out because it was of secondary importance if the board moved at all you could see the road won an All-Ireland handball doubles title with later,” says Pádraic, chuckling at the memory. to FNT,” explains Pat Cawley. “It was number under you! Seamus Fleming for Mayo in 1956. He has the Around a table in The Mayo News last week sat one to the staff here but we wouldn’t be getting “Tony went up to bring down FNT director distinction of having won Ulster and Connacht five people with a combined service of 188 years the backing of the owners. They used to get a Seamus Ó Cathasaigh and Joe Kenny said in front handball titles. Tuesday, december 4, 2012 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

“Sometimes I remember coming in at 9am in in one week in hot metal to producing the fol- and advertising was more forthcoming than in “It is a miracle the morning and not leaving until 9am the next lowing week’s issue on what was then the most tougher times,” he added. morning. It took us a full week to do the 16 pages,” sophisticated, computerised system in Ireland, Joe Berry bought the paper outright shortly recalls Pádraic Geraghty. that was the irony of it,” says Martin Curry. after and it has been in the hands of the Berry that it came out Martin Curry remembers some of the big sto- “People would never appreciate how lads like family since. ries he, Chris Lavelle and Gerry Bracken worked Pádraic Geraghty, John Joe Geraghty and Peter The paper has often printed in excess of 100 every week” on in his time here. Grace Kelly’s visits; Aus- Murray in production had to switch in an instant pages since – a far cry from the six pages often tralia’s second most wanted man, Robert Trim- to bringing out the newspaper under a totally printed in Eamon Connolly’s first year here in bole, living in Westport; the Pope’s visit to Knock new system where you’re operating a mouse 1954. European Design Awards have been won, His work as a compositor was part of the oper- in 1979, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s visit and instead of watching out for a splash of hot metal,” Sport and Living sections have expanded and ation of the production of The Mayo News that far too many tragedies as well. added Martin, before Pádraic Geraghty took up blossomed, but the paper continues to strive to is so far removed from modern systems that it Padraic Geraghty remembers one of these, the the story. be the voice of its community and the loyalty of is hard to believe the paper successfully came brutal murder of pensioner Josie Joyce, on the “The biggest thing about switching over I its readers remains a striking constant. out every week. Newport Road, in Westport in 1983. remember is that you were wearing overalls and “The thing I would be aware of after coming in Nowadays, a page in The Mayo News can be “The biggest run I can remember on sales in there was ink under your nails and gone in through was the important place the paper has in the local made in less than ten minutes. In the old days of The Mayo News was when Josie Joyce got mur- your skin under the old system and the day we community and how it was valued by readers the hot metal printing it could take a full day for dered. We had to keep printing extra papers. It came in here under the new system, you could out there,” admits Seán Staunton. “I know things a single page to be typed and made in produc- was the night before the hurling All-Ireland, on have worn your best suit, you could go home are changing and you have websites now, but my tion. Saturday night. I met Josie that morning or on without a bit of dirt on you,” he said. view is that the internet will never totally replace Martin Curry or the late Gerry Bracken, Editor the Friday because I used to go down there newspapers. I don’t think you’ll ever reach a stage from 1960 to 1985, would come to him with a because we had land below him and I’d always Modern times where a paper like The Mayo News will disap- headline for a story which he would work on. meet him coming up Attireesh [on the Newport THE Mayo News went into liquidation in 1988 pear. One of the things that astounds me, to this Individual moulds for each letter would have to Road in Westport]. and were trailing far behind other newspapers day, is the loyalty of readers of The Mayo News be picked while the reporter would be working “He said to me ‘who’s going to win the All- in terms of their technology. A consortium of in Westport and, particularly, in places like Achill, on the rest of the story. Ireland Sunday?’ so it was a couple of days before four local businessmen – Joe Berry, Jim Kiely, Louisburgh and Newport.” “I’d say the young generation would find it really the final. It was on the front page for a good few George Conroy and Colam O’Neill – took over The five men around the table are just a sample difficult to comprehend how labour-intensive it weeks before yer man was caught. The whole and Seamus Gavin subsequently came on board of those who have kept The Mayo News going really was. The bulk of everything printed was front page was done up, little bits of articles. I too. Seán Staunton was appointed as Editor and for 120 years. They list out scores more names, picked by individual letters for every word in the remember Chris [Lavelle], one week, to fill a owner investment, which the paper lacked for too many to mention for fear names will be left body of the text,” explained Martin Curry. piece, said ‘black magic could be involved here’,” so many years, started to come and the paper out. People from near and far have worked for Pádraic Geraghty explained how it would take he said, laughing. expanded. The Mayo News at its offices in, firstly, James at least an hour to compose each column of the “I think people like Eamon [Connolly] and Street and, currently, The Fairgreen in Westport. six columns per page. On top of that was the Technological transformation Gerry Bracken, God rest him, and Martin [Curry] All helped to keep The Mayo News going through headlines and putting the various elements of THE Mayo News was one of the last newspapers did a quite remarkable job in keeping the paper thick and, more often, thin. Two world wars, a the page into one block. It is little wonder The to leave hot metal behind when they changed afloat in very difficult times,” says Seán Staunton. war of independence, a civil war, the Easter Ris- Mayo News was, for many years from the 1950s over to a new computerised system in August “I was lucky enough that gradually the economy ing and man on the moon have all come and gone to the 1980s, only eight or 16 pages, but the work- 1988. was beginning to improve and that in turn helped and The Mayo News remains. The legacy of the load involved in that was immense. “The transition from producing a newspaper the paper and people like Pat [Cawley] went out paper’s staff is a fine one. The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 12

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 y HERE IS YOUR HOST RTÉ personality Gay Byrne (bottom centre) y DON’T LET GO Vestie Tunney, Fonsie Canning and Gerry to the garage to put on his football jersey in 1971 and found a bird visited The Squealing Pig pub in Ballyglass in April 1975. McNally in Westport, 1956. had nested in it! Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 13 a journey down memory lane from the archives of liam lyons 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 y DON’T LET GO Vestie Tunney, Fonsie Canning and Gerry celebrates after winning the Scanlon Cup on Easter y WELL DRESSED This group of young Swinford men were in high McNally in Westport, 1956. Sunday, 1966. They beat St Joseph’s, Dooniver in the final. spirits in November 1966. The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 14 1942-1952

QUOTE 04 09 1943 23 04 1949 NUMBER

THE number of “Small dogs are people who proposed to end both all right until they emigration and partition by playing get into bad the tin whistle. A Ballyhaunis man, company” summoned to court for begging, informed Mr AA Rochford, DJ, of his extended Justice Liam Coyne, hearing plans, stating that his a court case in which it was ultimate goal was to decided to restrain an make Ireland a fit place to live in. Alsation May 6, 1950 1 May 28, 1949 Bid to open ‘pubs’ on Sundays

MOTION in the name of Mr W tinued, had seconded the former resolution. added, and the people of Castlebar were never He had visited every house in the town and Cresham requesting the Minister Addressing Mr Collins, the Chairman [Mr reputed as being rowdy. Liquor was one of he was assured that the people of Castlebar for Justice to have the licensing A Wynne] asked what had become of the the biggest sources of revenue to the Govern- and the people of McHale Road did not want laws amended so as to permit resolution. ment. The working man would not have money the Sunday opening. The local traders or any the opening of public houses on Mr Collins: “It went all over the world. They every day of the week and there was nothing other section of the community had not asked SundaysA between 12.30 and 2pm and 5 and turned it down in Westport. They are a proper wrong about his taking a drink on a Sunday. for it … 7pm in urban and rural areas was passed by pioneer town” … Mr Heverin … second[ed] the motion … The supporters of this motion would have Castlebar Urban District Council at their Mr Cresham said that an amendment was People would get drink on Sunday anyway the young boys of 15 … go to the public houses monthly meeting on Friday night, despite needed in the licensing laws. They were all and they had better have them do it legally. on Sunday instead of the sports field … This vehement opposition by Councillor aware that illegal Sunday drinking was going He knew a number of people in Castlebar would create a nice moral fibre amongst the O’Quigley. on and they could not get the people to stop who hired cars or cycled outside the limit on youth … During all the years he was associ- Mr O’Quigley contended that the Council it. In Corporation towns drink was available Sundays in order to obtain drink. ated with the GAA, he had never met a had no mandate to deal with this matter … on Sundays and people in rural areas could The Chairman remarked that the serving of drinker. [he] said a similar motion had come before have drink in the towns, but a town resident drink at the Golf Club was not restricted while The motion was passed by five to two, the the Council at their February meeting and it would have to travel outside the three-mile the poor man could get none ... votes being as follows: Messrs Wynne, Gavin, was passed and circulated throughout Ireland. boundary before getting it. He saw no reason Mr O’Quigley said … [the Council] were not Heverin, Cresham and Collins (for), and He saw no reason for bringing it up again as why the arrangements prevailing in some empowered to deal with this matter. It was Messrs O’Boyle and O’Quigley (against). when a Bill is dealt with in the Dáil, there is areas should not apply to all. doubtful if the Councillors’ own wives would no more about it. Councillor Collins, he con- There was no harm in taking a drink, he supply this motion ... October 25, 1947

