One would, apparently, think that the European Union is in dire straits, if one reads the July 12 issue of Time, or Newsweek of the same date, or The American Interest of July and August, although I have not read them myself. I am also told that eight eminent essayists, four American and four European, none of them Europhobic, believe that the decline of the European Union, in political and economic terms, is probably irreversible. I don't agree.
Europeans have struggled, ever since the storming of the Bastille, to bring social justice into their lives, and they are stiill trying. I know we all complain about how unequal our lives are, but, in Europe, we subordinate ourselves to a standard which requires that the needs of the unfortunate have a priority. That is not the case in America. President Obama, some would say, has squandered his ability for further change, by devoting too much of his resources to pass legislation which will provide some form of health insurance for every American, while vested interests fought, with hundreds of millions of dollars, to defeat his proposed legislation, just as they did with his plans to restrain Wall Street. These vested interests were shared by many successful Americans who are distressed at the erosion of their privileges, and the increases in their taxes.
It is suggested that Europeans do not even believe in the model that they are trying to build, and I can understand why outsiders should say what they do. Who can forget the recent demonstrations about the new unfair financial burdens, and the threats to withhold labour. Where are they now? The Spanish premier has converted to the need for sackclth and ashes, and Greece is, I understand, buckling down to the financial concessions which we must all make. These are not the actions of people who have lost their way. We may have wandered, but we are coming back to what has been our purpose as Europeans for many years; a process which is particularly difficult for us, because we all started from different levels of wealth and maturity, of language and tradition, of antagonisms which have spanned the centuries.
Some say we should be more, because we have given so much in the past, but we were never expected to give it as a continental force. People have to be patient with us, but, if I am right, then I think Europe's capacity to demonstrate to the rest of the world how people can learn to live with each other's idiosyncracies and weaknesses, will make it all worthwhile.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Our little blue flowers
Maura and I like to walk down Station Road, to the traffic circle, take a left and walk along Strand Road to Portmarnock Village.
Before you reach the traffic circle, but after you have passed the last of the apartment blocks, there is a rough area beside the sidewalk, comprising part hedge, part weeds, and thick overgrown grass, but there is something else. In the Spring there is a little blue flower, composed of four petals forming a cup, at the end of a long stem; quite content to enjoy the sunshine and the nutrients it requires, but making no demands on its neighbours, nor on passers by. Maura and I pick a few, and bring them home to decorate our table, where they enchant us with their beauty and simplicity. There are others, like the small yellow flowers which line the pathway down to the beach.
Sometimes I think of the flowers uniquely, and then, at other times, I think of them as part of Nature, and of the way in which they play their part unobtrusively, in harmony with the oceans, the mountains..........
Before you reach the traffic circle, but after you have passed the last of the apartment blocks, there is a rough area beside the sidewalk, comprising part hedge, part weeds, and thick overgrown grass, but there is something else. In the Spring there is a little blue flower, composed of four petals forming a cup, at the end of a long stem; quite content to enjoy the sunshine and the nutrients it requires, but making no demands on its neighbours, nor on passers by. Maura and I pick a few, and bring them home to decorate our table, where they enchant us with their beauty and simplicity. There are others, like the small yellow flowers which line the pathway down to the beach.
Sometimes I think of the flowers uniquely, and then, at other times, I think of them as part of Nature, and of the way in which they play their part unobtrusively, in harmony with the oceans, the mountains..........
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Ethnic cleansing
On the eleventh of July, 1995, the Bosnian, and Moslem, town of Srebrenica, fell to the Serbian forces of general Mladic, although it had been taken under its protection by the United Nations. During the next few days eight thousand Moslem men and boys were murdered. This is ethnic cleansing at its most evil. Don't bother killing the women and girls, they will dry up and die in their turn, without men to help them procreate their kind.
The members of the European Union, and others, have kept after the Serbian authorities to surrender general Mladic, who lives within its control, to the Court of International Justice in the Hague, but they have not as yet complied.
The European Union is at present conducting negotiations with the Serbian Government, providing for it to enter the Union. I believe that if the European Union admits Serbia without general Mladic being brought to justice, then its integrity will be fatally compromised.
