LAUNCH Pictured in the County Library, Castlebar at the recent launch of Regina Hennelly’s book ‘Abbeylara’ are, from left: John Hennelly, Regina Hennelly, Cllr Johnny Mee, Ann Staunton, Manulla and Kevin Bourke, Ballyvary. Pic: Michael Donnelly
Regina’s account of Abbeylara shooting Commins Calling
Michael Commins THE recent launch of the book ‘Abbeylara – The Tragic Shooting of John Carthy’ has shone the limelight on its author, Regina Hennelly from Manulla. The book is a magnificent commentary on the tragic events that resonated so strongly throughout the north Midlands in the aftermath of the garda shooting of the 27-year-old from Abbeylara, just outside Granard, back in 2000.
Feelings were running very high in Longford after John Carthy died on the road outside the family home after a stand-off with gardai. Events surrounding the lead up to and the subsequent fall-out from that fateful evening are covered by Regina in this engrossing book which runs to 286 pages.
In a foreword, RTE presenter, Vincent Browne, has this to say: “The killing of John Carthy was not just a tragedy. It represented significant failures on the part of An Garda Siochána, the media and the mental health services. It also illustrated the depth of ignorance and insensitivity there is on mental illness, notably on the part of the gardaí and the media.
“The Abbeylara ‘siege’ involved a mentally distressed young man – who had been drinking heavily over the previous few days, who had become distraught at the prospect of leaving his old, dilapidated family home, with which he so associated his late father – blockading himself into the house and firing a few shots in the air occasionally.”
Regina takes us right to the heart of the scene. A plaque, with a picture of John, is located on the front wall of the Carthy property at Toneymore close to the spot where John fell on the road after the final bullet hit him. It features the following lines:
In loving memory of John Carthy whose life was taken tragically on April 20th, 2000 aged 27 years.
Do not stand by my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glint upon the snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain
I am the soft star that shines so bright
In Abbeylara late at night.
From the outset, Regina sets the story where it rightly belongs, in the small community of this region of north Longford. Her style is delicate and extremely sensitive and, at times, very powerful in observation and attention to detail.
“At the front door, Rose welcomes me and invites me in, but then she goes out to the kitchen, leaving Marie to show me in to the front room. Photographs are dotted along the cabinets and the mantelpiece. Normal family pictures track the lives of two children from infancy onwards. Marie points at a picture sitting on a sideboard in the corner of the room.
‘That one was when John won a local handball competition. He loved handball, and football and hurling’
She looks to the mantelpiece.
‘There’s the two of us when we were young.’
‘You look really alike’.
‘Yeah, a lot of people say that. I suppose we did. But then, there was only a year and two months between us in age. We were very close.’
Setting the scene, Regina writes: “A very ordinary young man, for 27 years John Carthy was known only to those who were part of his small circle of family and friends. His life revolved around his mother and sister. His world was set on a parochial compass, keeping him close to home at all times. His hobbies were few, his working life was sporadic and consisted of short-term labouring jobs here and there. It was only on Holy Thursday 2000 that the name John Carthy reached a wider audience, through a tragic event that became known as ‘The Abbeylara Siege’.”
Regina covered the Barr Tribunal as a freelance reporter and was featured on a regular basis on the Tonight with Vincent Browne show on RTE Radio 1. Throughout all that time, much of her life revolved around the events relating to those days of Easter Week, 2000, in rural Longford.
In ‘Abbeylara’, Regina has succeeded in telling an extraordinary story with remarkable maturity. In her mid-20s, her understanding and analysis of this seminal event marks her out as a writer with a tremendous future.
A very touching moment at the launch in Castlebar, which was so ably performed by retired judge, John Garavan, was when Regina told the gathering that on an evening like this, the thoughts of all should be with Rose and Marie Carthy who had lost a son and a brother.
For 13 years I worked alongside Regina’s father, PJ Hennelly in the Connaught Telegraph in Castlebar. He was a great ambassador for Mayo, one of nature’s gentlemen, who loved the rural landscape, the farming fraternity and the people he called his own. At the launch in the library in Castlebar, Regina was joined by her mother Peggy and brother John and other members of the family circle. John Garavan recalls some stories about PJ … and you could sense his presence in that room. He would have been very proud of Regina … and rightly so.
• ‘Abbeylara’ by Regina Hennelly is published by O’Brien Press and is generally available in bookshops countrywide.