a quick cuppa 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 par- ish 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 tropi- cal 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 pos- terior. 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 y Pictured after the station Mass in Mulchrone’s of Moyhastin, Westport during the 1950s. From left, seated: choked. 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 July 26, 1952 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 15 A sense of place

ination to the All-Ireland finals in the 60 years of ups Dean Crowe Hall, Athlone. No less a and downs in sporting figure than Galway’s Mattie McDonagh showed he could act, as well Ballinrobe 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 billy days in the country with her husband, horan 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 INGULARLY reflecting the The Green in Ballinrobe was thronged county’s life in all its manifesta- for the occasion. tions has been the privilege of Part of Ballinrobe’s soul was ruptured The Mayo News for the last 120 in the final hours of 1959, when the Ball- years. Circumstances have dic- inrobe Express pulled out of the railway tatedS the emotional reaction to a perusal station for the last time. Economic reali- of its content, particularly if the reader ties dictated that its lifespan of 67 years is in involuntary exile. had to end, sceptical locals were dubious Learning of the sudden passing of John, of the planned replacement. As the train who sat beside you in primary school, prepared to make its final journey on that through the medium of the local notes, December day, one remembered that it renders the loneliness of a New York was the mode of transport used to convey bed-sit well nigh unbearable. In a pleas- a fearful student to a college in Tuam, ing contrast, the sporting headline pro- while aged parents said goodbye to their claiming that Martin’s last-gasp point offspring, seeking a decent wage in another from an acute angle had earned the club land. its first ever senior county title, evoked The closure of the Agricultural Institute tears of unconfined joy. A tinge of regret, in Creagh, once a sanatorium, tending to too, perhaps – you might have been in people suffering from the dreaded dis- Martin’s place had not economic realities ease, tuberculosis, evoked a very hostile ordained otherwise. reception, but all to no avail, despite An invitation from Gerry Bracken, at impassioned pleas. the prompting of a local informant, Jim The unexpected intervention of the Burke, deeply immersed in all things Irish, Grim Reaper has caused many heart- led to my becoming the Ballinrobe cor- breaking moments, expressed in empty respondent in the early 1950s. My first seats in classrooms, vacancies on teams assignment, a sporting one, was keeping and unfulfilled potential. One can still an eye on a seven-a-side football tourna- feel the sense of shock induced by the ment in The Green, the precursor of sudden passing of men like Peter Browne, Flanagan Park. Tournaments of this nature Richie Bell, Christy O’Haire and our were major attractions then, as teams recently retired ebullient parish priest, from UCG (adorned with county stars), Monsignor Tom Shannon, so passionate Oughterard (fortified by the talented A WATCHFUL EYE Joe Byrne pictured in the about the Harry Clarke windows adorn- Keogh brothers) and The Neale (but- signal box at Ballinrobe Railway Station. Part ing St Mary’s Church. Peter was an eter- tressed by Joe, Stan and Michael of the of the town’s soul was ruptured in the final nal optimist as far as the fortunes of Mayo Mellotte clan) were the main contend- hours of 1959, when the Ballinrobe Express and Ballinrobe football were concerned, ers. pulled out of the railway station for the last and Richie laid the foundations of the Ballinrobe has smiled, cried, given vent time, writes Billy Horan. Pic: Courtesy of Ballinrobe success of ladies’ football in the county, Archaeological and Historical Society www.historicalballinrobe.com to its dissatisfaction, and enthused many while coaching All-Ireland-winning sides times since in the intervening years. – junior and senior – in Ballinrobe Com- Would that a fallible memory could be munity School, Nobody was more deserv- more precise in reproducing details! ing of being described as a gentle giant Prevailing on an industrialist to locate than Christy, and how we enjoyed the a worthwhile factory in the town was a activities at the South Mayo GAA Board primary target of the Balinrobe Develop- ontemporary Ballinrobe has meetings! ment Company. Regrettably, success did “Heroism is now a lively artistic heartbeat, An imposing life-size statue now dom- not attend the endeavour, despite endless needed more amply demonstrated by the inates Cornmarket. It is that of John King, Monday night meeting in Ozanam House, yearly acclaimed productions born in a village close to the town on pre-election promises, trips to Dublin to than ever” of the Musical Society, and February 7, 1865, and one of Ballinrobe’s engage with government ministers, and inC more recent times, by the contribu- most notable sons. John was twice awarded IDA expectations. The committed com- tions of the Archaeological and Histori- the Congressional Medal of Honour for munal service of people like John Colleran, cal Society. Such a characteristic should extraordinary heroism in the American Brendan Sweeney and Tony Jennings has spoken in glowing terms of the pic- occasion no surprise, as Ballinrobe had Navy, which acknowledged his contribu- deserved better. turesque golf course. “This must be the a thriving Drama Festival in the 1960s. tion by the commissioning of the USS Not all the striving to enhance Ballin- finest championship course in the west Leading groups from the four provinces John King in 1961. robe’s image has been in vain. Its race- of Ireland,” he enthused. Fishing, described performed the works of Seán O’Casey, Heroism is now needed more than ever course, under the shadow of the Partry as that ‘Gentle Lunacy’ in a topical talk John B Keane, TC Murray, Galway’s MJ in recession-blighted Ireland. Would that mountains, is now generally accepted as on Radio Éireann many years ago, is a Molloy and others, and waited with bated the inspiring example of King cultivate the best endowed provincial track, fol- fertile Ballinrobe resource, and the pro- breath on the final night, to see if adju- a sense of place, so essential in any recov- lowing recent extensive renovations. No motion of events like the World Cup has dicators like Micheál Ó hAodha or Gabriel ery, as The Mayo News has been doing less an authority than Pádraig Harrington brought an international dimension. Fallon had given them that coveted nom- for the past 120 years. The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 16 1952-1962

QUOTE 19 12 1952 04 02 1961 NUMBER THE number of miles “We are a rich country, but which Westport cyclist Mickey Palmer rode the a little bit daft” night before won two races at the 1953 Laught Clann na Talmhan TD Joseph Blowick, Sports in Co Galway, addressing an after-Mass meeting at including the All-Ireland 53 10,000 metres. Palmer Lecanvey on Easter Sunday ahead of the competed in Dublin the day before and on general election. “We are daft because the return journey, had to change trains in those who govern have millionaire ideas,” Athlone – where he left his bag after him. Having spent the night in Ballinasloe, he he explained. “They can spent £2.5 cycled back to Athlone in the morning and million on rebuilding Dublin Castle, £890 then re-traced his steps before going on to on a carpet for the Dáil and £1/4 million Ahascragh, Mountbellew and Moylough for a racehorse.” April 24, 1954 before arriving in Laught. July 18, 1953

Princess Grace accorded signing autographs tremendous Mayo reception

OR the past week admirers The true facts were revealed in that from all over the country have issue following the announcement of been following … the dream- the fairytale wedding between Grace come-true visit by Princess Kelly and Prince Rainier – an announce- Grace of Monaco to her ances- ment that brought the world press to tralF Mayo. Amid scenes of unprecedented Westport in an effort to trace her ances- pageantry, spectacle and splendour the tors. And after a whistle-stop tour of charming Princess and her husband Kelly homes, a village in Drummin was Prince Rainier were given a reception erroneously headlined as that from unrivalled in the country of her for- which the Hollywood star’s grandfather bears. emigrated. But as I watched the hundreds of press- A cancelled visit by the Prince and men, photographers and TV men descend Princess to Ireland last year caused great on the thatched cottage at Drimurla, disappointment. Then two months ago like bees on a hive, to record the historic came the news – which made many and touching visit by the Princess to hearts flutter – that the royal couple the humble home of her grandfather, I would travel on a State visit to attend could not help recalling the day over the Music Festival in Dublin. But the five years ago – January 21, in fact – when sceptics ruled out any hope of a visit by The Mayo News announced exclusively her Serene Highness to her ancestral to the world that it was from the white- home and cousins in Mayo. How wrong washed cottage in the tiny village of they were proved to be. y Joe Lynch, the singer and actor, who later played Dinny in the RTÉ series Glenroe, Drimurla, near Newport, that John H . pictured with his fans in Mulligan’s Hall, Achill in 1956. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons Kelly emigrated to the USA. June 24, 1961

