Last post for Roonagh office

Tiny post office was beacon for islanders


Closure marks the end of an era at Roonagh Pier

Áine Ryan

For almost 150 years the tiny mainland sub post office at Roonagh Pier, near Louisburgh, has been a lifeline for Clare islanders. Just like the tide ebbs and flows, or the moon waxes and wanes, three generations of the Scott family – stretching way back to the 1870s – have administered thousands of post bags destined for the Clew Bay outpost.
Moreover, four generations of the O’Gradys have in storms and swells, hail and sleet, sunshine and fog, transported in their boats love letters and epistles, notes and cards, parcels and packages sent from far-flung places across the globe.  
As a darkening cloud filled and slipped over the horizon last Friday morning, longtime boatman Chris O’Grady disembarked from his ferry, The Clew Bay Queen. For the last time he carried a postbag up the pier, and winding road to Scotts.
“Today is a strange day at Roonagh. I feel sad that the post office is closing. You know, the Scotts were like an extension of our family,” said Chris O’Grady.
For over 60 years retired island hotelier and ferry company owner, Chris O’Grady, has collected and delivered the post at the tiny windswept and remote post office.
“Honest to God, when I look back now, I don’t know how I survived landing in this spot,” said Chris, as he flung the postbag over his shoulder.
Just like his grandfather, Austin, and father, Michael, before him, Chris has often risked life and limb landing at the volatile little harbour.
“I started off with Dad when I was 12. It was all sailing back then in Achill yawls and we used to come in here to the old pier. Back then there was no breakwater or shelter,” Chris O’Grady reflected. “I remember, as a young child, Dad nearly had a disaster here when they landed on Christmas Eve for the post.”
He explained that his father was very concerned about the swell, but after four or five currachs sailed from the west of the island, he decided to sail too.
There were relatives and returned emigrants hoping to get home for the festive season.  Michael O’Grady also had to collect the substantial Christmas post. He was also  collecting the lighthouse keeper’s sons and another islander, Thomas Eddie.
As the most experienced boatman with the harbour, Michael O’Grady directed the other currachs out and was the last to attempt to row out and escape the boiling and hissing Jacuzzi of hurling waves.
“But a wave hit the currach and they were thrown in on the rocks. The currach was made into matchwood and all the postbags were lining the shore. Luckily, and unbelievably, there was no serious injury. All the post bags had to be brought back into Westport where officials dried out the salt-soaked cards and letters,” Chris recalled.

Last post
IT was the proposed computerisation of the country’s network of post offices that possibly expedited Margaret Scott’s retirement last weekend. But then again, she is 85.
On May 23, 1969, Margaret Scott, a mother of eight, took over as postmistress after her husband Dick retired.
The late Dick Scott’s grandfather, James, was the first postmaster in Roonagh.
“The post office first came here in 1879 and it closed and opened a few times until the 1890s. There used to be a lot of mailing done in the old days. We had a telephone exchange here too. So all the phone calls from Clare Island would come through here,” recalls Margaret.
“There were many days when the O’Gradys would come in and they wouldn’t stay for a second. Once they told you there was a big swell, no one would be standing on ceremony.”
For Clare Island postmaster, Padraig O’Malley last Friday was also a poignant day, as he likened the little post office to a mainland beacon for the entire community.
“Scotts was always much more than a post office for us. It was everything, a hub for our community. If animals were being delivered to the pier, if the swell was up and deliveries had to be moved  the Scotts were there, Tommy (Margaret’s son) and his late father, Dick,” observed Padraig O’Malley.