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The Journal
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Sinn Féin blasts 'offensive' Government plan to commemorate birth of William the Conqueror
A PLAN TO commemorate the first Norman king of England William the Conqueror 1,000 years on from his birth has been met with dismay from Sinn Féin. Describing the announcement as 'offensive', Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said it beggared belief given the 'legacy of William's successors invading and subjugating Ireland in the name of his English crown', with the Normans responsible for '900 years of occupation' in Ireland. The plan was announced today by Housing and Heritage Minister James Browne, who said the Normans 'left their mark in monumental ways' as he announced that organisations can now submit projects for the 2027 commemoration. The Normans, who landed in Wexford's Bannow Bay in 1169, were responsible for the foundation of many Irish towns and the 'European Year of the Normans' proposes exhibitions, live performances, cross-border artistic residencies, re-enactments, student exchanges and more. However, Ó Snodaigh slammed Browne's plan as amounting to 'scraping the barrel of colonialism, imperialism and English royalism' for the sake of 'themed tourism'. While Ó Snodaigh said we should 'take pride in the rich architectural, cultural, and literary heritage' of Anglo-Norman Ireland, the party draws the line at focusing the commemoration around England's first Norman king. In a statement tonight, the Dublin South Central TD referred back to Fine Gael's aborted 2020 plan to mark the Black and Tans. Advertisement 'Only a short time has passed since Fine Gael tried to commemorate the Black and Tans, and now Fianna Fáil is trying to go further by dedicating an entire year in celebration of 1,000 years since the birth of William the Conqueror,' said Ó Snodaigh, who is the party's spokesperson for Gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Arts and Culture. What will they think of next: A Festival of Cromwell? A Famine Queen Jubilee? Ó Snodaigh said that William himself was a 'foreign king who never set foot in Ireland, and had nothing to do with Ireland,' but in spite of this his birth will be 'given a higher honour than bestowed by an Irish Government on any figure from Gaelic Irish history'. He blasted the government for letting recent anniversaries pass by 'with little more than a whimper', referencing the recent 1500th anniversary of the birth of Ireland's patron saint Colmcille. Similarly, Ó Snodaigh said the '900th anniversary of the founding of the first settlement of Galway by the legendary High King Toirdhealbhach Mór Ua Conchobhair' went unmarked 'officially by any organ of the State'. 'The website of the Normandy region behind the Millenium celebrations clearly states that 2027 was chosen as the year of 'Normans, People of Europe' to mark the millennium of the birth of William the Conqueror,' Ó Snodaigh said. He accepted that there was a plan for tourism behind the commemoration plan, but said that celebrating England's William the Conqueror is simply a 'step too far'. 'This is not a commemoration for Ireland. Marking the birth of a future English king is not for us, even if it was 1,000 years ago. Rather we should always be remembering those great figures of Ireland's past who actually lived here and contributed positively to our island story, celebrating our Irish history and identity, and the links that stretch before the Norman invasion: the Gaels' place in Europe.' The Dublin TD pointed to 'brave Irish heroes of Norman descent' who rebelled against England, listing out the Desmond Rebellion of the 1360s through to 'United Irishman Lord Edward Fitzgerald, in whose Leinster House our Dáil now meets'. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Independent
27-04-2025
- Irish Independent
Obituary: Cyril Jones, Miltown Malbay grocery owner who was fascinated by local and aviation history
Jones was born in 1936 on the town's Church Street. In 2020, he quietly unveiled a plaque to mark the centenary of the destruction of his family's home by the Black and Tans and the Royal Irish Constabulary auxiliaries on September 22, 1920. The combined force had been coming for his father, John 'Jackie' Jones, who was the IRA's local head of intelligence, and a close friend of Ignatius O'Neill, in retribution for the Rineen ambush led by O'Neill earlier that day just north of Miltown. The ambush on an RIC lorry killed five RIC constables and a Black and Tan. Hours later, shots were fired into the Jones's house, lodging a bullet into the kitchen table. Fleeing into the back fields, the Jones family then watched as their home and business was burned down. The family began rebuilding in 1923 and Jones kept a six-inch-long piece of timber from the rescued kitchen table to show history enthusiasts and display during memorials. In January 2020, Jones came out in support of a decision by then mayor of Clare, Cathal Crowe of Fianna Fáil, to boycott a national commemoration service for the RIC that had been due to take place that month at Dublin Castle. The event was eventually dropped. Jones was educated at St Flannan's College in Ennis. After boarding school, he joined the family business. In a 2019 book he wrote with his wife Patsy, called Lovely Old Miltown Malbay, Jones recalled an 'illegal' jaunt with his shopkeeper father during the 'Emergency' to buy wheat in Kilkenny, due to shortages in Miltown; the pair kept on minor roads to avoid detection. The cargo facility on the west Clare railway proved a boon for the Jones business, until the railway's closure in 1961. The family had a yard off Miltown's Main Street that it once used to distribute Guinness, tea and coal to the entire region. After marrying Patsy Burke, whose own family run the Armada Hotel in nearby Spanish Point, Jones took over the family business. A lifelong pioneer, he ditched the bar to focus fully on developing the grocery business. In the 1960s, he linked up with Musgraves to join the fledgling VG retail group, eventually turning it into a SuperValu store. His son John and daughter-in-law Claire moved the grocery business to a large greenfield site in 2013. Jones is also remembered for his success on the field — he was a sub for the Clare minor football team that reached the All-Ireland final in 1953 and played senior football for Clare from 1956 to 1963. He was a leading Clare goalkeeper and won titles with St Joseph's Miltown GAA Club, including the 1959 Clare senior football championship. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more After retiring from the sport, he moved on to coaching and managing Miltown and Clare. He spent six years successfully campaigning for the introduction of smaller goals and pitches for Clare underage teams in the 1980s and roped in Pat Spillane in a campaign for a coaching course. At his funeral, his local club gave Jones a guard of honour as his coffin was brought down Church Street. 'As a mentor, Cyril guided underage teams with an in-depth knowledge of the game allied to a determination to improve each and every player he coached, his quiet unassuming character creating bonds with his players that have stood the test of time and added greatly to the character of our club,' St Joseph's said in a statement. Jones's son John took over the reins of the grocery business in the 1990s. Cyril started researching wartime plane landings and crash-landings in west Clare, seeking out eyewitness accounts. In the book he co-wrote with his wife, Jones recalled being at the scene in April 1945 when a Canadian pilot, who had run low on fuel, crash-landed a spitfire outside the town. The pilot was taken to the local garda barracks, where he was given a welcome meal by the wife of a local garda. Fifty years later, Jones tracked down the pilot and exchanged letters with him. This fascination with wartime aviation prompted him to learn how to fly and he secured a private pilot's licence at the age of 50. In 1991, he was a co-founder of the Spanish Point Flying Club. Until his death, Jones was often to be found on the SuperValu floor, where visitors and locals alike would seek him about to find out more about their ancestral homesteads and local heritage. While fighting prostate cancer, he set about replacing the cast-iron street signs in the traditional Irish script — known as cló Gaelach — that had gone missing since the Gaelic League erected them at the turn of the 20th century. Cyril Jones died peacefully at home on April 3, surrounded by his family and under the care of Milford Care Centre. He is survived his wife Patsy, son John, daughters Majella and Sinéad, brother Brendan, eight grandchildren, his daughter-in-law Claire and sons-in-law Matt and John. Funeral-goers noted Jones had died the same day and at the same age as Kerry GAA great Mick O'Dwyer, who he once faced on the field.
Irish Times
23-04-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Ireland's oldest woman (108) on how her long life is thanks to ‘new nettles'
Very few people can say they've lived through two pandemics and the Irish Civil War , but Sarah Coyle can. Believed to be Ireland's oldest person, Ms Coyle is due to celebrate her 109th birthday this summer. She was born on July 24th, 1916. The 108-year-old grew up in Co Wicklow . She currently lives with her daughter, Marian Galligan, in Castleknock, Dublin. Sarah Coyle on her 108th birthday in July 2024. Photograph: Family photo Ms Galligan said her mother has memories of significant periods in Irish history, including the Civil War (1922-1923) and even the War of Independence (1919-1921). READ MORE Ms Coyle has one particularly vivid memory of the Black and Tans, British forces operating in Ireland during the War of Independence who were notorious for their violence. 'When she was very young, the Black and Tans came around and brought her grandfather James out. They were going to shoot him at the gable end [of the house] – for no reason, they were just going around doing purges,' Ms Galligan said. 'He blessed himself and he said, 'Blessed be the will of God'.' At this point, the leader of the group apparently changed his mind and told his men, 'Put down your guns'. 'They left him there, they didn't shoot him. It wasn't the will of God,' Ms Galligan said. Ms Coyle also remembers one occasion during the Civil War when all the men in the area called James were rounded up. 'They were trying to question them all to see if somebody, a James, had killed one of their comrades,' Ms Galligan said. Ms Coyle doesn't remember exactly who came to the door but, as her father was also called James, he was among those taken away. Sarah Coyle in her 20s. Photograph: Family photo 'At dawn, they burst into the house and only let him put on his trousers and his boots. They were all marched off up the mountains,' Ms Galligan said. His family feared the worst but thankfully he wasn't hurt, arriving home several hours later. Ms Coyle had nine siblings, some of whom also lived to incredible ages. Her sister Lily Kelly, who lives in Solihull in England, turned 103 in April. One of her brothers, Andy Byrne, died shortly before his 101st birthday. Ms Coyle was born in Knockatomcoyle, a townland in Co Wicklow, before her family moved to Coolkenno, near Tullow. Her birthplace is notable because she would go on to marry a Cavan man named Tom Coyle. As a young adult, Ms Coyle moved to Foxrock to become a housekeeper. It was at a dance in Dún Laoghaire that she met her future husband. After they married, they moved to Drumcondra. The couple had four children, but sadly two of their daughters died as newborns. Sarah Coyle with the presidential medals she has received since turning 100. Photograph: Family photo Ms Galligan's brother Patrick lives in Melbourne, Australia. Ms Coyle has five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, with another due shortly. Ms Coyle lost her eyesight in her early 30s. The cause was not entirely clear but she believes it may have been down to an incident years earlier where she was accidentally hit in the face. 'The optic nerve was destroyed,' Ms Galligan said. 'It wouldn't happen nowadays, but this was 70 years ago.' Ms Coyle's husband, Tom, worked as a postman until he had a stroke in his late 50s, followed by a brain haemorrhage. Ms Galligan recalls how her father had looked after her mother up to that point but that, then, their roles were largely reversed. Ms Coyle rarely drank but had the odd sherry 'to be sociable', her daughter said. So, what does she attribute her longevity to? Sarah Coyle (far right) with her husband Tom Coyle, their son Patrick and Tom's sister Mary. Photograph: Family photo 'Every spring her mother used to go out and get the first nettles that would come out, the new nettles,' Ms Galligan said. 'She used to put them in the cabbage. She used to say, 'that will purify your blood'. 'You see nettle tea and things like that nowadays, maybe she was on to something.'