There is another situation, which also has racial and religious aspects: the application of the Republic of Turkey. There is substantial opposition to its entry, at least partly because of its Moslem religion, and customs, including the way women dress. Europe is not a club, it is an entity, which has accepted all manner of outsiders, many uninvited, and has thrived subsequently, for whatever reason. I do not believe Europe will fulfill its potential, nor will any other major nation, which insists on depriving some of its subjects of their rights because of their religion, the way they dress, their customs, or the colour of their skin.
The members of the European Union, and others, have kept after the Serbian authorities to surrender general Mladic, who lives within its control, to the Court of International Justice in the Hague, but they have not as yet complied.
The European Union is at present conducting negotiations with the Serbian Government, providing for it to enter the Union. I believe that if the European Union admits Serbia without general Mladic being brought to justice, then its integrity will be fatally compromised.
There is another situation, which also has racial and religious aspects: the application of the Republic of Turkey. There is substantial opposition to its entry, at least partly because of its Moslem religion, and customs, including the way women dress. Europe is not a club, it is an entity, which has accepted all manner of outsiders, many uninvited, and has thrived subsequently, for whatever reason. I do not believe Europe will fulfill its potential, nor will any other major nation, which insists on depriving some of its subjects of their rights because of their religion, the way they dress, their customs, or the colour of their skin.
Different Economic Attitudes
President Obama is trying to get America to accept additional spending to encourage an insipid economic upturn, while the Congress, and the Senate in particular,is more inetrested in minimising what they see as alarming, and unnecessary, national deficits. The worry is that there will be a re-run of 1937, when budget tightening extended the depresion until the war brought an explosion of economic activity. In Europe, the consensus is clearly with those who favour fiscal conservatism. Who is right? Who, in his right mind, would want to be responsible for deciding which route to take?
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Lunch in Dublin
Maura drove out to Meath on Thursday to meet friends and have lunch at the Ashbourne House, so I decided I would go into Dublin, take care of some printing, and have lunch.
We still go in for lunch regularly, but while we used drive in, and park close to where we ate, we take the train now. Dublin traffic has become like any other major city, while it was quite manageable when we returned from the States. The bar at the back of the Westbury Hotel was a favourite, as was the bar on the Kildare Street side of the Shelbourne, the one with all the political cartoons. The Westbury fell out of favour, not when they moved away from the old bar, but when the staff were replaced by up-market types who favoured continental accents. Maura suggested I consider eating there, but I found that the most recent incarnation had been replaced, by one which emphasised stainless steel and glass, and which held no attraction for me. I decided I would try the Shelbourne.
Some aspects of the Shelbourne, such as the very welcoming lounge, have not changed, since I interviewed there fifty years ago for a job with Carroll's, the tobacco company, although in most respects it has put on all the trappings of an up-market hotel. The bar we liked has gone, and the dining-room, where I remember having the nicest commercial breakfast I ever enjoyed. The bar and the dining-romm have become one large bar/dining-room, partly furnished with tables and otherwise with little marble-islands with high stools. I chose to sit on one of the stools, close to the large window of the old dining-romm, looking out on the side-walk, the entrance, and across the road to Stephens Green.
Stephens Green is one of the nicest centre-city squares I can remember seeing in a major city. It has an intimacy, which always gives me the feeling that I am one of these people, who are bustling all around me; and when I go into the park, I invariably have the impression that everyone is happy, or at least that they have pushed their cares aside temporarily. As I sat there, I studied the people passing, or coming and going from the hotel, and I felt good.
The Shelbourne, in many ways, is not really different from the Westbury, sharing some of its upmarket characteristics, but the service is discrete, caring, but with a certain reserve, which I like. I suppose that, for me at least, the Shelbourne will always be a special place.
We still go in for lunch regularly, but while we used drive in, and park close to where we ate, we take the train now. Dublin traffic has become like any other major city, while it was quite manageable when we returned from the States. The bar at the back of the Westbury Hotel was a favourite, as was the bar on the Kildare Street side of the Shelbourne, the one with all the political cartoons. The Westbury fell out of favour, not when they moved away from the old bar, but when the staff were replaced by up-market types who favoured continental accents. Maura suggested I consider eating there, but I found that the most recent incarnation had been replaced, by one which emphasised stainless steel and glass, and which held no attraction for me. I decided I would try the Shelbourne.
