Connacht Tribune
Call to protect WB Yeats’ historic home at Thoor Ballylee
Internationally renowned historian and WB Yeats biographer, Roy Foster, has called on the State and local government to provide legislation to protect the poet’s home, Thoor Ballylee, near Gort.
The historic tower house, which inspired some of the Nobel prize-winning poet’s most critically acclaimed writings, “deserves to be celebrated and appreciated and preserved on a national scale”, Professor Foster stated in Galway at the weekend.
“In cultural terms, it is, as Seamus Heaney said, the most important building in Ireland,” he told listeners at his First Thought Talk, which was held at NUIG as part of Galway International Arts Festival.
The theme of this year’s First Thought Talks is ‘Home’. While Thoor Ballylee was home to the Yeats family during the 1920s, it was “also a central location of Irish culture, an essential part of our heritage,” stressed Professor Foster, who is Emeritus Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford and Professor of Irish History and Literature and Queen Mary University of London.
However, he added, “we’re a bit hit and miss when it comes to guarding or defending our heritage, or even defining it except in a loose or touchy feely way”.
In 2002, Professor Foster was one of a group, including An Taisce and the Irish Georgian Society, which successfully appealed Galway County Council’s decision to grant planning approval for a private dwelling house less than 100 metres from Thoor Ballylee. He had been alerted to the decision by California-based Yeats scholar, Linda Satchwell, who was also an appellant, as was architect Paul Keogh.
An Bord Pleanála upheld their appeal, saying such a dwelling “would detract from the literary interest, character, heritage and value of the national monument”.
Ireland West Tourism (now Fáilte Ireland) had also opposed the original application, but the State’s then-heritage body Dúchas had refused to contest it, on the basis that there was no archaeological significance attached to the site, Professor Foster explained.
Since the 1960s, Thoor Ballylee has been “saved and is maintained by local zeal and voluntary help from passionate Yeatsians as well as support from tourist authorities”, Dr Foster told his audience. These included American Joe Hassett, who helped with its reopening in 2015, after a series of floods, followed by the recession had left it closed for many years.
But although it’s up and running now, “the structures aren’t there to safeguard a building like TB effectively” he stressed.
“There is no remit to protect so-called one-stop development process or the prioritising of road schemes often paid for by property companies.”
Buildings like Thoor Ballylee carry a certain historical baggage in Ireland, he added, because of their association with the Anglo-Irish. But he gave credit to the Office of Public Works for its role in helping Ireland accept and embrace “the great building heritage of the 18th and 19th centuries”.
Thoor Ballylee predates that heritage, with historians stating that it possibly dates from the 14th century.
Yeats and his young wife, George Hyde Lees bought Thoor Ballylee in 1916 and set about restoring it, a process which took years and involved local craftspeople.
By 1928, the poet’s ill health meant it was no longer practical for the family to use the tower which was often damp and regularly flooded. But it inspired the renowned poem Prayer for My Daughter as well The Tower (1928), which was Yeats’ first major collection after winning the Nobel Prize. It also gave the title to 1933’s collection The Winding Stair.
While Thoor Ballylee is currently open, Professor Foster cautioned people that there was no room for complacency.
“The tower continues to suffer the vicissitudes of weather and uncertain funding,” he said.
The Galway International Arts Festival First Thought Talk series continues at NUIG this weekend. More information at giaf.ie
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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