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Readers forum  The
Modest Mr. Hinds
The February/March issue of Irish America hit home with me in several
ways: The article on the “U.S.- Ireland Forum” brought back
the excitement of those two very rewarding days in New York. (I was happy
and proud to be quoted regarding my views on the ongoing cultural contributions
that Irish-Americans can make to Ireland.) Then there were the articles
on Alice McDermott, a wonderful writer, and “The Magic of Yeats
Country” (one of my favorite places in Ireland).
But particularly wonderful was Patricia Harty’s interview with Ciarán
Hinds. It brought back the fantastic experience I had directing Ciarán
in the role of Cúchulainn at the first Yeats Festival held in 1989.
He is everything one dreams of in a great actor: intelligent, intuitive,
courageous, committed, physically and emotionally expressive. I just sat
there in rehearsals and helped him edit all the incredible choices he
presented. Without his genius, I don’t know what we would have done
trying to capture that incredibly demanding role.
I saw Ciarán again a few years ago in Brian Friel’s Yalta
Game at the Gate. Another stunning performance. After-wards we talked
and he told me, to my shock and dismay, that this was the first time he
had been invited to act in Dublin since the 1989 Yeats Festival. Ireland
is not always good at appreciating its artists of genius. Michael Macliammoir
once told me that trying to make a lasting impression in Dublin was like
trying to punch a hole in a balloon. Pull back the fist and the indention
is gone.
Harty captured the spirit of Ciarán brilliantly. His integrity,
I mean. And his modesty.
James W. Flannery
Director of the W. B. Yeats Foundation
and the Winship Professor of Arts and Humanities at Emory University
Good Work
Never have I seen as much valuable content, seminal thinking and gravitas
in one issue of a magazine. Give the editor a raise.
The quotes on the U.S.-Ireland Forum – from Colum McCann (“Instead
of silence, exile and cunning, we are experiencing an explosion of togetherness,
participation and empathy”) and Niall O’Dowd (“For too
long we have been identified in part by a bogus and trivial culture”)
followed by Don Keough (“Maintaining growth over the coming years”)
and then Dr. Hugh Brady on long-range planning.
After all that Forum news, the interview with writer Alice McDermott was
a delicious dessert.
Keep up the good work.
Stanley Goldstein
Chairman
American Friends of James Joyce
A diaspora passport
With regard to your U.S.-Ireland Forum as reported in the Feb./Mar. issue,
as a fourth-generation Irish-American, I may represent the type of diaspora
that the conference and Irish America should have as their focus. My situation
is not typical of the East Coast Irish of the 19th century. My family
is famine Irish that arrived in 1851 and settled in central Illinois farm
country where my great-great-grandfather Daniel Doyle along with his brothers,
sister and mother established the family farm of 800 acres. For the next
three generations the Doyles lived there in a small Irish community intermarrying
with Delaneys, Dwyers, Laheys and Sullivans, until my father broke the
cycle.
As a boy I sat at family gatherings at the farm where the news from Ireland
was discussed, famous people in any and all fields with Irish surnames
were admired, and a determination of what county they might be from was
argued.
I was raised in that family with all things Irish being the highest form
of praise. Being called a “fine Irish lad” by my father was
one of the highest. Although my great-grandfather and grandfather never
expressed any desire to visit Ireland, it was always on their minds. My
own father made two trips to Ireland, one on his own and the second at
my insistence. I have made 13 visits and spent one summer as a student
at University of Ireland, Galway. All of this is to suggest that Ireland
has a special hold on my psyche, and the same could be said for my siblings
and my children.
I know that I am not eligible for full Irish citizenship, but I have always
thought that some form of official recognition of [people in] the Irish
diaspora could be devised. A diaspora passport that gave discounts at
state-owned sites, a simple certificate of acknowledgement from the Irish
government, a reduction of red tape in application for an Irish work permit
– these or any number of ideas might be discussed at the next conference
in Dublin. If nothing is done, the bond may become so weak in succeeding
generations that it will disappear.
That would certainly be a loss for both Ireland and the diaspora.
Larry Doyle
St. Paul, Missouri
 The
Irish in California
Tom Deignan’s feature on “The Irish in California” (Feb./Mar.)
reminds us that the largest population of American Irish is in California,
not New York or Massachusetts, and that the Irish connection to California
dates to the Spanish period.