Preparing Ireland for Mud water in Communism? Louisburgh taps

“THEY are preparing Ireland hard and be an international language. Dear Sir, at their meeting Caesar and Virgil; others fast for Communism,” said a Manulla “A sound knowledge of your native Public money has been lavished since the that they sing fireside songs and speak of NFA member at a meeting of the local tongue was all right 50 years ago when foundation of the Free State (the now Repub- their plans for becoming directors of Bord branch on Monday night, during a dis- the majority of people seldom ever lic) on the improvement of the Irish roads na Móna and Gaelteara Éireann. These reports cussion on the Irish language. passed the parish boundary. so that the Lord and Lady Bagstops would are probably untruths but a good sense of a He said: “When our Irish boys and But in these days of travel, and when not suffer a bumpy journey to their country humour is a glorious characteristic amongst girls sit for examinations in England seven out of every ten pupils have to residences. This and other wasting of public the people of the rural areas. and fail, they are mocked by the Eng- flee their native shore, it is essential money lead to bankruptcy which has set in The digression ... does not take away from lish people and they are told that it’s that children should be taught through like a malady. One of the results of this self- the prevailing danger of a serious epidemic their clergy at home in Ireland who are the medium of English – the language inflicted poverty is that the people of Lou- breaking out in the village. It is because of to blame by having Irish shoved down that is necessary for them to earn their isburgh must drink from the same trough as this danger that I ask The Mayo News to their throats. livelihood.” the animals of the field – the river with its demand that the County Council build a new “Our clergy are not to blame,” he said, Irish is all right, he said, for those in brewery colour. reservoir in Carramore or repair the old “but our children are told that, and cities and towns who have the ‘pull’ to You may ask what are your local improve- one. unfortunately many of them believe it, secure the ‘plum’ jobs. ment bodies doing. That is a question I can- – ’Burgh man and gradually lose their faith.” not answer except to give you the rumours Another member said there should November 23, 1957 which fly around. Some say that they discuss June 7, 1958 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 1962-1972 17

QUOTE 09 10 1965 25 01 1969 NUMBER

THE number of “That is the only thing that is cushions stolen (or borrowed, holding it up. A hen and according to the defendants) by eggs?” Dublin campers from the Achill Head Hotel. ‘Had Thomas Giblin of Westport Urban No Pillows, So District Council seeks clarification on They Took why fences of barbed wire across a back Cushions From Hotel’ was the entrance road to St Patrick’s Terrace memorable Mayo were still intact despite an order for its News headline. removal. May 11, 1963 September 18, 4 1965

of a piggery while the members of the fied. Hospital morgue scandal County Council talk in millions about When the matter was raised at a Mayo signing autographs roads, tourist facilities, airports, etc, to County Council meeting, Mr MJ O’Toole gain publicity and popularity in the hope said the location of the morgue was in a of a further five-year installment?” he very poor place beside the cow byre and “THIS is an absolute disgrace and a slur cent to a piggery and its accompanying asked. the condition of the building was desper- on the people of this county. That it should smell. “The road to it, or to be more cor- “The County Council is responsible for ate. have been allowed to exist is more dis- rect, the pot-holed pathway, is unmargined this hospital. Rates are being paid by the “The walk to the morgue is disgraceful graceful still,” said Mr Joseph McNally, at from the piggery filth and, without exag- people of the county to maintain all the and the whole thing is a disgrace to the a meeting of Westport UDC on Monday geration, one would go boot high in this institutions in the county, not particular county … I was ashamed to be a member night when he strongly protested against filth and mud,” he said. sections of them,” he said. “The County of Mayo County Council when I attended the location and condition of the morgue Added to all this, he said, was the fact Councillors were voted into the Council a funeral there recently.” at St Mary’s Hospital, Castlebar. that the only source of light available there to do a job. What, I ask you, are they doing Mr MJ Gilvarry, RMS, St Mary’s Hospital, Mr McNally said he regretted the neces- after dark was what came through the door about this scandal?” said the hospital visiting committee had sity of raising the matter, but as he had of the morgue itself. This leaves the sur- Mr L McLochlainn, County Manager, who been talking about the need for a new occasion to attend the removal of the rounding area in complete darkness where attended Monday night’s meeting, said the mortuary for years. It was a disgrace, but remains of his late uncle, Mr Alfred McNally, people must grope their way through all matter had, in fact, been raised at the a new mortuary was in an advanced state from the morgue on January 20, he could this mud and filth to reach their cars in County Council meeting last Saturday. He of design and it would sited beside the not, in conscience, ignore the scandal he the funeral cortege. assured Mr McNally that the County Engi- hospital church where there was a good had observed. He was relating facts gained “Must the people of Mayo continue to neer had definite plans for the removal of approach. from first-hand experience, he said. suffer this humiliation of bearing their the morgue from its present location and The morgue, he said, was directly adja- own dead away from the stain and smell that the matter was being speedily recti- March 11, 1967

Calf with a packed pavilion no eyes

HIRLEY, the latest arrival on a Newport farm, is receiving VIP treatment. But the three- weeks-old brown and white calf cannot see the people fussing about it, because the ani- mal was born without having any eyes. SSince 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 nor- mal 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 con- stant 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 The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 18 1972-1982

QUOTE 15 06 1974 18 08 1979 NUMBER

“There is no door THE number of day schools who had won on the main street the Hogan Cup (awarded for the that urine did not colleges football senior championship) flow in” before St Colman’s, Claremorris beat Carmelite College, Councillor Frank Durcan on Moate in the downside of ‘The Roscommon. Gabriel Cuddy scored 1-3 for Occasion at the Castle’, a the Mayo side. rock festival in Castlebar April 30, 1977 August 19, 1981 0

birthday treat Mayo gardaí gunned down

FORTY-EIGHT hours after the brutal shoot- County Hospital. Sergeant O’Malley said: “The ing of two Mayo-born gardaí by armed and gang opened fire on the patrol car and we were masked bank raiders, the county, and country in it. They fired through the side windows and in general, was still reeling from the shock of just kept firing and firing.” the shock of the dastardly killings which has It is understood that one of the gunmen was brought condemnation from all sections of the wounded in the battle. Another man, Conor community. O’Shea, in his late twenties, believed to be a The two Castlerea-based Gardaí, Detective native of Cork and having a Dublin address, Garda John Morley (37), the former Mayo was found by the Gardaí injured at the end of football star and Garda Henry Byrne (29), both nearby Granlahan wood and was taken under married and natives of Knock, were gunned heavy escort to Galway Regional Hospital. down when they tried to apprehend the bank Last night hundreds of gardaí, assisted by raiders near Ballaghaderreen, after they had military tracker dogs and two Army helicop- raided the Bank of Ireland in the town and got ters, joined in one of the biggest manhunts away with £35,000, later recovered in one of ever witnessed in this country, which is being the abandoned cars … centred around the wooded areas near A few miles outside [Ballaghaderreen] on Ballinlough and Cloonfad. the Loughglynn Road, a Castlerea-based Garda On going to press, the manhunt for the raid- patrol car, driven by Garda Derek Kelly, a native ers – believed by detectives, who know their of Kiltimagh, with Sergeant Michael O’Malley, names, to have strong connections with the a native of Louisburgh, in the front seat, and INLA and IRSP, but denied by the organisa- [John Morley and Henry Byrne], tried to inter- tions – was still going on, but hopes were fad- cept the raiders, but the squad car was rammed ing for a quickly capture of the killers. One of by the raiders, who opened up on the gardaí them is believed to come from Kiltimagh, the with a hail of bullets. home town of the driver of the patrol car, Garda Garda Byrne died instantly and Garda Mor- Derek Kelly. ley, who was armed, gave chase, but was shot by the raiders and died later at Roscommon July 9, 1980

Letter posted in Dublin on May 2 delivered in Westport on October 18

HE ‘Pony Express’ mail delivery tions for ‘a display advertisement to be included system of the old Wild West might in a feature in The Mayo News for Achill Sound be considered, in this age of mod- Pharmacy Ltd. The advertising feature ern communications, to have appeared in our issue of July 1. been a very inefficient and unre- Although Arrow Ltd were very efficient in Tliable service for business. But The Mayo forwarding the copy for their clients – Sterling News has just discovered a ‘Snail Express’ Winthrop (Ireland) Ltd – display advert, almost postal service … achieving less than one mile two months in advance of publication date of travel per day. the feature, their letter only arrived at our A letter, clearly (typed) addressed to ‘Editor, offices on the afternoon mail delivery of Mayo News, James Street, Westport, Co Mayo’ Wednesday last, October 18 – 169 DAYS AFTER was posted in central Dublin on Tuesday, May IT WAS POSTED IN DUBLIN! 2, 1978, by Arrow Ltd, Advertising Agents. y Erris woman Honor Keane trying her first cigarette, aged 100, in 1973. Pic: Liam Lyons The letter contained copy and lay-out instruc- October 28, 1978 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 19 Viva Il Papa! Knock was transformed for the Pope’s visit in 1979