Big Tom looks set for August shows EASTER Monday saw me take a trip to the northlands where a pleasant two hours were spent in the company of country legend, Big Tom McBride and his wife Rose in their family home at Oram, around three miles from Castleblayney.
Tom was in great form as he relaxed and took life easy. After tea, he took down his guitar and ‘premiered’ two new songs which he hopes to record in the next few weeks. Here was a man who had headlined a concert of over 80,000 at the London Irish Festival in Willsden in the mid-1980s, one of the most unassuming legends of showbiz this country has ever known. Strumming away and singing his heart out. A magical moment in the McBride family kitchen.
Tom did not venture out on the showbiz circuit last year. Back in November, after attending the premiere of the play ‘Four Country Roads’ in the Iontas Theatre in Castleblayney, based on the remarkable story of Big Tom and the Mainliners, and written by the McArdle brothers, Tom took ill some hours later and was rushed to Monaghan Hospital before being transferred to St James’s in Dublin where stents were put in place following an operation.
“I’m feeling much better now, better than I have done for a long time,” he said. “There were times when I was in pain on stage during the last two tours. If I continue to progress like I am, I think I’ll be ready to do a few dates in August again. There’ll be just a few, I won’t be doing 25 or so like I did the last time. I suppose it’s fair to say that one of them will be in Castlebar.”
As we were leaving to head west, Tom was heading out to check on a cow calving.
“Dermot (his son) is away for a few days and a lot of the cows are calving at this time. We had four the other night and another one is due tonight. Ye could be back in Mayo while I’m still checking on her!” he said with a smile as we waved farewell to the great Big Tom McBride.
Staunton’s stand for immigrants A MAYO man is playing a leading role in the campaign to bring about immigration reform which would lead to a whole new life for an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish in America. Ciaran Staunton, whose mother Teresa resides in Knappagh, Westport, has been to the forefront of the campaign which has organised three triumphant lobby days in the marble halls of the US Congress.
Ciaran is one of a family of nine – eight sons (Aidan, Joseph, Fintan, Noel, Gabriel, Ciaran, Pearse and Declan) and a daughter (Loretto) born to Teresa and the late Tommy Andy Staunton. The family resided in Thallabawn, Killadoon, before moving to Knappagh in the late 1960s.
Ciaran is married to Orlaith O’Dowd from Co Louth whose brother Niall O’Dowd edits the Irish Voice newspaper in New York as well as being publisher of the monthly Irish America magazine. Their brother Fergus is a Fine Gael TD for Louth.
The following are some extracts from an article in the March issue of the Irish America magazine.
“Behind every good organization stand a few good men (and women), and the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) is no exception. Playing a starring role in the Irish immigration battle to date, Vice Chairman of ILIR, Ciaran Staunton has been described as ‘one of the most dynamic personalities involved in ILIR’ and by others as ‘the man that won’t take no for an answer’.
Staunton, who emigrated from Westport, County Mayo in 1982, is renowned for captivating speeches and razor-sharp wit – ‘The baby who screams the loudest gets fed the quickest’ and ‘The only creatures I know that continually go around with their heads down are sheep, and they end up in the slaughterhouse’.
Staunton, proprietor of O’Neill’s Bar and Restaurant in Manhattan, commenced his journey into politics by becoming a co-founder of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement back in 1987, in which his triumphant lobbying led to the creation of the Morrison Visas.
“I was a bartender in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in the early 1980s. Every night we had people coming in who were just off the plane. We would take it upon ourselves to find these new Irish a couch to sleep on until they got a job and their own place. I had people on the couch myself for years, they would stay a couple of nights, get a job and then get their own house. In a few months, they would have people sleeping on their couches,” said Staunton.
Along with Niall O’Dowd, ILIR chairman (and Irish America publisher), Staunton established the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in December 2005.
“We sat down in the Affinia Hotel in New York and the main issue facing us was that no one was doing anything for the undocumented,” he said. From there, the group was created to lobby the government on behalf of the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish currently living in the United States.
“Because the Irish can’t come to the US, more and more seem to be heading to Australia. It’s a pity because the losers, if the ILIR fails, will be the Irish-American community. If the flame goes out, it will be on Irish America but our plan is not to let that happen,” promises Staunton.
Under current immigration laws, it is more or less impossible for an Irish person to legally emigrate to the US. Last year, the ILIR threw its weight behind the Kennedy/McCain Immigration Reform Bill which planned to establish a large guest-worker programme and create a path to citizenship for current illegal immigrants.
