Farewell to a West of Ireland dad

Irish Current Affairs Blog of the Year 2018

If there is one thing my family learned over the past nine months or so, it’s the amazing public health system we have out in our communities here in Ireland.

A team of nurses, carers, and staff from our local pharmacy were on call every day of the week to give my father as comfortable a life as possible and to fulfil his wish of dying in his own home.

Thanks to our public health care professionals, and the support of a loving family, my dad had the most peaceful death anyone could ever hope for. He had spent an entire Sunday surrounded by people who cared for him, before deciding to leave this world just before 1am on a Monday morning.

Last August, we saw the other side of the Irish health service when, at 93 years of age, he was forced to spend 48 hours on a trolley in an overcrowded Emergency Department after sustaining a fall in the family home.

Never a fan of hospitals, all Micheal Tierney wanted was to get home to his own place. And, thanks to a rota devised by his family, the support of care workers who called twice a day, and an amazing Public Health Nurse, we managed to let him realise his dream of staying in the home and the neighbourhood he adored.

Our public hospitals may be in crisis, but the care provided to our most vulnerable in their own homes and communities is second to none.

Patients lying on trolleys in an Irish public hospital

My dad showed the true spirit of a fighting Irishman.

He lived far longer than the few weeks he was given back in January and even defied the doctors to be still with us when his beloved son, Micheal Junior, flew in from New York 48 hours before he passed away.

Family meant everything to my dad and it was the love of his family which drove him on, confounding the nurses and doctors with his determination and will to live over the past few weeks and months.

After he had been told never to climb the stairs, my sister came into the house one day a few months ago to find him frantically cycling on a gym bike he had installed in an upstairs bedroom. On another day recently he went upstairs to “sort out the bills” because our mother “knew nothing about them”!

His generation, born in the first few years of an independent Ireland, were made of stern stuff. Most of his aunts and uncles had emigrated to the United States in the early part of the 20th century, because of the grinding poverty in Co Galway at the time, and he used to recall trying to pinch bread from the priests in his boarding school in the 1940s.

It was hard for him to see his strength go, to have to get people to put him to bed at night, but amazingly he became firm friends with some of his carers and could be heard laughing and joking with them as they helped him get to bed at night.

How amazing it was for his adult children to see him befriend carers from Malaysia, the Philippines, Holland, or Mayo, after his initial reluctance to even allow them into his home!

Dad with my sister, Mura, at a wedding in Spain in 2006

In the West of Ireland, in particular, we tend to do funerals and dying with great dignity and compassion.

We spent three hours shaking hands as literally hundreds of people made the effort to get to the Funeral Home. Such a tribute to a Civil Engineer, almost three decades on from his retirement from the local authority, would not be deemed unusual in this part of the world.

An amazing priest, Father Martin Downey, brought great peace and comfort to the family home when he made three house calls in the last few weeks of his life, as it began to dawn on my dad that his race was run.

My father only stopped jogging at 84 years of age, after embracing the fitness craze of the 1980s, and the medics were astounded by both his physical stamina and determination to live for as long as possible.

The staff at our local chemist in Galway City made the family feel that our father was the most important man in the world and a gentleman – they would repeatedly offer to call down with medicines, even giving us their mobile phone numbers if we ever needed them when the shop was closed at 3 or 4am.

That kind of personalised service would be unthinkable in many parts of the world.

Showing determination at University College Hospital Galway (UCHG)

And the neighbours rallied around over the past few weeks of his life, repeatedly calling in with cakes or ready-cooked meals. It was impossible not to shed a tear when they formed a Guard of Honour outside his home for his final journey.

His last day on earth was a perfect Sunday in a West of Ireland household.  His adult children did not feel guilty about leaving his bed side to watch a championship hurling game between Galway and Wexford on television, because that’s exactly what Micheal would have wanted.

Indeed, his beloved grandchildren, who gave Micheal so much pleasure in his later years, were dispatched to give him regular updates from the game every five minutes or so.

His six year old grandson, Mateo, would tell him “Ganga, it’s Ireland ten points, Waterford five” (It didn’t seem to matter that it was actually Galway against Wexford!) and granddaughter Sofia would report back that his pulse had settled every time Galway scored.

Like many Irish families, we grew up loving Sunday dinners and GAA games on television during the summer months.

Growing up in tough times, education was very important to my Dad. He might have seemed to be obsessed with education when we were teenagers in the 1980s, but – like many West of Ireland people of his generation – he saw it as a way out of poverty.

So many people from his area and generation were forced to emigrate in search of new lives that he and his friends wanted as many opportunities as possible for their children. They knew all about the heartbreak of people being forced to leave their homeland against their will.

These days, of course, we are connected by technology and the cousins in New Jersey or California don’t seem to live so far away any more.

He gave his children a life-long love of travelling since we used to go camping every Summer on the West coast of France in the 1980s, where he met some amazing life-long friends from throughout Ireland. Before that, virtually nobody he knew could afford to go abroad and our family holidays were spent, often in pouring rain, in Donegal.