the little village, and when the first beads “Over at the glass-enclosed gable where Sean rice of mist touched their faces around nine it all began a hundred years ago, an unac- A miracle and a case columnist o¹clock the sombre colouring became a customed silence reigned, the only occa- [email protected] sea of red and green and yellow and sion in a century it was not the centre of black.” They had come prepared for the attraction. of mistaken identity weather. “Nor did many of the multitude cast T was 1979 and Ireland was en fete “By noon the mist had cleared and a their eyes towards the village cemetery for the visit of Pope John Paul II. couple of hundred thousand people had on the southern hill facing the basilica Having attracted a million people brought life to the distant hills. Thou- where lie the bones of many of those to MARION Carroll was cured at Knock. She was taken there to the Phoenix Park and almost sands of chairs had been unfolded and whom the story of Knock was unfolded on a stretcher, almost all of her body organs having ceased 300,000 to Galway, a further quar- hundreds of thousands of home-made on that dreary August evening in 1879.” to function. terI of a million awaited the arrival of the sandwiches and beverages consumed in At 3.40 the hills around the village She had lost the power in her limbs, lost control of her pontiff in Knock. what looked like a gigantic tea party.” reverberated to the cheers greeting the kidneys, lost her eyesight, lost her speech. She was on the The Mayo village was transformed for The Pope had been expected at 2 o’clock Pope’s helicopter as it penetrated the brink of death. the occasion. Mayo County Council had but was delayed by the fever among his gloom in the southern sky. It landed on In the Basilica the stretcher was placed under the statue poured millions of pounds into its facelift. ‘young people of Ireland’ in Galway. The the east side of the Basilica where Arch- of Our Lady. Looking up at the statue, Marion pleaded: The shabby old stalls were removed from hiatus provided an opportunity for the bishop Joseph Cunnane and Monsignor “You are a mother too; you know how I feel.” the street, a new Basilica built, the grounds psychologists to set the mood for his James Horan met His Holiness with Minutes later she was standing unassisted in the nearby of the shrine re-modelled, and the glass- eventual arrival. scores of other people joining in the rest home … restored to full health, her mind a whirl of enclosed area at the gable wall of the old The Army Band of the Western Com- welcoming crush. joy. village church, where the Apparition mand under Col Jim McGee and the 160 Not until he reached the roof of the Your scribe travelled to Esker Monastery outside Athenry occurred 100 years earlier, modern- voice Tuam Diocesan choir under the ambulatory, though, was he in full view to interview Marion about her miraculous cure. We were ised. direction of Canon Charles Scahill raised of all the people. And for the vast major- to meet before the concluding ceremonies of a mission at From every corner of the country pil- the spirits with renderings of ‘When the ity of the concourse quarter of a mile the Monastery, but people milling around her precluded grims gathered to welcome Pope John Saints go Marching In’ and ‘Down by the away that was as near as they got to the a pre-Mass interview. Paul to the centenary celebrations of the Riverside’ etc, and a festive atmosphere pontiff. At her invitation and that of Redemptorist Fr Vincent Apparition . . . the ‘goal of his journey’. embraced the great gathering like a sum- The impressive ceremonies completed, Kavanagh, I was invited to record her story as she talked Extraordinary outpourings of emotion mer breeze ... in complete contrast to darkness had begun to fall ... and his tour to the congregation. From the sacristy I joined her and the followed him everywhere. the low, sullen clouds brooding above among the people was cancelled. The procession of priests and sat beside Marion in the sanctu- Your scribe was among the dozens of them. disappointment among them was palpa- ary under the blinding glare of lights. Irish and international press people cov- A great sense of expectancy hung eve- ble as they watched the helicopter lift Candles were the only source of light down the body of ering the visit, and even the most cynical rywhere. Prelates, photographers, jour- off and scoot back to Dublin without a the chapel, scores of small candles everywhere, their flick- among them acknowledged the poign- nalists and celebrities wandered about word of an apology from those in author- ering flames distorting faces in the congregation and cast- ancy of the occasion. the place, among them faces that would ity. ing eerie shadows across the walls, Marion told the con- From early morning the people teemed be famous on other occasions. President For some the cancellation of the tour gregation of the gradual decline of her health a short time into the village. Many travelled the night Hillery, and an Taoiseach Jack Lynch was not important. To have been there after her marriage at the age of 21. For 17 years she went before, sleeping in al fresco in specially were escorted to their seats, no more was the core of the occasion. downhill suffering from multiple sclerosis. constructed corrals around the perim- than a murmur greeting their arrival. You couldn’t but feel for the elderly She was confined to a wheelchair as one by one most of eter of the shrine. people, though, laden with bags, shuf- her organs ceased to function. She was reluctant to accept Some slept nearby in their cars, and as fling in the rain and the darkness through an invitation from a local ambulance driver to be taken to dawn broke on that Sunday morning they “A great sense of the traffic chaos back to their cars and knock, preferring to spend whatever time was left to her took up the best positions for a view of buses, their dream of a close-up of the with her husband Jimmy. the Pope touring among them. expectancy hung Pope unfulfilled. More consideration by Eventually she agreed to make he journey from her home In my report filed to the Connacht those in charge of the visit at the other in Athlone. After receiving the blessing of the sick in the Tribune I wrote: “As morning progressed everywhere” venues would have avoided all that. Basilica, “I got this beautiful feeling and a whispering a great snake of humanity wound towards 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. ENORMOUS CROWD In the glare of the lights I broke into a cold sweat and A section of the huge visibly shrank into the chair aware that the eyes of the attendance gathered at Knock congregation were pinned on me. for the visit of Pope John Paul No sooner had I said my goodbyes and hastened to leave II in 1979. Pic: Frank Dolan the church than members of the congregation were gath- ering to congratulate me. But I managed to slip away into the Esker darkness and leave Marion to deal with the curi- osity of the droves wanting to shake her hand. The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 20 1982-1992

QUOTE 04 09 1985 09 03 1988 NUMBER THE number of “Make me a little Hitler members of the Fine Gael/Labour and I’ll deal with the government who attended the laying of problem” the foundation stone for the £12,000 General 0 Hospital in Castlebar. The ceremony was Ailbe Malone, Castlebar Town Engineer, performed by Western Health Board chairman and Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Killilea, but on dealing with the issue of dumping boycotted by the Minister for Health Barry before the advent of on-the-spot fines Desmond, who indicated that he should have December 26, 1984 been invited to perform it. Four members of Castlebar UDC turned down invitations because of ‘the insult’ to the Minister. May 28, 1986

Knock Airport takes off

“THIS is a great day for Connacht,” airport, organised by the Knock Shrine nacht, assembled on the transformed (from Inside the crowded terminal building exclaimed an exuberant Monsignor James Society through Joe Walsh Tours, attracted bog wasteland) summit of Barnacogue those ‘privileged’ with passes milled about, Horan of Knock after he welcomed the national and international media attention mountain where the ‘miracle’ airport has savouring the sense of occasion, soliciting crew of the first of three Aer Lingus Boe- and were covered by RTE, BBC and ITN been created at a cost, to date, of £12 mil- confirmation from one another that the ing jets on their arrival at the new Con- television crews. lion. dream of Knock Airport was now a mag- nacht Regional Airport on Friday morning. The historic occasion was witnessed at The fact that the vast majority had to nificent reality, shrugging off as trivial the Several thousand people loudly cheered first hand by a crowd in the region of 15,000 walk miles from the main Knock-Charles- fact that expensive coats had become in enthusiastic agreement. (some estimates put it as high as 20,000) town Road because of restrictions on traf- stained from freshly-painted walls. The new and highly controversial airport, who crowded around the terminal build- fic to the airport didn’t dampen their The matter-of-factness of the PA now generally known as ‘Knock Airport’, ing and the perimeter fences to watch the enthusiasm or their desire to ‘be there’. announcements – ‘Passengers for Flight will not be officially opened until next Aer Lingus jets land and take off again Enterprising hawkers had a brisk demand EI 3962 from Knock to Rome please report April. But on Friday it became operational from Irelan’s longest runway (7,500 for flags and balloons, sold from makeshift now to the Depature Lounge’ – created the for three Aer Lingus flights conveying over feet). roadside stalls. Mobile take-away food atmosphere of a ‘normal’ international 400 people on a special one-week pilgrim- People of all ages – men, women and caterers had a bonanza and brilliant sun- airport. age to Rome. children – from all walks of life and from shine in the late morning boosted ice-cream The inaugural passenger flights from the all parts of Mayo and many areas in Con- sales. October 30, 1985