Some aspects of the Shelbourne, such as the very welcoming lounge, have not changed, since I interviewed there fifty years ago for a job with Carroll's, the tobacco company, although in most respects it has put on all the trappings of an up-market hotel. The bar we liked has gone, and the dining-room, where I remember having the nicest commercial breakfast I ever enjoyed. The bar and the dining-romm have become one large bar/dining-room, partly furnished with tables and otherwise with little marble-islands with high stools. I chose to sit on one of the stools, close to the large window of the old dining-romm, looking out on the side-walk, the entrance, and across the road to Stephens Green.
Stephens Green is one of the nicest centre-city squares I can remember seeing in a major city. It has an intimacy, which always gives me the feeling that I am one of these people, who are bustling all around me; and when I go into the park, I invariably have the impression that everyone is happy, or at least that they have pushed their cares aside temporarily. As I sat there, I studied the people passing, or coming and going from the hotel, and I felt good.
The Shelbourne, in many ways, is not really different from the Westbury, sharing some of its upmarket characteristics, but the service is discrete, caring, but with a certain reserve, which I like. I suppose that, for me at least, the Shelbourne will always be a special place.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
George Soros and the European Union
Mr. Soros has recently denounced the European Union commitment to budgetary restraint as the wrong policy for the present stage of the recovery of the world financial system: he suggests the need is not restraint, but the provision of incentives to stimulate spending, as a prerequisite to growth in employment, and the avoidance of financial stagnation similar to what Japan experienced throughout the 1990's.
The vision of Konrad Adenauer, Maurice Schumann, Jean Monnet, and others, planted the seed which germinated, and grew, over the last half-century into the European Union we know. The wealthy nations shared with those who were poor, and countries, such as Ireland, blossomed as I never expected would happen in my lifetime.
The founders passed on, as did every other adult who shivered every time they thought of the horrors they had lived through between 1939 and 1945. They were replaced, first by those who appreciated the change from the slim finances of their childhood, and then by those who knew little of real deprivation. Throughout the Union working people expected more, but either did not comprehend that genuine reward comes only though effort, or were misled, or chose to ignore the facts. State pensions at 65, 60, or 55; bonuses of as much as two months' entitlement at Christmas, depending on which country you were lucky enough to inhabit; and so much else by way of state 'benefits', while advances in medecine made the lifespan greater, and the financial burden on the young heavier and heavier.
The European Constitution requires that each member-state should live within annual budgets providing for expenditure deficits of less than 3% of income, but there was insufficient support to enforce the rules. The result was that some members have brought the Union to the verge of collapse, unless the rich members are prepared to guarantee the steps required to prevent their bankruptcy.
Experience teaches that it is best to have people change their ways when they are suffering from how they previously led their lives. The medecine has to be administered while the patients are still suffering. If the result is ten years of financial drift, then that is the price which must be paid.
The European Union is the only chance we have of achieving a United Europe, and what an accomplishment that would be, if Germany can lead us to it, in partnership with France. Britain has never really thought of itself as European: Europe was the 'Continent', and the diffident steps it took in the 1990's to move closer, by enlisting in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, were, at least partially. torpedoed by finacial speculators, including Mr. Soros, who made a fortune out of the devaluation of the British pound sterling.
The vision of Konrad Adenauer, Maurice Schumann, Jean Monnet, and others, planted the seed which germinated, and grew, over the last half-century into the European Union we know. The wealthy nations shared with those who were poor, and countries, such as Ireland, blossomed as I never expected would happen in my lifetime.
The founders passed on, as did every other adult who shivered every time they thought of the horrors they had lived through between 1939 and 1945. They were replaced, first by those who appreciated the change from the slim finances of their childhood, and then by those who knew little of real deprivation. Throughout the Union working people expected more, but either did not comprehend that genuine reward comes only though effort, or were misled, or chose to ignore the facts. State pensions at 65, 60, or 55; bonuses of as much as two months' entitlement at Christmas, depending on which country you were lucky enough to inhabit; and so much else by way of state 'benefits', while advances in medecine made the lifespan greater, and the financial burden on the young heavier and heavier.
The European Constitution requires that each member-state should live within annual budgets providing for expenditure deficits of less than 3% of income, but there was insufficient support to enforce the rules. The result was that some members have brought the Union to the verge of collapse, unless the rich members are prepared to guarantee the steps required to prevent their bankruptcy.