He also gave us a love of nature. In Galway we are blessed to live beside Connemara, the Burren, and the wild Atlantic Ocean, and he loved to swim in the chilly waters of Galway Bay.

He has given all of us a love of the outdoors, an appreciation for healthy living, and a sense of justice and fairness which ensures that, like many Irish people, we always seem to root for the oppressed or the underdogs.

The extended Tierney clan assembled for his Requiem Mass

As children in the 1970s, we were thrilled when he allowed us to get up at 3am to watch the Mohammad Ali versus Joe Frazier fights as small kids in the 1970s.

Like virtually every West of Ireland family, America and Americans were always close to his heart. His own father, Martin, had spent five years working as a tram conductor in St Louis, Missouri, a century ago and used to joke that he wished he’d never come home!

There was a lot of heartbreak involved in emigration in those days – none of dad’s uncles or aunts ever made the journey home – but he got great joy in rekindling friendships with the New Jersey first cousins when transatlantic travel became affordable for ordinary Irish and American people.

Ireland is not a perfect country by any means, but the outpouring of affection, love and compassion which surrounds the death of an elderly Irish person after a long illness shows that that we do live life the way it should be lived, when it comes to family, community, and respect for the elderly here in the West of Ireland.

“May he Rest in Peace”

In the last few weeks of my father's life, my family received wonderful support from the Irish Cancer Society which allowed him to stay in his own home. You can find out more here

--  * Ciaran Tierney won the Irish Current Affairs and Politics Blog of the Year award at the Tramline, Dublin, in October 2018. Find him on Facebook  or Twitter here. Visit his website here - CiaranTierney.com. A former newspaper journalist, he is seeking new opportunities in a digital world.

Is this the Ireland we really want?

Irish Current Affairs Blog of the Year 2018

The number of homeless people in Ireland has passed the 10,000 mark for the first time

A friend of mine is a volunteer coach with his local hurling club.

Like many parents all across Ireland, he only got involved with the GAA once his son began to play our national games, as he grew up many miles away, in another county.

He finds that he loves helping out at the sprawling rural club just outside the city, even though the early morning sessions can curtail his social life at the weekends.

On Saturday, I met him at a 50th birthday party.

He was bothered. He wanted to talk politics. He asked me why I wasn’t running for the local elections. And he voiced a question which I hear many people asking these days, in the midst of a so-called boom.

“Is this the kind of Ireland we really want?”

In recent weeks, he has discovered that a huge proportion of the families in his parish cannot afford helmets for their kids.

Faced with crippling mortgages, high rents, or insecure and low-paying jobs, many of the parents are living ‘hand to mouth’ every week and month. They hate to admit it publicly, but they confide in the coaches, privately, that they simply cannot afford new jerseys, helmets, or hurls.

An unexpected expense of €60 or €70 is simply beyond their means. And this is in a relatively affluent rural parish, just outside one of Ireland’s major cities.

It’s the kind of thing you would never hear An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, mention when he boasts about the Republic’s remarkable “recovery”. Most of these people are working, but they are the new working poor.

So many of them have confided in my friend and the other coaches that helmets and hurls are beyond them that the club has been forced to change its policy in relation to equipment for the youngsters.

Now, after a fundraising drive, each child is provided with a helmet.

Otherwise, their embarrassed parents would be unable to send them to the training sessions.

A child's hurling helmet is now too expensive for many struggling parents

Perhaps it’s a small thing.

But it has left my friend and the other coaches in shock.

In this “booming” Ireland, with such a low unemployment rate, how come so many people have so little money to spend every month?

How come an expense of €60 could cause a family emergency? Or force parents to withdraw their children from participating in the sport they love?

It’s a theme which seems to be popping up more and more. If this country really is in "recovery" how come so many people I meet every day are struggling to survive?

Campaigning is well underway for both the European and local elections and my friend is adamant that people like me (and him, I retort!) should get more involved in local or national politics.

The candidates we haven’t seen for half a decade are suddenly knocking on our doors, making promises, and calling on us to give them our votes.

Isn’t it time we asked them some pertinent questions?

Such as why so many working people are paying so much in rent or on their mortgages that they are literally broke by the end of every month.

Or why are so many of us working in insecure jobs, not knowing if we will earn enough to pay the bills next month?

The true level of poverty in our thriving cities is hidden away from view

Since taking voluntary redundancy from an industry which is in crisis, I have been shocked by how many people I have met who have next to no security in their jobs. A boss can tell them, at just a week’s notice, that there is no work for them and leave them short of money for the rent.

When populist European Parliament candidate Peter Casey generates front page headlines by criticising “freeloader immigrants” how come nobody asks him to direct his ire at “freeloader landlords” who hike the monthly rents up at every opportunity?

We should ask the candidates why so many people in their 20s and 30s are now in despair that they will never be able to own a home.

As rents spiral out of control, how come so many of us are earning so much less than we were a decade ago in the middle of this so-called “boom”?

How come so many people are sleeping on our streets or spending months on end in facilities provided by our homelessness charities?

How come a national emergency wasn’t declared when the number of homeless people in Ireland crossed the 10,000 mark for the first time?