Mary Robinson behind the counter makes history

EVER again will Irish office, she grasped the initiative political parties claim and launched her campaign a full that there is no such six months ago, visiting every cor- thing as ‘a women’s ner of the country, travelling to vote’. There is, and it England to meet emigrants, and to Nwas very much in evidence on Belfast to have discussions with Wednesday last when a majority people on both sides of the politi- of women united – perhaps for the cal divide. first time ever – to put one of their But she appealed mainly, but not own in The Parj. exclusively, for the women’s vote, Mayowoman Mary Robinson is but the ‘experts’ said there was no set to become the seventh President such thing. The same ‘experts’ said of Ireland and the first woman ever she launched her campaign much to hold the office. She will also too early, would peak too soon and become the youngest imcumbent then go into rapid decline. Hind- of the office and at just 46 years of sight – a very exact science – proved age may well have reached the ‘ripe them wrong on both counts. old age’ of 60 before having to pack We congratulate Mary Robinson her bags to return to the humdrum on winning the highest office in the life of ordinary citizens. land and we have no reason to Her election to the highest office believe that she will not be a Pres- in the land was neither a victory ident for all the people, a champion for left-wing politics or a rejection of community development and of conservative politics. She suc- environmental care, and a worthy cessfully sold herself to the elec- ambassador of Ireland wherever torate as an unlabelled candidate she goes. and, while Fianna Fáil and Fine y Dan McGing behind his display of freshly-sliced bacon in his grocery shop and bar in 1983, Gael pondered the Presidential November 14, 1990 located where Matt Molloy’s pub is now on Bridge Street, Westport. Pic: From the archives of Liam Lyons Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 1992-2002 21

QUOTE 10 11 1993 06 02 2002 NUMBER

The English Express Edition £1.15 Inside . . . Sport . . . “Dr Seamus Caulfield’s resignation 12 page Colour Sports THE number of Section Vol. CVIV Wednesday, February 6, 2002 Price: �1.40 Web Sites: www.mayonews.ie & www.mayonews.com votes in favour from the Office of Public Works Tánaiste announces It’s three in a row for the‘Mayo News’ 80 new Castlebar jobs of a move to TÁNAISE Mary Harney an- Ireland said: “The company is also provide an enormous boost nounced that Fort Wayne Metals currently focusing its growth to the local economy.” Research Products Corporation of strategy on the European market The Castlebar operation will the U.S., a leading developer and and this new Irish operation will manufacture, in a high quality, producer of precision wire prod- be an integral part of that strat- skilled operation, precision wire summer soccer Ceide Fields Committee is almost ucts for the worldwide medical egy. This is a very important in- for the medical devices industry devices industry, is to invest vestment for both the medical in Europe, where the company �3.4m, with the support of IDA devices industry here and for Co. has a strong customer base. the Ireland, in the establishment of a Mayo, not least because of the new operatioin will be housed in European Centre, for the manu- employment setbacks suffered by a customised 25,000 sq. ft. facil- facture and distribution of its prod- the county in recent months. It ity, which Fort Wayne Metals is ucts at Castlebar. The new facility will further strengthen the to construct at the Park and which at a Mayo is to create 80 new jobs over the healthcare supplier base in Ire- it aims to have completed by the next five years. Fort Wayne Met- land as well as Ireland’s reputa- end of the year. It will partner the als wll be the first tenant at the tion as the leading location for National Centre of Biomedical new IDA Business and Technol- healthcare investment in Europe. Engineering Science at National ogy Park in the town. It will provide skilled employ- University of Ireland Galway to The Tanaise, announcing the ment opportunities for the peo- carry out research in some spe- akin to the Pope resigning as Head arrival of Fort Wayne Metals to ple of Mayo and in doing so will cific areas. ● EURO EXCELLENCE . . . Pictured receiving the European Award Certificate for Design League meeting, 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 ‘Significant announcement’ for is the third successive year the newspaper has claimed this coveted European prize for the Westport Harbour investment continuous high quality of its design and layout. See page 10 for full report. out of a total of THE Minister for the Marine and Environment and Local Govern- members of Westport Harbour Natural Resources, Mr. Frank ment, Mr. Noel Dempsey, T.D., Board to discuss the board’s plans Gastro-enteritis outbreak Fahey, T.D., will visit Westport approved an order bringing all of to upgrade and redevelop the of the Roman Catholic Church” this Friday, 8 February and is the harbour area, including Ro- harbour. expected to make a “significant man Island, inside the Westport “Minister Fahey has now in- closes Castlebar hospital announcement” of a substantial town boundary. formed me that he will make a investment in Westport Harbour. His visit to Westport on Friday firm and positive announcement THE Sacred Heart Hospital in Health Board stated that a mem- The virus itself stays in the 41. Clubs voted Funding for work in the har- has been arranged by Senator when he comes to town on Fri- Castlebar has been infected by ber of staff at the Sacred Heart system for three days and is so bour will be announced and hopes Frank Chambers who told the day. This will be based on the an outbreak of gastro-enteritis suffered symptoms on Tuesday contagious, it can be spread sim- are high locally that, when a Mayo News that he was confi- examination by his Department which has forced the Western last. By Wednesday, several ply by hand-shaking or cough- feasibility study is completed, the dent the Minister would make a of the harbour board’s plans for Health Board to shut down serv- other staff were infected and since ing. For that reason, visitors have the harbour. It will pay a major Minister will also provide fund- “significant announcement” of a ices at the facility. A number of then the virus has spread to infect been asked not to call. substantial investment in the har- part in realising the potential of cases have also been detected at Dr. Ryan also asked that any ing for the development of a ma- patients as well. bour. the harbour as a commercial and the Mayo General Hospital, member of the public suffering rina. Dr. Ryan explained that while 17-11 in favour Recently the Minister for the The Minister has already met tourist amenity,” he said. Castlebar. symptoms of gastroenteritis keep The hospital, which caters most people just have to wait for away from facilities such as hos- An editorial in The Mayo News slammed the mainly to elderly patients, is now the symptoms of diarrhoea, fe- pitals. closed to visitors and will remain ver, cramps and flu to pass after “We will try to ensure the mini- so until the outbreak is contained. approximately 48 hours, these mum of distruption for our pa- World class . . . and in Westport Dr. Sheelah Ryan, Chief Ex- illnesses posed particular diffi- tients and thank people for bear- ecutive Officer of the Western culty for older people. ing with us”, she said. of the blueprint WESTPORT is set to be This announcement last Fri- Padraig Harrington and Paul crowned Ireland’s golf capital day evening was followed dra- McGinley will be in Mayo to for a weekend when Westport matically by confirmation that compete for £110,000 Golf Club plays host to the Ireland’s three Ryder Cup prizemoney. Anthrax alert in Ballyhaunis Smurfit Irish P.G.A. Champi- qualifiers, Darren Clarke, The participation of three onship from April 25-28. OPW as ‘a law unto themselves’ in a dispute genuine world class golfers is a By Mike Finnerty Freyne of the Ballyhaunis Fire been addressed to a foreign na- major coup for organisers, who tional living in the town — was 25 Service arrived at the scene drawn up by will have to prepare for a ma- promptly. discovered to be safe. The sus- jor influx of visitors to Ireland’s IT’S not every day the town of Army experts arrived in pect power was described as “a tidiest town for the event. Ballyhaunis has an anthrax scare. Ballyhaunis at 12.30pm and car- white food substance” and the HOTEL W ESTPORT “This is undoubtedly great In fact, last Monday morning was ried out preliminary investiga- Post Office was re-opened for recognition for the progressive a first. Gardai, fire-officers and tions on the suspect package. At business. work undertaken by the club Army personnel were all called approximately 2pm the package Just an ordinary day in SUNDAY LUNCH over the past number of years,” to the East Mayo town after the — which is understood to have Ballyhaunis really… incoming League secretary John Durkan commented Haulie Hoban, alarm was raised at 8.20am when about the need for a professional Served weekly in the Westport Golf Club captain. staff at the local post office no- “The club is looking forward ticed a white substance on one of ‘Islands Restaurant’ to seeing how some of the the parcels they were scanning world’s top professionals will routinely. cope with the challenge pre- A few phone-calls later and sented by the Westport course. the building had been sealed off “It is a tremendous honour with all ten postal workers at the with one abstention. The 12-man League to be staging such a tourna- Office quarantined in the staff ment and it places our club canteen. very much to the forefront of Post Master, Frank championship golf courses. In O’Donoghue had alerted both the archaeologist on the site that inspired the addition, it again confirms Gardai and the fire-brigade at ● Haulie Hoban, Westport Westport as a major tourist this stage and both Garda Inspec- attraction.” tor Tom Fitzmaurice and Sean Management Committee backed the Golf Club Captain. ‘Mayo 5000’ concept March 23, 1994 proposal 8-4. June 1, 1994

