County View
John Healy’s
IT’S a strange logic that someone with not the slightest connection to Mayo can have it within his power to undermine a project which is at the heart of rural regeneration.
There is something essentially mean-spirited when a Dublin resident can, at a safe distance and from the comfort of the metropolis, throw a spanner into the decentralisation plans for Knock Airport.
A project which had been so warmly welcomed for all the right reasons, which would see an entire government department re-locate to Knock Airport, which would strike a massive blow in righting the imbalance between east and west, has been shot down by An Bord Pleanála at the behest of someone who clearly believes that the west of Ireland is best left as a wilderness.
It is to the credit of Minister Éamon Ó Cuív that he so publicly championed the transfer of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to Knock Airport. It was to his credit that, while others dragged their feet and had second thoughts about those earlier announcements, he went ahead and committed to a building date later this year. And it was to the credit of the various agencies, not least Mayo County Council, that the necessary formalities were speeded up so that, within two years of the first decision, work was ready to roll.
But all of the groundwork has been to no avail. The objection of the Dublin denizen has been upheld. An Bord Pleanála has ruled that the decentralisation to Knock is dead in the water. Once again, academic logic has won out over the practical needs of the region and its people. The dog in the manger carries a vicious bite.
What happens now with the decentralisation to Knock is anybody’s guess. Minsiter Ó Cuív remains admirably staunch in his determination to relocate in Mayo, but he may well have to cede ground when it comes to the choice of location.
The Achilles heel of the ministerial choice may be that locating at Knock could be seen as counter to the National Spatial Strategy and with a new Green input to Government decision-making that could prove a major stumbling block.
If it comes down to the bare bones, and if Mr Ó Cuív insists on relocating his department in Mayo, he could be left with no option but those towns which have been designated as gateways under the National Spatial Strategy. Castlebar and Ballina have been chosen as the key locations for future development, although neither has much to show so far for their exalted status.
It will be an interesting battle of wills – and an even greater test of political influence at high levels – to see which of the two will receive the Ó Cuív imprimatur when and if that decision comes to be taken.
SEGREGATION’S LAST HERO
AMONG the stock characters of Deep South America of the 1960s, the decade of black unrest and racist oppression, was the town sheriff. Usually heavy, tall, impassive and intolerant of black citizenry, he was always white; fond of whips and pistols and strong arm tactics.
None exemplified the white southern sheriff more than big Jim Clark, leading lawman of Selma, Alabama, and a committed opponent of civil rights for any but the white supremacists who lionised him.
He had a particular fondness for the electric cattle prod as an implement of crowd control, and once boasted of having 165 teenage black nuisances run out of town and go on running, mile after mile, prod after prod, until they collapsed in a heap from exhaustion.
Twice re-elected and hailed as a fine family man, a pillar of Alabama society, he treated black people with disdain, an example followed by his helpers, the local volunteers of the White Citizens Council.
He perfected the routine humiliation and degrading of black people, a mindset which became central to the volatile climate of the Deep South in those years of change.
Like all bigots, Jim Clark was unable to see that the winds of change were sweeping across the country, and even into the segregated heartlands where he and his ilk once swaggered. In March of 1965, a huge civil rights march was planned from Selma to the state capital, Montgomery. Sheriff Clark was determined to stop it. Bullets, truncheons, bull whips and tear gas were called into action. The subsequent publicity caused national revulsion, the beginning of the end, and the passing of the Voting Rights Act.
Revenge came swift. Back in Selma, 9,000 blacks registered to vote for the first time, celebrated by ousting Jim Clark. At the age of 42, the sheriff had lost his job, his authority and his reliance on white supremacy. He died last month, 40 years after those events, which changed American history. But he could never bring himself to admit that all Americans are equal.
FAREWELL TO PADDY DEERE
PADDY Deere would not have sought the heartfelt send-off which he received from neighbours, friends and the wider community last week, for that was the kind of man he was. Gentle, quiet and unobtrusive, these were the qualities which endeared him to all who had the privilege of knowing him, and they came from far and near to pay their final respects in the bright sunshine of mid-June.
Close to nature, Paddy Deere was a man at peace with himself and with the world about him. He had endured his long final illness with the quiet resignation which had marked his 78 years on the earth and he knew that in the turning of the seasons, there was a time to come and a time to go.