Why is homelessness not a national emergency? 

A sober walk through Galway’s streets, where you can see desperate people lying in doorways on the coldest and wettest nights, would make anyone question how much this economy really is booming in 2019.

We should ask why poor people can be sent to jail for not paying their €160 TV licences while huge multinational corporations can avoid paying billions in taxes.

We should ask why the well-connected at the top of Irish society are still getting lucrative contracts from their friends in Government, even when some of them have cost us millions in tribunals and investigations.

We should ask why properties are being sold off to vulture funds while those of us scraping by on tiny incomes are forced to pay the deeply unpopular Universal Social Charge.

Financial struggles are causing unprecedented levels of stress

Of course, those on “zero hour contracts” or insecure, part-time jobs are still working, and off the live register, so our unemployment rate should be the envy of the world – if only it told the full story.

We should ask why old people like my father, in his 90s, have had to spend 48 hours lying on a trolley in one of our main public hospitals. Or why the Government funds a two-tier health system which allows the richest in our society to live longer, healthier lives.

Our ruling politicians never squirm with embarrassment when they write pleading letters to pop stars or turn up for the opening of private clinics which are built for a tiny fragment of the population.

As former Tanaiste Mary Harney once said, the Irish are “closer to Boston than Berlin” – that’s certainly true when you see how ordinary people suffer when they are forced to attend any of our overcrowded Emergency Departments.

This is the time to ask politicians if they are happy to live in a country, or support a Government party, where people stuck on trolleys for 24 or 48 hours are too afraid of the consequences to complain or speak out.

A candidate for the local or European elections might argue that they have nothing to do with our scandalous health service, but their parties are deliberately running down a broken system and forcing those who can barely afford it to cling on to private health care.

This is the right time to ask sitting City Councillors why some buildings lie empty while our homelessness crisis has spiralled out of control since they last knocked on our doors.

Or why they are threatening to spoil one of the most beautiful parts of my city in order to make way for a new road, at a time when a pending climate catastrophe and a growing obesity epidemic should be forcing all of us to abandon our over-reliance on cars.

In Galway and other Irish cities, it's all about the cars. 

Leave it to the charities?

They might tell us why our most senior city officials “sleep out” for charity every December when it’s actually their job - not that of the charity - to tackle the out of control rate of homelessness in our city.

But they smile for the cameras with the rich businessmen, because they have no concept of shame.

So many working people I know are fed up, living week-to-week, and literally unable to afford a child’s hurling helmet or a meal out at the weekend.

So many are afraid that they are just one month away from being made homeless by a greedy landlord or in terror of falling ill because our public hospitals are substandard.

Too many are struggling, too few are thriving or living off their backs, and yet if you were to believe these politicians Ireland is in the midst of a remarkable recovery after taking on so much of Europe's banking debt.

Ireland may be “booming” again, but only for the vultures, the bankers, the landlords, and the well-connected businessmen who, funnily enough, seem to be very close to the right wing parties who have divided up the ruling of this country since the foundation of the state.

As my friend put it so succinctly at the weekend . . . is this the Ireland we really want?


To hire a professional blogger / content writer, please email ciaran@ciarantierney.com

--  * Ciaran Tierney won the Irish Current Affairs and Politics Blog of the Year award at the Tramline, Dublin, in October 2018. Find him on Facebook  or Twitter here. Visit his website here - CiaranTierney.com. A former newspaper journalist, he is seeking new opportuniities in a digital world. 

Irish Current Affairs Blogger of the Year 2018

An open letter to a West of Ireland Senator

Irish Current Affairs Blog of the Year 2018 

An Irish flag flying in occupied Palestine

Dear Senator O'Mahony,

I would consider you to be one of my sporting heroes. The wonderful, dignified way you went about delivering two All-Ireland football titles to Galway in 1998 and 2001 left a lasting impression with me and were among the highlights of my 22 year career in provincial journalism.

I am writing to say how saddened I was to see you and members of your party, Fine Gael, sit in the Seanad this week to oppose a bill which will give huge hope to people living under an appalling occupation. I come from a "Fine Gael family" and I am truly appalled by the party's stance on Senator Frances Black's Occupied Territories Bill.

How would Michael Collins have voted on Wednesday night?

You are something of a hero in the GAA (especially West of Ireland GAA), an organisation which knows more than a thing or two about oppression, colonisation, and the brutality of an occupying army.

When the British Army murdered 14 people and injured 60 during a football game in Croke Park in 1920, the GAA and the people of Ireland really could have done with international solidarity and support.

I remember a famous photo which went viral all over the world when your Galway team were All-Ireland champions. It showed your team, the champions, playing Armagh next to a British Army base, where helicopters were taking off and landing, in a National Football League game in South Armagh.

The GAA has a long and noble history of standing up to oppression.

I am astounded that your party, Fine Gael, sees no merit in a former colony leading the way for the rest of the world by banning goods from 'settlements' which have been built on land which was colonised illegally in 1967.

The people of the West Bank have lived under a brutal occupation for 51 years, which is more than all of my lifetime, and they are in desperate need of hope. Ireland can give them some hope.