Westport pub stand-off prompts crisis meeting the queen of connemara MEETING will be held from the Mayo Travellers Support since a mass meeting last Tuesday, was today (Wednesday) in Group feels the public in general are still in place. Portlaoise in an attempt not fully aware of the power of the Coverage last Saturday in a daily tab- to resolve the much-pub- equality legislation. loid suggested that travellers were licised controversy sur- “In the legislation, only one of the served in five out of six pubs during a Arounding the refusal by Westport pub- grounds relates to membership of the visit to Westport with a reporter and licans to serve members of the travelling community. There is a total photographer. This was followed by a travelling community. of nine different grounds including age, front-page story in a Sunday tabloid in Members of the Vintners’ Federation disability, marital or family status and which two Westport publicans and one of Ireland plan to issue a statement on religion under which case can be brought each from Islandeady and Newport the stand-off and to state whether their and complaints have been made over gave detailed accounts of the abuse members intend to continue their trans- discrimination in pubs on seven of the they have suffered at the hands of gression of recently-introduced equal- nine grounds. Publicans have refused ‘marauding mobs’ of travellers. ity legislation. all kinds of people for no particular “It’s all very well saying we are pick- The story, which was exclusively reason,” he said. ing and choosing our customers, but published in last week’s Mayo News, Mr Ó Riain also stated that the argu- the fact remains at our EGM last week, has caused controversy right across the ment that publicans do not want to turn a number of publicans expressed fear country with varying degree of support away business does not hold up. and intimidation as they felt they were and criticism for the stance taken by “The reason publicans don’t want to being held hostage in their own pubs,” the publicans. Westport members of serve travellers is because they are said Chris Lavelle of Westport VFI. the VFI have publicly stated that they afraid it will affect their business. They “Action had to be taken, if only to be feel the drastic move was forced upon do not want to disturb their own happy used as a deterrent to this sort of situ- them after a number of incidents in status quo but these people are given ation erupting again. recent weeks where travellers behaved a licence by the State to provide a serv- “We know the problem with regard in a troublesome manner and threat- ice. The public have to decide do they to decent law-abiding travellers not ened to take the publicans to court want the petty prejudice of other peo- being served has to be addressed, but under equality laws if they were not ple to dictate how we treat the margin- these are issues that will be raised at served. alised in society,” said Mr Ó Riain. the national meeting and the views of The row between publicans and trav- Before today’s meeting, Westport our colleagues nationwide will be ellers has been simmering since the publicans were keen to emphasise that expressed.” introduction of equality legislation two their original refusal not to serve trav- years ago. However, Gearóid Ó Riain ellers, which has now been in force August 7, 2002

Thousands flock to Achill’s House of Prayer

OVER the weekend at least in a magazine article that, ried extensive articles on the new House of Prayer. 3,000 people from all over earlier this year, while the new House of Prayer He said many of those who the country flocked to the receiving a message from and it has also featured in had met Mrs Gallagher new Our Lady Queen of Our Lady, she saw an angel other sections of the were impressed by her Peace House of Prayer at so radiant she was forced media. quiet demeanour. With Achill Sound. to look away. The June issue of the her presence in Achill The former Sisters of She was told the world magazine also carried an there was an expectation Mercy Convent has been of sin was bringing about advertisement inviting among some local people purchased by Co Mayo its own destruction and people to send donations that Our Lady would visionary Mrs Christina she believes that graces towards the refurbishment appear to her on the island. Gallagher, of Foxford, who will flow from her House of the building. “We could have another claims to receive regular of Prayer to counteract One resident told The Knock in Achill,” he messages from Our sin. Mayo News that local peo- said. Blessed Lady. The past two issues of ple were adopting a ‘wait- y Bina McLoughlin came from Leenane to the Murrisk Mrs Gallagher claimed Ireland’s Own have car- and-see’ attitude towards July 21, 1993 Heritage Day in February 2001. Pic: Frank Dolan The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 22 2002-2012

QUOTE 18 12 2002 14 08 2012 NUMBER

16 Page English Express Edition £1.20 Colour Sports ROVERS RETURN O L Y M P I C Supplement TO FINAL FOUR MEMORIES THE number of SPORT Ciaran McDonald and NEWS Seán O'ConnorConnor recallsrecalls “I had been sort of Crossmolina reach Mayo SFC semi-fi nalsnals his Olympic journeysrneys � Vol. CVIV Wednesday, December 18, 2002 Price: 1.50 FOUR TIME WINNER games Westport Web Sites: www.mayonews.ie & www.mayonews.com NEWS 13-month prison term for “It’s great to United played to ‘manipulative’ woman who preyed on flat mate be alive . . .” preparing myself to go A CLAREMORRIS woman who stole a pass p.m. on Thursday evening. She card and pin number from a lady she was living By James Laffey with and proceeded to steal �7,600 from her had initially smelt gas as she opened win the 2004/2005 account has been sentenced to 13 months in [email protected] the premises but she thought it was prison at a sitting of the local District Court. Ms. “safe” as it had been checked out Marie McCreanor, An Tinteann, James Street, A YOUNG mother is continuing earlier. Claremorris, had been living in sheltered her recovery in University College “The second I lit the match to accommodation when she stole two letters Hospital in Galway after she was light the fryers everything went blue Tuesday, August 14, 2012 Estd 1892 • £1.70 | �1 . 9 0 from the injured party. She said she wanted to badly injured in a gas explosion at a and I remember being pushed buy furniture for a new house with the stolen fast food outlet in Ballina last week. back.” FAI Junior Cup. money. Julie Granahan, from Killala, The injured woman managed to See Page14 who is the mother of an 11-year-old drag herself onto the street where girl, faces over three months in she was tended to by ambulance hospital and numerous operations personnel who brought her to Mayo Pretty back to prison again” Swinford family must to heal severe burns to her hands General Hospital in Castlebar and and face. The 34-year-old was then to University College Hospital Woman in Galway. It was initially feared Ballina Town (2-1), be on their best working in Tasty Mac’s restaurant on Teeling Street when an explosion that she might lose her badly We s t p o r t visits behaviour at wedding! ripped through the two-storey burned right hand but doctors have building, reducing it to a pile of since confirmed that her injuries Louisburgh SIX members of a large family of Travellers rubble. can be successfully treated. Two from Swinford have been warned by a District Speaking from her hospital bed, other people received minor Court Judge that they had better be on their best Ms. Granahan said she was simply injuries in the blast and have since behaviour when two of their offspring get Crossmolina (4-0), relieved to be alive after such a been discharged from Mayo HOLLYWOOD royalty visited married in early January. Judge Mary Devins horrific ordeal. General Hospital. u n d e r Louisburgh over the weekend, told the extended Maughan family at a sitting of “I don’t know how I am still alive. The Health and Safety Authority when ‘Pretty Woman’ star Julia Swinford District Court that she would not I feel lucky to even be here. My face has launched an investigation into Roberts was in town with her tolerate any public disturbance during or after and my hands got the worst of it, the explosion, which shattered the wedding ceremony in Knock on January young family for a break. The they still feel like they are burning. windows on a number of adjoining 13 . The judge made her comments after she actress, one of the most recog- It hurts to even eat or talk but I buildings on Teeling Street. The Inver United (1-0), Cross farmer Pádraig Nally after his re- heard evidence of a street brawl involving six could easily be dead so I am take-away is located on one of the nisable women on the planet members of the family during the Siamsa Sráide a t t a c k - went quietly about her way festival in Swinford last August. grateful.” busiest streets in Mayo and locals Ms. Granahan was the only told the Mayo News it was a miracle on Sunday, when she brought See page 12 person in the take-away when the more people were not injured. her children to the beach at Old explosion occurred shortly before 5 See report on Page 8 Head - stopping off along the The Corrib Gas way for an ice cream at the Old Tralee Dynamoes > Spate of burglaries hit Head Cafe and Shop. ‘buy out’ plan Mayo News Westport area in recent weeks The rumour mill was in over- trial, in which he was found ‘not guilty’ of drive as to what the star of THE Corrib Gas story has created history in the Christmas and movies such as Erin Brockovich, realms of An Bord Pleanála. The oral hearing Future looks bright for Ocean’s Eleven, Notting Hill has entered the record books as the longest oral hearing in the history of the State. It lasted New Year NEILL O’NEILL July and 14 in August) and it is and Sleeping with the Enemy (4-3), Leeside twenty-two days, having finished up late on apparent that Westport has was doing in west Mayo, and Tuesday night of last week. History was also publishing dates become a haven for thieves of where she was staying, with made on another level at the hearing. It showed GARDAÍ and community alert l a t e . unconfi rmed reports mention- that the lived experience of local people is as Westport train line The next issue of the “Mayo volunteers in Westport have While it is mainly unoccupied ing the Delphi area, as well as important as the views of ‘experts.’ The News” will be published on appealed for vigilance from the houses that are being targeted, a house near Louisburgh belong- the manslaughter of John ‘Frog’ Ward. Mr Inspectors asked local people to speak about By Michael Duffy and then whether to upgrade or to close. important questions with regard to the MONDAY, 23rd DECEMBER. public and all homeowners, fol- one homeowner in the Cloona ing to Daniel Day Lewis’ sister their experience of working with turf. A value (3-1), Pike Rovers was put on the lived experience of local people. [email protected] “Since then we have been working service. ALL COPY for this issue must lowing a spate of burglaries in area disturbed the culprits as Tamasin. Liamy MacNally reports. on changing the track from the old style Both the Westport Chamber of be with us by the last number of weeks. The they were attempting to break By all accounts the Academy THE much maligned Westport to joint track to continuous welded track Commerce and the Town Council had See Page 10 11.00 a.m. FRIDAY c u r re n t fi gures for August show into his house at 9pm one award-winning actress went Dublin train service received a boost and this work is almost complete.” requested that an early morning train 20th DECEMBER. this week with the news that old, Mr. McHugh also confirmed that service be scheduled from Westport as that one house is being burgled eve n i n g . relatively unnoticed during her The offices of the “Mayo News” outdated train carriages will no longer this improvement in track quality would the current service does not arrive in in the locality every day, and Homes have been robbed on appearance at Old Head, with SPORT will be closed on FLYING THE FLAG be used on the line. take place on the Manulla to Ballina Dublin until after 11 a.m., rendering it Gardaí admit they have no solid the outskirts of the town, mainly locals and other visitors to the Tuesday, 24th December (3-0), Killester United (1-0), Carew Park (1-1, Mr. Myles McHugh, Irish Rail’s line in 2003/2004. “useless to anyone who is on business”, and will re-open on leads on the crimes. in Carrowholly, Slaugar, Clogher They catch the bug quite early down Ballintubber way as Ciarán Earley, area choosing to leave her in Ward died when he was shot on October 14, Business Development Manager for the The improvement in the quality of as stated by Cllr. Peter Flynn. As of yesterday afternoon, 34 and Brackloon, and in a number aged two, is pictured cheering on his father Tom and the Ballintubber peace. She was also spotted Upwardly mobile Friday, 27th December. West and Midlands Region, told last track will cut the journey time to Dublin Mr. McHugh stated the company were homeowners had reported that of areas in the vicinity of the West team as they marched one step closer to a third consecutive Mayo shopping in Louisburgh on WESTPORT native Peter Collins has carved out week’s meeting of Westport Town by 12-20 minutes when new timetables not looking at putting in an early morning All copy for the issue of Senior Football title on Sunday. an enduring career in the colours of RTE. In our Council that he had received a are introduced on June 2 of next year. service from Westport, although under they had been robbed since the Road. Now, Westport Town Sunday. Town & Country series the former Westport commitment from management that As part of improvement in the overall new timetabling the current service MONDAY, 30th DECEMBER beginning of July, (20 in >> page 2 from the first week in January, all United Connacht Cup winner talks to SHANE service being provided, plans are also would arrive in the capital at 10.40a.m. must be with us by 2 p.m. on with defeat on penalties and 2-0 in the carriages on the line will be fully McGRATH about the journey from fledgling afoot to introduce a seat reservation “We are also looking into the viability FRIDAY, 27th DECEMBER. broadcaster to voice of Formula 1. automated and air conditioned. system, also in the middle of next year. of having a link up with the early bird 10 Our offices will be closed on See page 2. Mr. McHugh was invited to attend An estimated 440,000 passengers are service in Galway, which departs at the meeting after Cllr. Margaret anticipated to travel on the Westport/ 5.20a.m.,” stated Mr. McHugh. Tuesday, 31st December, 2004 by Mr Nally, who spent 11 months in Adams described his company’s service Dublin line in 2002, which is an increase There was also criticism of the fact and will re-open on Thursday, Soc’ it to them to Westport as “atrocious” criticising of 18%. that none of the brand new carriages 2nd January 2003. particularly the quality of their rolling In another interesting development, announced recently in a €117 million Your co-operation in meeting CHRISTMAS may be around the corner but that re-fixture) and Waterford Crystal (2-0) stock. Mr. McHugh did not rule out the Government spend are to be deployed these earlier deadlines would did not deter soccer aficionados from tying up In his detailed presentation to the possibility of the Western Rail Corridor on the Westport line. be greatly appreciated. a few loose strings at the weekend. Castlebar meeting, Mr. McHugh admitted that being reopened when he stated that the Mr. McHugh said this was down to Celtic and Bangor Hibs were Sunday winners, serious consideration was given to line is in Public Ownership and that the the revenue created on the other lines, Don’t forget – The Mayo News while the Mayo U.21 team kept their last eight closing the Westport line back in 1997. findings of the impending Strategic Rail stating that in some cases, “population will be in your newsagent on hopes alive. MICHAEL DUFFY and EDWIN “The defining moment for the line Review were “looked forward to.” dictates.” MONDAY, 23rd DECEMBER and December 20, 2006 McGREAL report. was the derailment at Knockcroghery However, councillors were not happy (See full debate from town council MONDAY, 30th DECEMBER provided the opposition. June 22, 2005 jail after his original trial. See pages 8 and 9. because a decision had to be taken there with the answers they received to two meeting in next week’s issue).