However, I would like to mention one minor error and suggest a few additions
to Deignan’s fine piece. Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Archbishop of
Los Angeles, was adopted and has no Irish blood at all. On the other hand,
Spanish California’s second governor was Irishman Philip Barry (Felipe
de Barri in Spanish records). Sharing the honor for being California’s
first non-Spanish white settler was Irishman John Mulligan, and the first
to sail an American ship in her waters was Irish-born Joseph O’Cain.
The first two non-Spanish physicians in California were brothers Nicholas
and Richard Den of County Kilkenny. The first party of American settlers
to trek overland to California was led most of the way by County Cavan-born
mountain man Tom Fitzpatrick. The first party of American migrants to
reach California with their wagons intact, whose route became most favored,
was led by the Murphy and Miller families of County Wexford. The civil
engineer who laid out the city of San Francisco was Irishman Jasper O’Farrell.
One of the principal leaders of the Bear Flag revolt was Patrick McChristian
of County Down. Irishman William Shannon was the California Constitutional
Convention delegate who saw to it that slavery would be prohibited in
the Golden State. The first three police chiefs of San Francisco, Malachi
Fallon, Martin Burke, and Patrick Crowley, were Irish born. Three of the
four Silver Kings, John Mackay, James Fair, and William O’Brien,
were born in Ireland and the fourth, James Flood, was the son of Irish
immigrants. Another son of Irish immigrants was Stephan White who, as
a U.S. Senator from California, was instrumental in getting a harbor built
for Los Angeles at San Pedro.
There are dozens of others, of course, who made significant contributions,
especially in Hollywood. I am heartened to see that Deignan mentions John
Wayne. Many don’t seem to know that he was mostly Irish. His mother,
Mary “Molly” Brown, was the daughter of Irish parents and
his paternal great-great-grandfather was United Irishman Robert Morrison,
who fled to the United States from County Antrim after the Rising of ’98.
Wayne’s brother was named Robert Emmett, and Wayne named his own
sons Michael and Patrick.
Roger D. McGrath
Thousand Oaks, California
Crockett Ancestors
The Dec./Jan. issue included a history article by Tom Deignan, “Virtue,
Liberty, and Independence” which mentioned Donegal immigrant James
Crockett. My great-great-grandfather James Crockett O’Neal was born
in Warren County, Tennessee in 1827. We cannot find any record of his
parents. When I saw the name “James Crockett” a light came
on – a dim one perhaps – that, just maybe James Crockett had
a daughter who married an O’Neal. In naming conventions, it is plausible
that my great-great-grandfather could be a namesake. Yes, odds are slim,
but who knows?
Census records do not list household members prior to 1835 (I think).
One census record lists a Martha O’Neal as head of household and
enumerates the children by certain age ranges. Martha could be widowed
and just perhaps Crockett O’Neal’s mother. Alas, county records
that may have an answer were destroyed. Some of the earliest roads in
America went from New York and Philadelphia south to Virginia and the
Carolinas. Later roads went from the Carolinas west into Kentucky and
Tennessee.
John O’Neal
Received by E-mail
The Trouble with Irish
I just finished your article “The Trouble With Irish.” While
the article was wonderful, it, like so many other similar articles, leaves
the non-citizen Irish with the impression that this is all so sad and
that they bear no responsibility for the survival of the [Irish] Language.
While those in the Gaeltacht have done the Herculean task of maintaining
it for us all of these years, it is now our turn to assist in making certain
that the Language survives. We all share that responsibility.
So all of you who are wringing your hands over the possible loss of the
Language – get up off the couch and put in some time. Learn and
use the Language regardless of what country you are in.
R. Hogan
Received by e-mail
Life in Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis
 I refer to Sharon
Ní Chonchuir’s interesting and reasonably balanced article
in your February/March issue regarding the Kerry Gaeltacht of Corca Dhuibhne.
Sharon highlights three local issues that appear to have run into a headlong
conflict with the Irish language.
I have lived in Dingle for most of Sharon’s life. I came here in
the mid- eighties. Sharon says that of the 7,440 people living here then,
most were Irish speakers or had a good understanding of Irish. My own
memory of Dingle in the eighties was of a hemorrhage of young people emigrating
to America and England because they could not find work here. The only
Irish I heard on the streets of Dingle then was among the old people that
came in on the bus from Ballyferriter on a Tuesday and Thursday morning.
I also remember the appalling suicide rate of young men living in the
Corca Dhuibhne area.
Over the past 15 years however, because of the economic boom, and the
growth in tourism, young people are now able to remain on the peninsula.