Members of the Al-Helal football team in Kinvara in 2016,
Photo: John Kelly, The Clare Champion.

I have travelled extensively in the Middle East and I believe a monstrous injustice has been caused to the people of Palestine. I'm also aware that they look up to Ireland and the Irish, due to our own struggle against colonisation.

It seems clear to me now that the people of Palestine will not get any solidarity from Irish politicians who are more concerned about cozying up to our European and American 'masters' than standing up for human rights.

We seem to have forgotten where we came from.

Your party's line about the European Union leading the way on foreign policy doesn't wash. The West Bank settlements are illegal according to international law. Buying goods from them, on land which has been stolen from the people of Palestine, should be a 'no brainer' in a former colony like Ireland.

This bill is not a full boycott of Israel and Israeli goods. It's merely calling on the Irish Government to uphold international law. I believe that Fine Gael is now on the wrong side of history, just as those who opposed the Dunnes Stores strikers in 1981 were proved to be wrong after their actions helped lead to the collapse of the appalling Apartheid regime.

The Seanad voted 30-13 in favour of the bill on Wednesday,
despite opposition from the Fine Gael party

Nelson Mandela sought out and thanked those women years later when he came to Dublin. I can't see a future Nelson Mandela of Palestine wanting to have anything to do with Simon Coveney and the members of Fine Gael if he or she comes to visit Ireland.

Yes, my interest in this is personal. This summer, I helped to raise €4,350 during a night out in Galway to bring a Gaza football team to Ireland. Those little underage boys, crying out for hope, were not even allowed out of Gaza, due to the appalling siege imposed on them by the Governments of Israel and Egypt.

I was so inspired by the joy on the young boys’ faces when they came to Galway in 2016 and 2017.

It felt so embarrassing to have to tell the people of Galway, who gave their money so generously, that we could not do anything for the young footballers of the Al-Helal Academy for another year.

Those kids so badly need the kind of experiences they get from playing in places like Kinvara and escaping the stifling atmosphere of Gaza for even a few days.

I know journalists who have been shot at by Israeli soldiers just for filming their actions. I know a wonderful human rights lawyer who has been branded a terrorist for chronicling the crimes which have been committed against the people of his village.

I know people who have had raw sewage thrown down on their villages by 'settlers' who should not even be living beyond the 1967 borders.

In the refugee camps of Jordan, years ago, I met people who still have the keys for their homes – even though they haven’t been able to go home in decades.

And I'm sickened when Simon Coveney, who I believe to be a good man, tells me and other Irish people that we cannot lead the way on this by taking a principled stand.

Asking Senators to support the Occupied Territories Bill in Galway

Last Saturday, a small group of us organised a stall in Shop Street in Galway. Over the course of five hours, almost 600 people signed postcards calling on Senators in our region to support the Occupied Territories Bill. Every one of them thanked us, warmly, for standing in solidarity with the Palestinians on a cold November Saturday.

Two weeks earlier, more than a hundred people turned up in a Galway hotel to support Senator Black and her bill.

It was amazing to see how many Galway people related so much to this issue, perhaps due to our own island's troubled history. it's not as though Palestine is as directly relevant to them as issues such as homelessness and the housing crisis.

I believe the people who thanked us in Galway city centre last Saturday showed how out of touch Fine Gael are with ordinary people when it comes to human rights.

Here in the West of Ireland, people really do understand.

But it seems that the Fine Gael party members in this part of Ireland have forgotten their roots. They see no parallels at all between Oliver Cromwell and ‘To Hell Or To Connacht’ and the mass forced migration of Palestinians into the tiny strip of land called Gaza.

And I believe that Senator Frances Black has shown great courage in the face of hostile international pressure by moving this bill.

It’s not always easy to stand up for what you believe is right, especially when the might and the power are on the other side.

Collecting signatures to support the Occupied Territories Bill in Galway

So I guess I'm just writing this to express how disappointed I am by both you and your party, due to your decision to oppose a bill which would actually give huge hope to a people who are crying out for hope.

If only others had given some hope to the Irish throughout the 19th century. It's so easy to dismiss gestures such as Senator Black's and to forget that the Irish have a huge place in the world.

We inspire Palestinians precisely because we were once a colonised people ourselves.

After 51 years of being occupied and having their land stolen, the people of Palestine need more meaningful gestures than our Government deflecting the issue to the European Union.

What was the point of our own noble and often fruitless struggle for independence if we don't have the courage to take our true place in the world?

Are we so willing to sell our souls because it’s more “convenient” than standing up for human rights?

Thank you for reading.

* Ciaran Tierney won the Irish Current Affairs and Politics Blog of the Year award at the Tramline, Dublin, last month. Find him on Facebook  or Twitter here. Visit his website here - CiaranTierney.com.

Our divided tribal loyalties

The Basque woman five seats down from me was in awe.                

Is there a better game on the planet than a championship
battle between two top hurling teams? 

The stadium was packed. Over 50,000 souls had taken over the place and turned it red.