Former colleagues from Eircom, parents and friends from Snugboro School, and neighbours from the village paid tribute with a solemn guard of honour. The riderless horse which led the way to his final resting place was a poignant reminder of Paddy’s contribution to and participation in the world of show-jumping. The hundreds who walked silently in the cortege were there to bear witness to a man who, in his own quiet way, touched so many lives.
The town, the village, the community, will mourn his loss. But his wife, Kathleen, together with Celia, Mary, Ann, Ger and the extended family will grieve for a husband and father who gave so much and demanded so little.
LIONS ON THE PROWL
THE indefatigable Eamonn Horkan steps down next month from the presidency of Castlebar Lions Club, leaving his successor Michael Mullahy with a challenging pair of shoes to fill.
Now in its 30th year, Castlebar Lions provide the strongest proof that the spirit of volunteerism is still alive and well in the community, with twenty five active members ever ready to put shoulders to the wheel in furtherance of worthy community projects.
Ever on the lookout for novel fund-raising ideas, the Lions Club has really hit the jackpot over the past two years with its acclaimed opera night at the TF Royal Theatre. So successful have the opera events become that there are ambitious plans to expend the one-night presentations into a mini-festival of opera to be staged at the TF, where Pat and Mary Jennings continue to expand and develop their outstanding facility.
THE WORLD’S WALKING CAPITAL
WHEN, 40 years ago, the late Michael Joe Egan first mooted the idea of a walking festival for Castlebar, there were few who could see the potential of what he was offering.
Today, 40 years on, over 1,500 people will gather at the Welcome Inn Hotel to mark the opening ceremonies of an event which has placed Castlebar at the top of the world walking calendar. From Europe and Australia, the US and Canada, Japan and Mexico, the walkers have been arriving to fill every available hotel and guest house bedroom and to partake in a festival which has its own unique flavour among the worldwide walking community.
The festival director, Bridget Harrington-Barry, successor to the long-serving but still active Elaine Devereaux, will oversee an operation which now runs like clockwork and which combines professional organisation with the personal touch which keeps the walkers coming back year after year.
It is a considerable logistical challenge to safely guide so many people over the Mayo terrain, keep track of their daily accomplishments, ensure that they are adequately housed and catered for, and then conclude each day with a rousing sing song and entertainment.
Needless to say, the Four Days Walks provide a huge summer spin-off to a local economy not noted for the volume of its tourism revenue. There are some who feel that the business community in general fails to appreciate the contribution which the Four Days Walks makes to local cash registers.
It is a situation which the organising committee has long learned to live with. For them, the number one priority of hosting a top level, well-managed event, and of maintaining the high standards already set, is what really counts.
FIANNA FÁIL CLOSES RANKS
IF the olive branches extended by Beverley Flynn at her victory rally in Castlebar last weekend are accepted by her former local allies in Fianna Fáil, then the prospects of a re-united presence of Bertie’s team cannot be far distant.
The closing of ranks following the Taoiseach’s unequivocal statement that he wants the Mayo deputy back in the party has moved quickly. The fact that ten of the party’s 12 members on Mayo County Council have publicly endorsed the Flynn return says all that needs to be said about the likely path things will take.
The inevitable reality of politics is that each party plays with whatever hand of cards it happens to hold. And if Bertie wants Beverley Flynn back in the fold – an imperative greatly dictated by Dáil arithmetic – then that is what Bertie will get. Local grievances or rivalries will have little influence on the bigger picture.
That aside, however, there is a genuine practicality about the need to let bygones be bygones, if only to sort out what Frank Chambers referred to as the shambles into which the local Fianna Fáil organisation has fallen. There will, of course, be the need to soothe ruffled feathers, not least among those who stuck by the party line and went out to campaign against Flynn, only to be told now that the prodigal daughter is to be restored to her former status.
Much of that soothing will fall on the diplomatic shoulders of Denis Gallagher, Fianna Fáil’s county organiser, and a man already grounded in the fine art of keeping election candidates working together under one banner in reasonable harmony. Writing in this paper prior to the election, Gallagher made the point that while Fianna Fáil had no great problems with those of its members who declared their loyalty and rallied to the flag of Beverley Flynn, it was those who attempted to ride both horses at the same time who caused conflict.
But Denis Gallagher’s task might not be as challenging as some think. Three weeks ago, the chances of a speedy rapprochement between Beverley Flynn and her old party seemed slim. The landscape has much changed since then, especially since the week-end, and the reality of political life will open many doors which not too long ago seemed locked and barred.