Taoiseach-in-waiting delivers ‘blue tsunami’

T’S been a long, long wait, but judg- representing the country of his birth once for all to see. Fine Gael had blitzed the the exit door, but Kenny has his toughest ing by the smile on Enda Kenny’s face he got back to Dáil Éireann. This time he opposition and the ‘Blue Tsunami’, as so challenges in front of him. It will be no easy as he approached the podium at 3.30am was going to be asked to lead the people of many had dubbed it, would see them take task but what Kenny needs now is the full last Sunday morning, it was worth the country. four seats. and unequivocal support of his own party it. No matter what your political allegiance, It was also clear from early morning that and his coalition partners for the foresee- IHaving spent the majority of his adult life it was hard not to get caught up in the Dara Calleary was going to survive the mas- able future. serving the Mayo public, this time round moment as Kenny addressed the room on sacre that took out 13 senior ministers from The people of Mayo will be proud to call the huge gathering at the Count Centre in what was a predictable, but momentous the last Fianna Fáil Government. Everyone the Taoiseach one of their own but like Castlebar, some of them who had been there day, in so many ways. knew it was ‘4 and 1’, we just had to wait everyone else in the country they want to for 19 hours, were now serving it up to him. There was no cliffhanger in Mayo, indeed and be patient while the count staff went see light at the end of tunnel. The hard work He had been elected to represent the peo- there was very little by the way of normal through with their painstaking work. starts in earnest for Enda Kenny on March ple of Mayo for a remarkable 11th straight election count drama in Castlebar on Sat- The next task for Enda Kenny is to get the 9. We wish him the best of luck. occasion, but this time it was different. This urday. As early as 10.30am, with 33 per cent country back on track. After 36 years in time he was going to be doing more than of the boxes open, the signals were there public life, most would have been eyeing March 1, 2011

Rossport protesters head over heels defiant after jailing

A TUMULTUOUS seven days end ignation of Minister for Communica- today with five Rossport men still tions, Marine and Natural Resources, behind bars in Cloverhill Prison in Noel Dempsey, as well as his pred- Dublin … [but] the issue looks set to ecessors Dermot Ahern and Frank remain very much alive for the fore- Fahey. seeable future. She also outlined what she termed Mr Willie Corduff, Mr Micheál Ó the ‘agreed position and overall state- Seighin, Mr Philip McGrath, Mr ment’ of the family of the five men Brendan Philbin and Mr Vincent and protest organisers. This demanded McGrath were jailed in the High an end to all ‘illegal developments’ Court on Wednesday last, and were at Rossport. Objectors to the laying told they will remain in jail until they of the pipeline say SEPIL do not have purge their contempt of court. the necessary ministerial consents This was in the aftermath of an for some of the works they are under- injunction granted to Shell E&P Ire- taking. Ms McGarry said the gas must land Ltd (SEPIL) on April 4 last be treated at sea, the ‘criminalisation’ against the five men, plus Ms Bríd of the five men be expunged, and that McGarry and Ms Monica Muller, for the ‘overall deal’ be re-negotiated ‘for preventing access to Shell personnel the Irish people’ … to lands at Rossport. Counsel for SEPIL issued a statement on Mon- Shell subsequently requested an day claiming the pipeline, while attachment and committal order designed for a pressure of 345 bar, against the five, on foot of which they will never run at this level … They were jailed. also deeply regretted ‘that the However, the week in between has unfounded fears of some landowners been marked by protests in Rossport, have been recklessly stoked by some Galway, Dublin, and a rally attended who must bear some of the respon- by over 2,000 people in Castlebar sibility for the current situation’. last Sunday. Addressing this gather- y Castlebar Celtic’s Noe Baba celebrates with a cartwheel flip after scoring against ing, Ms McGarry demanded the res- July 6, 2005 Manulla in the Mayo Schoolboys U-16 Cup final in March 2012. Pic: Michael Donnelly Photography Tuesday, december 4, 2012 The Mayo News 120 23 From linotype to the information superhighway