It was only a ‘friendly’, but the supporters of the ‘home’ team cheered every pass and move with a gusto which was totally out of kilter with the importance of the occasion.

"Why does everyone in Ireland support Liverpool?” she asked me at half-time. “Do you not support your own teams?”

In the city of Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians, and St Patrick’s Athletic, she was shocked to see so many Dubliners come out to support a team from the old colonial power.

In the Basque Country, they have grown up on tales of the Irish fight for independence from the British Empire. Now she was shocked to be in Ireland and to find that all the locals were roaring on a British team.

Her team is a total anomaly in modern professional football. They have a Basque-only recruitment policy, even today, and have finished in the top seven of La Liga for each of the past four years despite this restriction.

In Dublin, she was shocked to see that so many people had paid a minimum of €60 a head to support a team from the other side of the Irish Sea, in a contest which would have absolutely no bearing on the outcome of their season.

She wondered why Irish people didn’t support their own local clubs and how much stronger the League of Ireland would be if they weren’t so obsessed by the world-famous players who line out each weekend in the English Premier League.

Thousands of Irish fans turned up on Saturday to support
Liverpool FC in a friendly game against Athletic Bilbao

I didn’t know where to begin.

My own association with Liverpool FC dates back well over 40 years, before the days when my own city even had a team in the national league.

I ‘picked’ Liverpool as a five year old and my brother chose Arsenal, because younger siblings were not allowed follow in the footsteps of their siblings in 1970s Ireland. He has long since forgotten his boyhood preference for the North London club.

He has completely lost interest, and I'm losing mine, when the players no longer seem to have anything in common with the fans, no loyalty, no passion. And match day tickets are now beyond the budget of many Scousers.

As a squatter in 1980s London, I was lucky enough to see the best Liverpool team in history play on numerous occasions. They were probably the best team on the planet at the time and had a good sprinkling of Irish players, including Mark Lawrenson and Ronnie Whelan.

When, 15 years later, a childhood friend moved to Merseyside, trips to Anfield became regular occurrences. Memorably, between 2001 and 2007, a group of us followed Liverpool FC all around Europe. We had legendary nights in exotic cities which would never have been possible for fans of Galway United FC.

The average home attendance at Eamonn Deacy Park, the home of Galway United, is about 1,400 this season. There are thousands of soccer ‘fans’ in my city and county who have never seen their local team, even though United are producing some sparkling football as they battle against relegation in 2017.

Every Saturday or Sunday during the winter months, a group of them sit in a pub roaring on Chelsea FC. I've heard one of them say he'd rather be tortured than pop down the road to watch live football at Galway United FC.

When people ask me why I support Liverpool, I talk about the Hillsborough disaster, the close friendships I made following the team all around Europe, and the city’s long-established links with Ireland. But, ultimately, Liverpool FC are not “my” team. How could they be? I’m not from Merseyside and I don’t live there.

There was a magical atmosphere at the All-Ireland semi-final
between Galway and Tipperary at Croke Park

I felt a bit guilty about taking up a ticket when the opportunity arose to purchase one 24 hours before the game on Saturday.

But, as I was in Dublin for the weekend anyway, I still felt a desire to attend, to check out the new players who currently line out for my boyhood club.

Liverpool beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1, but the whole experience left me cold. I felt duped to have spent €60 for a game which had no meaning and slightly embarrassed as I tried to explain to the Basque fans why so many Irish people have such an affinity with a club from another land.

Especially while our own clubs are struggling to survive, including Bray Wanderers, who almost went out of business a few weeks ago.

It was hard to care too much about a game featuring players whose pay-packets mean they are totally out of touch with working-class fans, who can no longer afford to attend league games.

Watching 50,000 mostly Irish fans roar on an English club made me squirm a little, as though this was a triumph of hype and marketing over the reality of our lives on the Emerald Isle.

Of course, this is not just an Irish - or post-colonial - thing. I have met taxi-drivers in Bangkok and fishermen from Norway who describe themselves as passionate Liverpool fans. I have met fans from Hong Kong and Malaysia who have spent small fortunes to attend Liverpool games.

I could see that some parents were delighted to give their youngsters a first ever taste of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, the Liverpool anthem which is now famous all across the globe. Dare I say it, though, the game was boring and definitely not worth the €60 admission fee.

I couldn’t help wondering why so many Dubs had turned up to support a team from England on an evening when their own GAA team was in action in front of 80,000 fans just up the road at Croke Park. I felt slightly embarrassed after talking to the Basque woman and slipped away before the end.

Less than 24 hours later, I found myself among my own Tribe.            

Celebrating Galway's victory minutes after the
All-Ireland semi-final in Dublin

Galway were playing Tipperary in front of 68,000 people and the skill levels, the passion, and the speed of the game seemed to belong to another world.

My ticket for a superb seat in the Upper Hogan Stand boasted a fantastic view and actually cost €15 less than my stub for a poor seat in the Aviva Stadium the night before.

As the crowd roared around me, I had to pinch myself to remind myself that these were amateurs, playing for the pride of the county, not professional athletes who kiss a club badge one month before moving on to join deadly rivals the next.

