Archive News
Day of drama as î Cu’v takes the long route to go nowhere
Date Published: 09-May-2012
IF Eamon Ó Cuív was a choreographer he would be snapped up by some of the top dance troupes in the world for the manner in which he staged managed his non-departure from the Fianna Fail party. But after all that, as Shakespeare would say, it was much ado about nothing.
Throughout Tuesday he had the media speculating on his political future. Some elements felt that he had no choice but to leave the party owing to his rather definitive stance on the forthcoming referendum; some were speculating that the ‘renegade’ TD would sit on the benches along with some of the other colourful independent TDs while there was a body of opinion which suggested that he was in the throes of forming his own political party.
In the end the expected drama turned out to be nothing more than Ó Cuív telling the nation that he was staying in the party and would be keeping his mouth shut when it came to the Fiscal Treaty. But it was beautifully timed to coincide with all of the tea-time news bulletins so that he could get the maximum amount of TV prime time out of this.
Of course he could have done this at 9am on Galway Bay fm but instead he opted for a day of speculation about his future and what he would announce. His critics have described his behaviour over the past six weeks as an elaborate publicity stunt aimed at copper-fastening his seat in Galway West the next time out.
There is no doubt that Ó Cuív has done wonders for the ‘no’ campaign and if in fact the treaty fails on referendum day, it will be something of a major coup for the North Connemara TD who will no doubt focus his attention on the bigger picture – and that could well involve a heave against party leader Micheal Martin.
The letter Ó Cuív received from the Fianna Fail Chief Whip Sean Ó Fearghail was merely a rap on the knuckles. He was basically told that there was nothing in the party rules which would allow a senior member to participate in campaigning against the party’s agreed policy. There were no threats made and it would be hard to find a line in it which suggested that Ó Cuív faced expulsion if he ‘didn’t play ball’.
But yet he managed to make appear like a ‘go or be pushed’ scenario when it was never his intention to quit the party founded by his grandfather but the publicity he got and the support received from within the party following his stance has fuelled speculation that it will only be a matter of time before he throws down the gauntlet to an already beleaguered Micheal Martin.
If Ó Cuív had been so principled about a ‘no’ vote then he would have definitely left the Fianna Fail sinking ship and campaigned vigorously against the referendum but instead he announced that he is going nowhere – and he never had any intention of going anywhere.
He said at the press briefing that there had been some speculation in recent times of him joining another political but what he failed to articulate was that he had actually encouraged that speculation over his blatant affront to his own party.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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