Experience teaches that it is best to have people change their ways when they are suffering from how they previously led their lives. The medecine has to be administered while the patients are still suffering. If the result is ten years of financial drift, then that is the price which must be paid.
The European Union is the only chance we have of achieving a United Europe, and what an accomplishment that would be, if Germany can lead us to it, in partnership with France. Britain has never really thought of itself as European: Europe was the 'Continent', and the diffident steps it took in the 1990's to move closer, by enlisting in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, were, at least partially. torpedoed by finacial speculators, including Mr. Soros, who made a fortune out of the devaluation of the British pound sterling.
Monday, June 28, 2010
A Taste of Ireland
Yesterday morning, as Maura and I drove to mass in Donaghmede, we approached the last turn we take, about three quarters of a mile from Balgriffen cemetery, and we were bemused by yellow police 'no parking' beacons placed in every direction at the intersection. Parking at the cemetery does become congested, but not this far away, and at an intersection?
Last evening I went down to meet Maura on her return from Carmel's, as I always do, and she had the answer. When she drove out in the afternoon, she found that the road between the intersection and the cemetery was closed, and she had to go down to the Donaghmede traffic-circle and reach the Malahide road from there. All the way from the intersection down to Donaghmede people were walking towrds her on their way to the cemetery, and then when she reached the Malahide road, she found more crowds of people walking to the cemetery. Then it struck her: yesterday was the blessing of the graves.
There are two events whichare guaranteed to bring crowds in Ireland: the blessing of the graves and a funeral. It is not uncommon to find you have to stand outside the church if you are late, and this will be the case both when the corpse is brought to the church, and the following morning for the funeral mass. What's more, everyone will make sure to file past the bereaved and offer their condolences.
Nobody will convince me that Catholicism is as badly off in Ireland as some would have us think.
Last evening I went down to meet Maura on her return from Carmel's, as I always do, and she had the answer. When she drove out in the afternoon, she found that the road between the intersection and the cemetery was closed, and she had to go down to the Donaghmede traffic-circle and reach the Malahide road from there. All the way from the intersection down to Donaghmede people were walking towrds her on their way to the cemetery, and then when she reached the Malahide road, she found more crowds of people walking to the cemetery. Then it struck her: yesterday was the blessing of the graves.
There are two events whichare guaranteed to bring crowds in Ireland: the blessing of the graves and a funeral. It is not uncommon to find you have to stand outside the church if you are late, and this will be the case both when the corpse is brought to the church, and the following morning for the funeral mass. What's more, everyone will make sure to file past the bereaved and offer their condolences.
Nobody will convince me that Catholicism is as badly off in Ireland as some would have us think.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Political Power and Weakness
I read a newspaper article the other day, and it keeps coming into my mind and displaying different facets of what it is telling me.
It speaks of President Gorbachev and what he tried to do to open Russia up to the outside world, and to live in harmony with it, despite the reluctance of the domestic vested interests to accept the erosion of their power. Unfortunately, Gorbachev was too late to save the Soviet Union from fragmentation and years of financial depression. The article drew a comparison with America, and it was that aspect which exercised my mind.
Certainly there is some similarity between the Chernobyl atomic disaster and the British Petroleum fiaco in the Gulf of Mexico, but to what extent can you suggest that there is a common lesson to be learned. I think it may be in the substance of political power.
I am accustomed to think of America as the beacon of liberty offering every citizen an equal opportunity to participate in its government, but that is not so. America is governed by three separate units: the Supreme Court, of nine justices, with life tenure; the President, who serves a four-year term; and Congress, which is composed of the House of Representatives, and the Senate. The House has 435 representatives, each with a discrete physical constituency, comprising one fourhundred and thirty fifth of the national population: the Senate has one hundred senators, and each state elects two of them for six-year terms. In short, the president is elected every four years, at which time one third of the Senate faces re-election, and every member of the House also faces reelection, although he has been in office just two years. This constitution may have been a model of fairness when Jefferson, Franklin, and their associates negotiated it more than two centuries ago, but it is not so now.
Recently there was a case which came before the Supreme Court, in which the President's representative, the Solicitor General, argued that foreign corporations should not be allowed to make cotributions to the re-election campaigns of American politicians. The Supreme Court ruled that such contributions were legal. I suggest that they were wrong, and the President was right.