There was a huge tension in the air as two groups of young men battled bravely for a place in the All-Ireland final.

When Joe Canning produced a wonder strike in the very last minute, to decide the issue by the narrowest of margins, we all lost the run of ourselves, hugging strangers and jumping up and down with our fists in the air.

When it all died down, three different Tipp fans approached me to shake hands in the top of the Hogan Stand and wish us well for the final.

Gone was the poisonous atmosphere which marked games between our two counties in the late 1980s and 1990s, and I couldn’t help thinking that fans of Chelsea, Liverpool, or Man United could never sit beside each other in stadia and share our love of a beautiful game.

Neither would they ever imagine being so gracious in defeat as the wonderful Tipp fans I had the pleasure of meeting on Sunday.

The Liverpool game almost put me to sleep, while the hurling match demonstrated so much about what is brilliant about being Irish … touches of genius, passion, skill, and just enough lunacy to keep us all enthralled right to the end.

On a high after the hurling semi-final

Instead of being so obsessed by global superstars, we should learn to appreciate the wonders and home grown heroes who live and work among us.

Such as the two teachers from a Loughrea school who are now preparing for one of the biggest sporting occasions in Ireland. It’s hard to imagine the excitement among the town’s youngsters as they prepare to return to school to see home grown heroes Johnny Coen and David Burke come September.

And it might be easier to explain the pure joy of hurling, surely one of the best games on the planet,  to a Basque woman than to explain why so many Irish people are in thrall to Sky Sports and the major English soccer clubs.


Ciaran Tierney is a journalist, blogger, and digital storyteller, based in Galway, Ireland. Find his Facebook page at http://facebook.com/ciarantierneymedia

Abuse based on ignorance

My Facebook page ...

In the early 1990s, a friend of mine got a job building a new Tube line in London.

At the interview, the rather gruff employer told him that he only employed men from Connemara, Kerry, and Donegal. “So, where are you from?” he asked the young man from Galway.

“Connemara,” he replied, and it was only really a white lie as Bearna, on the western fringes of Galway City, is right on the edge of the Connemara Gaeltacht.

On the following Monday morning, when he turned up for work, he realised the reason behind the employer’s unusual stipulation.

To a man, every single person working in the tunnel deep under the bowels of the British capital spoke Irish. From 7am until the close of business each day, he never heard a word of English, as the ‘hard’ men on the site worked valiantly to extend the London Underground.

My friend became extremely fit, thanks to the back-breaking work, and perfected the Irish he had honed in an all-Irish school.                                                 

An Ghaeltacht: where our native tongue has survived

For a year, the experience gave him a wonderful glimpse into the Irish emigration experience, which had gone on for a couple of centuries.

How many men and women from these parts had set sail on the ‘coffin ships’ for Australia or America without a word of English to their name?

They lived in Irish ghettoes, drank and went to Church together, and some of them never really assimilated into the culture of the country they had emigrated to.

My friend lasted a year on the huge site, before another friend – after losing his job as a chef – convinced him he was crazy after trying it out for just one week. Both of them subsequently moved back to Ireland.

I thought of my friend’s back-breaking job this week, when a strange issue of “racism” against Irish-speaking players raised its head following a club Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) game in Co Galway.

An investigation is underway into allegations that a referee told a team from the Gaeltacht (the Irish-speaking area) not to speak Irish during the game.

The GAA has confirmed that an investigation is on-going into complaints made by the Na Piarsaigh/Ros Muc GAA club following a game against city side Salthill/Knocknacarra.

Na Piarsaigh, from Rosmuc in the heart of the Connemara Gaeltacht, made an official complaint following comments allegedly made by the official during the game which took place at the coastal village of Rossaveal.

Broadcaster Sean Ban Breathnach, who is from the Connemara Gaeltacht, told the Connacht Tribune that players who spoke Irish were often abused by supporters on the terraces or opposition managers, rather than rival players.

“You hear things like ‘Go back to the bog in Connemara’,” he said. “It’s this attitude that if you’re from Connemara, and speak Irish, you are thick. It’s abuse. It happens.”

He alleged that referees sometimes asked players for their “real names” when they were not satisfied with the Irish language version of their names during GAA games.

Former Galway All-Ireland winning midfielder Sean O Domhnaill said it was an issue within Galway GAA club football, even though the county boasted the biggest Gaeltacht (or Irish-speaking area) in the country.

But he said GAA players from Connemara viewed the Irish language as an advantage, as it allowed them to communicate with each other on the field. Often, their opponents would not understand a word they were saying.

“There are things I’d be able to say and the opposition wouldn’t know what we were saying,” said O Domhnaill. “Of course, they are going to tell you to shut up. But when they do that, you know you’re winning. For me, speaking Irish was always an advantage, and we used it to our advantage.”

Galway GAA County Board Secretary John Hynes confirmed that a complaint was made by the Na Piarsaigh / Rosmuc club, and by one of the club officials.

He said that the inquiry into the matter would be concluded in 10 days.

A club football game in Galway
Photo: Connacht Tribune. 

