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Local boatbuilder keeping currach customs alive
There’s a twinkle in the eye of Peadar Macken when asked what he has done for a crust over the years.
“I’ve done various jobs – too long to go into. But I describe myself now as a boat builder.”
Donning a trenchcoat and a briefcase, Peadar looks an unlikely boat builder but he has over the last four years single-handedly revived the tradition of currach building in Galway City.
In September he is organising the first ever currach relay contest involving teams from as far away as Boston, Dublin and Cork
The 63-year-old Rosmuc native built his own currach that he named Austerity from skills he attained as young lad, helping his father Kevin Macken, a vocational school teacher, and a neighbour Colm Walsh, a boatbuilder by trade.
“I tried to make it as close as possible to the way they made it. I used every type of timber I could get – they used to use driftwood, and secondary driftwood at that, as they would use the good timber on roofs,” he reflects over a cup of tea.
“It has to be in your head. There are no drawings. An awful lot more people would build them if there were drawings. You lay out the timber and adjust it by eye. You hardly use a measuring tape at all. It’s all about looking at the proportions.”
After the wood is nailed together with copper nails, it is covered by canvas all around. The vessel is made seaworthy by applying tar – in the old days it was the same tar used on the roads, nowadays it is chemical tar following environmental objections but he feels this is actually more damaging than the original substance.
Every currach ever built is different as there was never a prototype – he can tell the difference between one from the Aran Islands, which boast a higher bow for the big waves, to those built in Connemara and Mayo.
Currachs were the jeeps of their time. They could be rowed right up to the beach, they were easily repaired and would carry the provisions for each seaside community.
They would transport people and goods from the shore to the hookers moored on the bay; something that was common practice on the Aran Islands up to 20 years ago.
During his stint with Men’s Shed or Cumann na bhFear, Peadar spearheaded a project to build a currach for the Sea Scouts in order to instill a love of the boat in the next generation of seafarers.
It was a joint effort involving the Simon Community, Cumann na bhFear and Galway City Council, which provided a unit at Sandy Road for the currach to be built.
He has recently completed one for the Boston-Irish Currach Club – a team of ten along with an army of supporters have agreed to travel to Galway in September for the inaugural Marathon Mara, a 1916 commemoration challenge so far involving four teams in a relay event, including one from Carna and Roscmuc.
The twelve-mile race will start in Spiddal, change batons in Barna and finish off in the Claddagh.
Peadar was successful in getting funding for the project from the KBC Bright Ideas for Better Communities.
He wanted to do something to mark the centenary as his grandfather had a small but important role.
Seamus Ó Maicín, who used to teach Irish and the Uilleann Pipes in the Gaelic League, transported guns off the Asgard on the crossbar of his bike, helping arm the Irish Volunteers from one of the most daring gunrunning missions in modern history.
Peadar was born in Booterstown, Dublin, but his parents moved the family to Rosmuc so they could be raised in an Irish-speaking community.
Peadar made headlines for battling over the last five years to have his court case involving assault allegations heard before a bilingual jury. However after going all the way to the Supreme Court, he lost his bid and the case is now due to be heard in English this October.
It is clear Peadar is passionate about the language and the old customs – preferring to use the Irish spelling curach when talking about his beloved vessels, which he does not sell.
“If you’re selling them you’re not building them anymore – you’re manufacturing them. People are very reluctant to let go of them – they’re like the old Morris Minors which people hold onto for years. They wouldn’t just build them for anyone – if they didn’t like the cut of your gib they wouldn’t make one for you,” he reflects.
“There’s a bit of a revival in the currach – they’re coming into their own. There’s more currach clubs in America than there are in Ireland. I’d like to set up a club in the Claddagh and maybe link up with the homeless and with the students in the university and pass on the skills.”
Rowing a currach can be a bumpy affair – with their narrow body they may not be as steady as other boats and require some skill to manage.
He always gets a lot of attention when out on the water with his currach or building one on the Claddagh seashore.
The Marathon Mara on September 24 will be the first ever currach relay held in Ireland.
“That’s what they used to do with provisions – they’d meet up with other currachs and offload the mail and goods at sea,” he explains.
■ Peadar is selling a commemorative CD to help fund the event. For further details email him on mackenpeadar@gmail.com
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.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
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.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