I see and hear far more Irish spoken in Dingle now, than I ever did before.
I see young families settling down here and making an effort to raise
their children with a fluency in both languages, and a pride in their
identity and culture. The Dingle and Corca Dhuibhne I know is proud of
its culture and identity, and the people here make every effort to share
and encourage their language and culture in an open and inclusive way.
Over the past couple of years however, the peninsula seems to be heading
into conflict. Sharon says the people are dividing into “mutually-miscomprehending
factions.” She pinpoints the Placenames Order as the start of the
problem. Three years ago the Placenames Order came into effect. 2,300
townlands had their placenames changed to Irish only names, with their
English names abolished by the government. The Order had little or no
effect on the vast majority of areas. However, there are three towns in
the Gaeltacht, and Dingle is the largest and most well known of these.
Dingle is one of the oldest Norman towns in Ireland. An ancient town with
an ancient history, where two names stood side by side without causing
offense to anyone, was told to re-brand itself into the Irish only name
– An Daingean. The townspeople objected as they believe that their
town’s identity has become interwoven over the centuries into the
town’s bilingual names of Dingle and Daingean Uí Chúis.
They believe they are the people of Dingle and equally, they are muintir
Daingean Uí Chúis.
Mr. Fergal Mac Amhlaoibh, the spokesperson for Todhchaí na Gaeltacht
(The Future of the Gaeltacht), says that if Dingle doesn’t like
the Placenames Order, they should be asked to leave the Gaeltacht. But
does Fergal really believe that will help save the Irish language in Corca
Dhuibhne? Dingle and her Gaeltacht hinterland are mutually interdependent,
and to suggest further ghettoizing the Gaeltacht into even smaller pockets
is hardly the answer.
The next issue that Sharon raises is Planning. Ten years ago the Irish-speaking
village of Ballyferriter was a thriving little village with shops, post
office, petrol station and busy pubs and restaurants. Over the past couple
of years however, these integral amenities that are necessary to the very
fabric of daily village life, have disappeared from Ballyferriter.
Kerry County Council recently built 21 houses in the village. Mr. Mac
Amhlaoibh, spokesperson for Todhchaí na Gaeltacht, laments that
only seven houses were given to Irish speaking families, and he has a
point. However, perhaps it is better to see 21 young families come to
the village, and hope that they will embrace the language and culture,
rather than watch the life seeping out of the place.
To be fair to the various organizations involved in developing and preserving
the Gaeltacht, they have a difficult task, but a large part of the problem
is that many Gaeltacht organizations have a knee jerk negative reaction
to any plans that are put forward to revitalize their villages.
Finally we come to the issue that is causing most concern in Corca Dhuibhne
at the moment – our new community school. My two daughters have
experience of both the old Convent school and the new Community School
in Dingle. In the Convent they learned through Irish and English and happily
did most of their exams through Irish. There was no conflict between the
languages. Both Irish and English speaking children were accommodated
without any hullabaloo.
Now, in the new school, they do their subjects through Irish only. Both
girls like Irish, but there are some subjects where they believe that
they would do better if they could do them in their first language, which
is English. In their old school, Irish was encouraged – now it is
imposed. Sharon believes that most Gaeltacht parents support the new Irish
only policy of the school, but I know many Gaeltacht parents who are disturbed
at the exclusiveness of the Community Schools approach.
They wish their children to be educated for the world, not just life
in Corca Dhuibhne. As everywhere, there are children in Corca Dhuibhne
with learning difficulties, who, for one reason or another, are unable
to learn exclusively through Irish. Tuismitheoirí na Gaeltacht
(Parents of the Gaeltacht) say that if a child cannot or will not do their
subjects exclusively through Irish, they should be bused out of the area
to alternative schools many miles from Dingle. Where before two languages
were accommodated, now only Irish is accepted.
So, what is to become of Corca Dhuibhne and the Irish language? Will it
survive or will it be gone in twenty years’ time? I don’t
have the answers to the challenges that face the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht
over the coming years. But there is one thing that I do know. A community
that is divided is a far weaker community than one united, and a community
that disregards the worth and value of all its children to the area is
not looking at the bigger picture. The Corca Dhuibhne I knew and loved
was always inclusive, welcoming and open. People shared their language
and culture with pride. Both languages accommodated and were enriched
by each other. I believe that the Irish language will survive here, but
I’d like to see the gentler Corca Dhuibhne restored.
Kate O’Connor
Dingle, County Kerry |