One of the great things about living in Galway is that Irish is still a ‘living’ language in a way which is so different from Dublin, Cork, or Limerick.

It’s not unusual to hear two women from An Spideal discussing the cost of living ‘as Gaeilge’ during a chance encounter in the pedestrianized Shop Street area of the city or to hear an enthusiastic debate about sporting matters on the Go Bus home after a weekend in Dublin.

I regularly hear young lads from Connemara conversing in Irish in the changing-room at my gym, and I love to compliment them on how wonderful it is to hear the language being spoken in such a natural context.

And the great thing is they don't feel any sense of shame, or inferiority complex, about speaking in their native language.

It wasn’t always that way. In the 1950s, men from Connemara used to line up on the main street of an East Galway village in order to get a day’s work as farm labourers in one of the nearby villages.

If they built up a rapport with an East Galway farmer, they would work and stay with his family for months on end.

And it was not uncommon for the East Galway children to make fun of the Connemara men’s poor command of the English language, as though speaking the first language of a country which had been colonised was something to be ashamed of.

Connemara is now one of just three main Gaeltacht areas across the country, including parts of Co Kerry and Co Donegal, where the Irish language continues to be used as a “living” language on a daily basis.

It is estimated that there are now just 40,000 to 80,000 “fully native” Irish speakers across the Republic of Ireland, which has a population of 4.75 million. Many more would have some understanding of the language.

The history of the Irish language is invariably linked with the turbulent political history of the island as a whole.

Two million of the five million people estimated to be living on the island of Ireland at the end of the 18^th century were monolingual Irish speakers.

Famine, epidemic, and emigration decimated the rural poor in the 19^th century, when many native Irish speakers set sail for North America. Entire rural communities were wiped out in the Great Famine between 1845 and 1849.

The number of Irish speakers declined from one and a half million in 1851 to just 600,000 by the end of the century.

The establishment of the State National School system in 1831, when Ireland was part of the British Empire, prioritised the teaching of English and forced Irish speakers to teach their children at illegal “hedge schools”.

A notorious “tally stick” was used by teachers to beat children who were caught speaking Irish, and this was endorsed by many parents who felt that Irish was of little economic use to their children in an era of mass emigration.

By 1891, when only 3.5% of Under-10s spoke the language, Irish “appeared on the verge of extinction”, according to scholar Mairtin O Murchu.

The foundation of the Gaelic League in 1893 and the obligatory teaching of Irish in schools following independence in 1922 have helped to revive the language.

The 2011 Census, released by the Central Statistics Office (SCO), showed that Polish had overtaken Irish as the third most spoken language in the country.

It seems such a shame that in 2016, through ignorance, people still feel a need to belittle those who have kept our ancient language alive through centuries of oppression or discrimination.

Opposing players and referees should marvel at the fact that young sportsmen still speak the native language with such a wonderful ‘blas’, rather than ridicule a national treasure which is in danger of extinction.

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So .. what are the ten best pubs in Galway?

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For a city with a population of less than 80,000 souls, Galway certainly tends to punch above its weight. 

Recently designated a UNESCO City of Film, and currently in the reckoning to become European Capital of Culture in 2020, it was voted the friendliest city in the world by a New York-based magazine late last year.

According to Travel + Leisure magazine, Galway stood out due to its festive nature, lively population, and the love of music which ensures you will always find a talented busker on the city’s narrow streets or a rousing session in one of its hospitable pubs.

More than 23,000 full-time students help the city’s bars to maintain a thriving trade through the wet and windy winter months, but it’s in summer time that Ireland’s western capital really comes into its own.

There is hardly a weekend between April and October when the city’s citizens are not celebrating one festival or another, from the major international Arts Festival in July to raucous celebrations of film, literature, music, theatre, and all things culinary.

If you do happen to visit the City of the Tribes during the forthcoming peak season, for what it’s worth, here is a local’s guide to the ten pubs you must visit if you really want to sample the best of the night life the city has to offer.

An Pucan

11 Forster Street. http://anpucan.ie/

A pub which underwent a major renovation after new owners took it over a couple of years ago, the new-look An Pucan has become a huge favourite on the locals’ social scene. Boasting live music seven nights a week, good food, and a cavernous beer garden, the pub is a huge hit with students and young professionals at weekends.

Also popular with sports fans, the pub has become a 21^st century Galway institution and regularly wins awards for the quality and innovation of its social media campaigns.

O’Connell’s

Eyre Square

http://oconnellsbargalway.com/

Once a small grocery and bar, O’Connell’s boasts a fantastic location in the heart of the city. Overlooking the green space in John F. Kennedy Park, where the late US President addressed a huge crowd just months before his assassination in 1963, it has been trading solely as a pub since the 1970s. It also has one of the best beer gardens in the city.

A preserved building, the pub’s stunning, traditional décor includes tiled floors and stained glass windows, with historic photographs on the walls. It attracts a diverse clientele throughout the year, although it is particularly popular with professionals (who frequent the pub after work in the early evenings) and rugby fans. The home ground of the Connacht rugby team, currently enjoying their best ever season, is just a five minute stroll away.