email in with their comments on the Ciara Moynihan stories – and with stories of their own. Living editor Our articles get shared all over the [email protected] Internet, and hours – sometimes minutes – after uploading a story on mayonews. ie, we can have television stations and HE Mayo News embraced national and international newspapers computerisation in August on the phone, looking for permission to 1988. It said goodbye to the use a story or a picture. (Well, sometimes hot metal of the linotype asking permission anyway.) machine and the cast-iron Edwin McGreal’s front-page story on printingT press, and hello to screens, Achill-henge was one such phenomenon. keyboards and infernal nests of wires People just loved it, and it was immedi- that would spring loose from their con- ately picked up by the national media. nections unbidden. The next day, the Anglo Avenger’s antics Understandably, it took everyone a were front-page splashes across all the while to get used to the new technology. nationals, and soon enough, a decidedly Some longer than others. For years, a windswept Teresa Mannion was up to certain reporter (who shall remain name- her knees in muck on a sideways-rain- less but is working away at his desk as drenched Achill hill, reporting on the I type this) would frequently let out latest Wonder of the West for RTÉ blood-curdling roars, indignation at yet News. another instance of returning to his The website also means that we can computer only to discover it had crashed break stories and add updates as they and he had lost all his work. Furious happen – no need to wait for the Tues- bouts of ‘switching it on and off and on day-morning paper. It means we can get again’ would ensue, accompanied, inev- the stories to our readers before the itably, by a stream of choice words. In daily national press runs with them and 1996, he finally realised that the screen they become old news. And these days, was going blank not because the com- news becomes old quicker than a skin puter had crashed, but because the forms on your tea. screensaver had come on. Our social media presence is allowing Still, eventually, everybody settled into us to interact with our readers like never the brave new world. “That’s that,” they before. The Mayo News Facebook Page thought. “We’ve made the leap. Job done.” has almost 5,000 likes, and our main The shiny boxes on their desks no longer Twitter account @themayonews boasts drew anxious looks. a phenomenal 8,000 followers (okay, However, a few short years after com- 7,941 at time of writing, but I’d be pretty puters were first plugged in atThe Mayo confident that by the time you’re read- News office, along came mobile phones, ing this, we’ll have burst through the 8k email and the Web. Suddenly everything mark). Our @mayonewsport and @ changed again. Communication was mayonewsliving accounts are holding instant and not bound to things that their own in the Twittersphere too. were bound to the wall. Information was We get loads of new stories, as well as accessible in a flash with the click of a comments and reactions, from our read- mouse or the tap of a key. And the tech- BRAVE NEW WORLD Deirdre Barry, from ers through Twitter and Facebook. We’ve nologies were spreading fast. Bonniconlon, pictured during the 2012 even used them to solve some myster- On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee’s All-Ireland Football Final between Mayo ies. For instance, on Tuesday, September World Wide Web became publicly avail- and Donegal. Deirdre was identified for a 25, we ran a front-page picture of a dev- front-page caption in The Mayo News able. In 1993, the first online newspaper, thanks to Twitter users. Pic: Sportsfile astated Mayo fan at the all-Ireland final. The Tech, was published by Massachu- On the Monday night, as we hurtled setts Institute of Technology students. towards deadline, we didn’t have her By the mid ’90s, there were 18,957 web- name – and we didn’t want to use her sites in the world. image without it. Mayo got its first internet café – Jazzy We tweeted her picture and a call out Bee, on James Street, Westport – in late to our followers, asking if anyone could 1996, and Keith Martin – later a council- name her. Within an hour, we had her. lor – wrote an article in The Mayo News Since the Internet first blinked awake, The girl in the stands holding her head aimed at demystifying the World Wide pundits have been examining its impli- “We can break in disbelief as Mayo fell to Donegal was Web. cations for news dissemination, and for Deirdre Barry, from Carra, Bonniconlon. Noting that many international news- print media in particular. Regardless of stories as they The first of our Twitter followers to paper had developed websites ‘where it whether you thought it sounded the happen” identify her was Sarah Sloyan is possible to read the paper on your death knell or paved the way to eternal (@sarahsloyan) from Charlestown. The home computer’, Martin finished his relevance, one thing was clear. A news- county may have lost at Croke Park, but introduction to the internet with a pre- paper needed to have an online presence its paper’s front-page image was saved. diction: ‘Perhaps some day you will be – and The Mayo News was not going to is struggling with the perennial problem And it said it all. reading The Mayo News from your lap- be left behind. of how to get its online presence to turn In this fast-paced world, it’s hard to top!’ The domain name mayonews.ie was a dime. But that’s a boring story. Much predict what technological breakthrough And now? According to one estimate first registered in 1997, and by 1999, the more exciting is the interaction that the will come next, but The Mayo News I read (and there can only be estimates), site was live. mayonews.ie now boasts internet has allowed us, as a news gath- stands ready to grapple with it and then, there are around 644 million active an enviable average of over 218,000 page ering service, and as a voice of the com- if it can, run with it. If our readers are websites and more than 2.27 billion peo- views and well over 40,000 unique vis- munity. Our news articles carry the email into it, then we are too. Just so long as ple online. Eight new people come onto itors a month. addresses of our reporters, and so our it’s not robot reporters, Dalek designers the internet every second. Like all newspapers, The Mayo News readers can click straight through and and computer-generated text. Ahem. The Mayo News 120 Tuesday, december 4, 2012 24 Headl ne News

Shocking, funny, dated, timely – all human life is here

Robbing the nuns Clew Bay monster creates a stir Planning office accused of Binge drinker parks tractor at October 27, 1900 July 26, 1952 ‘hiding behind the petticoats of Garda station An Taisce’ March 4, 2008 John Dillon – “Conciliation another Mayo meet Roscommon on April 1, 1978 name for swindling the people” Golf ball-sized hailstones in Achill November 9, 1904 Sunday: Chances?–Good December 8, 2009 July 18, 1953 Dogs can run across polluted Ballyhaunis river September 21, 1983 Achill man finds knife in fish Imprisonment for larceny of Sheep shearing time: give your October 5, 2010 overcoat wool a good name Wanted for Mayo – female dentists April 14, 1906 June 7, 1957 Ballina woman poured of the marrying kind cornflakes on patrol car The Christmas toy you buy can May 15, 1991 Drunk with a gun March 29, 2011 February 8, 1908 keep a Mayo girl at home! November 22, 1958 Cllr Mee shouts ‘stop!’ to Stolen car parked close to Garda ‘lunatic fringe’ objectors Fresh air and how The culprit was a badger September 15, 1993 station for three months to take it December 26, 1959 June 14, 2011 December 4, 1909 Foreigners must go back to their Why summer soccer must not End of the line for man who stole Should we eat new bread? own countries, warns Macra chief be entertained fishing rod December 4, 1909 June 24, 1961 March 2, 1994 July 12, 2011 Dandruff is serious Hatching hen holds up removal Five sent off as Kiltimagh win SuBo pays surprise visit to Knock February 1, 1913 of ‘Berlin Wall’ July 16, 1997 taxi man’s mum May 11, 1963 August 9, 2011 How to rear puppies at home Garda took call on defendant’s September 17, 1927 Had no pillows, so they took mobile phone … and Councillor lobbies on behalf of the cushions from hotel discovered it was stolen! ‘kebab lovers of Castlebar’ October 18, 2011 Book borrowing dangers September 18, 1965 May 9, 2001 October 26, 1929 Woman told Garda she was ‘Mrs Woman ‘mooned’ at staff as she The ‘four-faced liar’ may go stole groceries Nobody’ November 22, 2011 Bogus sheep dipping summons December 18, 1965 June 27, 2001 December 6, 1930 Are Westport girls empty- Slash-hook attack causes Afraid of a useless gun Newport row began when pint of chaos at Ballinrobe April 8, 1933 headed? Guinness was placed on man’s February 12, 1966 Confirmation head February 28, 2012 Fat man who stays in bed all Castlebar Grand Canyon an September 12, 2001 winter Man ran barefoot through Knock October 3, 1936 ‘absolute death-trap’ – Council Ballina men were arguing about September 30, 1967 claiming he was Jesus debt at 3.15am! March 20, 2012 Five young girls start bog riot October 31, 2001 October 17, 1942 ‘Itinerants giving Apache war scene Man drank 15 pints and 15 double to Castlebar street’ September 30, 1967 Anthrax alert in Ballyhaunis vodkas at Mike Denver concert “Nobody can defend himself against February 6, 2002 May 22, 2012 a woman” says Achill litigant November 27, 1943 Westport factory workers Mayo is one long ‘red light district’ Imagine – John Lennon island seeking 8am pub opening February 15, 2006 October 10, 1970 for sale Palm tree – “Not living under it” July 3, 2012 says solicitor A 101-year-old juror? October 2, 1943 Defendant called garda ‘a twat’ July 3, 2007 Man took TV from hotel wall to – disqualified November 23, 1974 replace his own Fined for occupying own house Old Man Trouble as ‘alien’ music July 31, 2012 November 25, 1944 50p per hour for GAA pitch heard in Ballagh’ dressing-room! September 11, 2007 Engagement ring found in MayoGuards called in tois County one April long17, 1976 ‘red Mountain Rescue collection bucket Council meeting ‘Health Board spending more Man who thought he was at house August 14, 2012 February 24, 1945 party gets 28 days for trespassing money on red tape than on January 22, 2008 Emergency Response Unit called lightBallyhaunis man district’ plans to end medicine’ out to clay-pigeon shoot partition April 17, 1976 Imprisonment forAugust 28, larceny2012 of March 28, 1949 The culprit was a badger Fined