“We are only getting started. We are in this until the end and 2007 will be our year,” said Staunton. The Kennedy/McCain Bill is to be re-introduced into Congress this winter and the ILIR is more positive that it will pass the House this time around. “We have a more favourable Congress this time to work with, it’s like the stars have finally aligned for us,” said Staunton.
Since its inception, the ILIR has held several well attended immigration rallies throughout the US including Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York and Boston. A growing number of senators and congressmen have united to show their commitment to bringing the Irish out of the shadows at various ILIR rallies nationwide.
“Ciaran is one of the most dynamic personalities involved in ILIR and his passion has been inspiring from the very beginning,” said Samantha Melia, who hails from Dublin. “For me Ciaran took the shame away from being undocumented, he made us proud of who we are and the fact that we want to fight to stay and live in America.
Melia, who has been involved with ILIR since the beginning, has bravely stood up at rallies and told her story of being undocumented to over 1,000 people at a time. She is married to Liam, holds a psychology degree and has been working in a bar since she came to New York.
“We’re not looking for preferential treatment but we are looking for equality,” says Staunton, who lives in Queens with his wife Orlaith, son Rory (8) and daughter Kathleen (4). He also played a starring role in the Northern Ireland peace process and worked closely with the Sinn Fein leadership and Irish-American leaders to bring about the Gerry Adams visa and the IRA ceasefire. He has no doubt that this new Congress will produce the desired outcome that will be so welcomed by the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish.”
Mick Mongan – The Midnight Farmer ALMOST a year has flown by since the sudden death of Mick Mongan of Ballygowan, Claremorris. Mick, who died after a brief illness of just three days, was a firm favourite in his home area and parish and a dedicated Mayo supporter who followed the county teams week after week.
He was full-back on the last St Colman’s team to win the Connacht Colleges senior ‘A’ title in 1981 and they were pipped by a point by Carmelite College, Moate, in the All-Ireland Final some weeks later.
Here, two neighbours reflect on Mick’s life and passing one year on. Brid Quinn from Ballygowan has penned the poignant Midnight Farmer, while Frank Mitchell from nearby Kilbeg says why Mick would have been such a favourite if he had every ventured to the manly territories of North Canada, fondly known as The Yukon.
Midnight Farmer He spoke of a mother burying her child.
Today Mary Mongan will bury hers,
Who died before we thought he should have.
This big, strong, dark man who never wore a jacket,
Shouted for, and at, Mayo every Sunday of every summer.
He travelled to Semple Stadium once on a Honda 50.
No white chargers for Mick
but his red Massey Ferguson kept his brother awake at night
As he drove to the far field to feed his cows.
He was a midnight farmer.
Sold silage to my father on Thursday.
Went to his own on Sunday.
The funeral cortege hushed and silent through the town.
The coffin draped in blue and white, red and green.
White banded young men fighting unmanly tears,
Solemn and uncomfortable in seldom worn suits,
Some of them team mates from the win in ‘81
That took them all the way to Roscommon
Where Mick, the full back giant, defended his team
And came home a hero and a legend.
A minute’s silence and his name on the scoreboard
At the 2006 O’Mara cup semi-final.
They should have cancelled it, a stranger said.
We felt Mick’s ghost stir in horror at such blasphemy.
- Bríd Quinn
Heart of gold I travelled much of England, parts of the USA, and most of all to the far north of Canada, to a place called the Yukon.
There I met and worked with the finest and strongest of men and still have great friends from that time.
Should Michael Mongan have been in The Yukon at that time, he would have been at the top of my list, as he was in Ballygowan.
He was a true gentleman, strong, kind, simple and with a heart of gold.
He should never be forgotten and never will in this house.
As I go about my daily chores, I often think I see him but when I look back there is nobody there.
Goodbye dear friend and may you rest in peace.
From Frank and all the Mitchell family (Kilbeg, Claremorris)
Best wishes from across the Atlantic ALL the way from Hampden, Massachusetts comes greetings and good wishes to two special ladies in this part of the country.
Phil Sheridan, together with her daughter Susie and sister Sheila, convey their best wishes to their aunts Margaret Burke from Kilmaine, who turned 88 and Kathleen Joyce from Culleen, Headford, who recently turned 95.
“They are very special to us and we wish them many more happy birthdays. With all our love and we hope to see them this year, God willing,” is the message from across the Atlantic.