Tig Coili

Photo; Aidan Coughlan

Mainguard Street

http://www.tigcoiligalway.com/

If you wander the narrow streets of Galway in search of a lively, impromptu traditional music session, chances are you will end up in this pub in the heart of the pedestrian zone. During the peak tourist season it can be almost impossible to get a table, as many of the region’s finest musicians are regularly found here belting out the tunes free of charge. ‘Tig’,incidentally, is Gaelic for “the house of” and affable owner Coili is hugely popular with the punters.

Often the musicians just sit around a table, without any amplification, so getting in early to grab a good vantage point should be at the top of your priorities for the evening. The pub has an attractive outdoor seating area, where you can watch the world go by on sunny afternoons. Some of the city’s best buskers regularly set up for the day right outside the front door.

Taaffes

19 Shop Street

 https://www.facebook.com/Taaffes-Bar-311221092237549/

Just up the street from Tig Coili, this is another pub which has been synonymous with music in Galway for many years. Amplification is actively encouraged here as guest bands blast out the ballads and rebel songs for a young, lively crowd.

The pub has been owned by the Lally family, who have had strong connections with both the Connemara Gaeltacht and Galway’s Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) teams for many years. It’s a great place to sing along to ballads, to watch a GAA game in summer, or to hear locals speaking their native tongue.

Photo: Aidan Coughlan

Tigh Neachtain

17 Cross Street

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tigh-Neachtain-Galway/411779125645523/

Local comedian John Donnellan recently quipped that you need to drink in Tigh Neachtain at least three or four nights a week if you are to be considered a “serious artist” in Galway. There was an element of truth to his provocative claim, as many a novel, poem, or screenplay was conjured up – if not quite completed – within the pub’s four walls.

With a splendid location in the heart of the city’s Latin Quarter, good food from the stylish restaurant upstairs, open fireplaces, and live music, this has been a firm favourite with a Bohemian otoclientele for decades. It’s also a great place to watch the world go by from the outside seating area in high summer.

McGinn’s Hop House

19 Woodquay

http://www.mcginnshophouse.com/

This new pub in the historic Woodquay area showcases the boom in craft beers which has taken place across Ireland over the past five years or so. With 18 types of beer on draught, you will be spoilt for choice when you enter this friendly bar which is a big hit with the city’s sports fans and native Irish speakers.

Although it’s one of the newest additions to the Galway pub scene, the affable Fergus McGinn has over two decades of experience in the pub trade behind him. Killer pizzas and slow roast meats, cooked around a wood-fired oven, set this premises apart from the competition.

The Salt House

Raven Terrace

http://www.galwaybaybrewery.com/salthouse/

There is nothing particularly notable about the décor or lay-out of this pub, tucked away beside a canal on the west side of the River Corrib. A lot of Galway pubs are brighter, breezier, and bigger, but none can match the sheer variety of craft beers available at The Salt House. This place boasts 120 varieties of bottled craft beers from all around the world, and 21 different types of beer on draught at any one time.

The bar staff here are knowledgeable and passionate about their beers, so much so that they love to make recommendations about their favourite brews. You could spend an entire week sampling the wide variety of beers here, some of which are brewed locally in Galway. Just don’t ask for a Guinness or a Heineken when you make it to the top of the queue!

Monroe’s Tavern

Dominick Street Upper

http://www.monroes.ie/

This cavernous venue on three floors is a Galway institution, as it has been owned and run by the same family for decades. You can find traditional Irish set-dancing, rousing ballads, and good food on the ground floor; while the late night upstairs bar features visiting acts seven nights a week.

Late night bars have taken over from night clubs somewhat on the Galway social scene in recent years and venues such as Monroe’s, the Front Door, and The Dail cater for those who want to enjoy a late drink after the ‘normal’ pub closing time.

Roisin Dubh                                     

Photo: Aidan Coughlan

Lower Dominick Street

http://www.roisindubh.net/

Just a stone’s throw away from Monroe’s, you will find the city’s other main live music venue in the part of the city known to locals as ‘The West’. Roisin Dubh is probably the best place to see touring live international and national rock bands in Galway, while it also provides a welcome stage for emerging local artists.

Some of Ireland’s best live acts, such as Le Galaxie, Villagers, and Two Door Cinema Club started playing free shows here on Thursday nights and the venue is also a huge hit with the city’s comedy fans. Management at the Roisin also put on occasional gigs at bigger venues such as the Seapoint ballroom in Salthill, and co-promote the music programme for the Big Top at the Galway International Arts Festival in July.

O’Connor’s

Upper Salthill

http://www.oconnorsbar.com/

The sleepy seaside suburb of Salthill might not have the night life to match Galway’s thriving city centre, but it boasts one of the most attractive pubs in the city in O’Connor’s, which has been run by the same family since 1942.

First established in 1845, the pub is as famous for its hospitality as its free live music sessions. One of the country’s original singing pubs, its décor has to be seen to be believed. Not too many pubs across Ireland boast a bicycle hanging from the ceiling!

* An edited version of this article was published by IrishCentral.com on Wednesday, May 18.