Much, if not all, national legislation requires the concurrence of both Houses of Congress, but let us compare their comparative strength. The representative has to seek re-election every two years, while the senator only faces re-election every six years; the representative has a local constituency while the senator's is state-wide.
There are somewhere about 310 million American residents: California has perhaps 37 millipn and, at the other extreme, Wyoming has a little more than a half-million. California's population, and interests, are diversified, while Wyoming's are dominated by mineral extraction. The votes of the Wyoming senators are just as valuable as those of California.
President Obama made his first priority providing health insurance for every American, while there are those who say he should have placed his priority elsewhere, while he was still at the peak of his strength. He disagreed,to the extent that he said he did not care if, as a result, he was a one-term president, and devoted much of his strength to a battle which he barely won, because those who lurk in the darkness saw a dilution in their profits, while many ordinary, but relatively successful, Americans saw a dilution in their standard of living.
Will President Obama be able to achieve some worth-while energy-saving policy for the American nation? I don't know. Will he be able to convince his fellow-citizens that time is running out on a commitment to a national policy consistent with all of our needs? I don't know that either. I certainly hope so, because I think the stakes are higher than President Gorbachev faced.
It speaks of President Gorbachev and what he tried to do to open Russia up to the outside world, and to live in harmony with it, despite the reluctance of the domestic vested interests to accept the erosion of their power. Unfortunately, Gorbachev was too late to save the Soviet Union from fragmentation and years of financial depression. The article drew a comparison with America, and it was that aspect which exercised my mind.
Certainly there is some similarity between the Chernobyl atomic disaster and the British Petroleum fiaco in the Gulf of Mexico, but to what extent can you suggest that there is a common lesson to be learned. I think it may be in the substance of political power.
I am accustomed to think of America as the beacon of liberty offering every citizen an equal opportunity to participate in its government, but that is not so. America is governed by three separate units: the Supreme Court, of nine justices, with life tenure; the President, who serves a four-year term; and Congress, which is composed of the House of Representatives, and the Senate. The House has 435 representatives, each with a discrete physical constituency, comprising one fourhundred and thirty fifth of the national population: the Senate has one hundred senators, and each state elects two of them for six-year terms. In short, the president is elected every four years, at which time one third of the Senate faces re-election, and every member of the House also faces reelection, although he has been in office just two years. This constitution may have been a model of fairness when Jefferson, Franklin, and their associates negotiated it more than two centuries ago, but it is not so now.
Recently there was a case which came before the Supreme Court, in which the President's representative, the Solicitor General, argued that foreign corporations should not be allowed to make cotributions to the re-election campaigns of American politicians. The Supreme Court ruled that such contributions were legal. I suggest that they were wrong, and the President was right.
Much, if not all, national legislation requires the concurrence of both Houses of Congress, but let us compare their comparative strength. The representative has to seek re-election every two years, while the senator only faces re-election every six years; the representative has a local constituency while the senator's is state-wide.
There are somewhere about 310 million American residents: California has perhaps 37 millipn and, at the other extreme, Wyoming has a little more than a half-million. California's population, and interests, are diversified, while Wyoming's are dominated by mineral extraction. The votes of the Wyoming senators are just as valuable as those of California.
President Obama made his first priority providing health insurance for every American, while there are those who say he should have placed his priority elsewhere, while he was still at the peak of his strength. He disagreed,to the extent that he said he did not care if, as a result, he was a one-term president, and devoted much of his strength to a battle which he barely won, because those who lurk in the darkness saw a dilution in their profits, while many ordinary, but relatively successful, Americans saw a dilution in their standard of living.
Will President Obama be able to achieve some worth-while energy-saving policy for the American nation? I don't know. Will he be able to convince his fellow-citizens that time is running out on a commitment to a national policy consistent with all of our needs? I don't know that either. I certainly hope so, because I think the stakes are higher than President Gorbachev faced.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Europe
What a fascinating time it is to live in Europe.
Just a couple of years ago Ireland accepted that the economic hysteria of the Celtic Tiger had been somewhat of a mirage, and began trying to pick up the pieces, as many wondered if it could remain a member of the Euro currency zone. Then Greece demonstrated that Ireland was not unique,and that there were other weak brethren, including Portugal and Spain.
The members of the Euro currency are committed to national budgets which cannot provide for deficit-spending in excess of three percent of revenue, but the discipline was widely ignored. What was to be done? Would it not be just to let the weak brethren go to the wall? Germany said 'No'. The fear was that a succession of basket cases would overwhelm the Euro. It hasn't happened yet, and now, like frightened children who know they have been naughty, member states are coming in with national budgets geared to reducing their deficits. Germany talks of extending the three per cent deficit rule to all members of the European Union, not just those wedded to the Euro.
In 1945 Europe was in bits, until Jean Monnet conceived the concept of the European Union, and now it is still managing to bring almost thirty members, as disparate as one can imagine,along a road paved with mutual respect, and concern for the needs of each other.
Just a couple of years ago Ireland accepted that the economic hysteria of the Celtic Tiger had been somewhat of a mirage, and began trying to pick up the pieces, as many wondered if it could remain a member of the Euro currency zone. Then Greece demonstrated that Ireland was not unique,and that there were other weak brethren, including Portugal and Spain.
The members of the Euro currency are committed to national budgets which cannot provide for deficit-spending in excess of three percent of revenue, but the discipline was widely ignored. What was to be done? Would it not be just to let the weak brethren go to the wall? Germany said 'No'. The fear was that a succession of basket cases would overwhelm the Euro. It hasn't happened yet, and now, like frightened children who know they have been naughty, member states are coming in with national budgets geared to reducing their deficits. Germany talks of extending the three per cent deficit rule to all members of the European Union, not just those wedded to the Euro.
In 1945 Europe was in bits, until Jean Monnet conceived the concept of the European Union, and now it is still managing to bring almost thirty members, as disparate as one can imagine,along a road paved with mutual respect, and concern for the needs of each other.
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Vatican
I believe it was three weeks ago yesterday, at mass, that I was given a copy of the Pope's letter to Irish Catholics. I found it quite unsettling because, although he referred to Curial representatives being present during his recent meetings in Rome with the Irish hierarchy, the thrust of the letter apppeared to be that Irish Catholics have a problem, not the church as a whole, and, in particular, not the Vatican administration. The public response, in so far as I can judge it, appears to parallel mine.
I know how difficult it is to manage anything, and I can only speculate on the magnitude of the endeavour, when one is trying to give guidance to the spiritual lives of people who inhabit every corner of the globe, and who speak every known language. I suspect, however, that the population of Vatican City is living in s world which no longer exists, and that at least some members of the Curia have little understanding of the real world, and how difficult many of us find the struggle to understand how we should cope with life in the twenty-first century.
The many articles I have read in newspapers, and the information I have gained from the Web, suggests to me that the Vatican is in denial about the manner in which child abuse has been handled within the Church. I think that the overriding concern, at least on occasion, has been to protect the image of Catholicism, not to acknowledge the grave sins which had been committed against innocent children, and I think that healing has to begin with a full and frank acknowledgment from the highest level within the Church.
I know how difficult it is to manage anything, and I can only speculate on the magnitude of the endeavour, when one is trying to give guidance to the spiritual lives of people who inhabit every corner of the globe, and who speak every known language. I suspect, however, that the population of Vatican City is living in s world which no longer exists, and that at least some members of the Curia have little understanding of the real world, and how difficult many of us find the struggle to understand how we should cope with life in the twenty-first century.
The many articles I have read in newspapers, and the information I have gained from the Web, suggests to me that the Vatican is in denial about the manner in which child abuse has been handled within the Church. I think that the overriding concern, at least on occasion, has been to protect the image of Catholicism, not to acknowledge the grave sins which had been committed against innocent children, and I think that healing has to begin with a full and frank acknowledgment from the highest level within the Church.
Friday, March 12, 2010
The Beara Way
The N71, after leaving Kenmare, crosses the Kenmare river and climbs up the slopes of the Caha Mountains, before passing through a tunnel hewn out of the solid rock, entering County Cork, and descending to Glengarriff. I have always had an odd feeling driving along it from Kenmare, although I had a friendlier attitude to it after I read Maura's Uncle John's acccount of how he and Maura's dad, Eugene, laboured building it.It never seemed to be a very friendly road, I suspect because there are not many dwellings along it, so unusual for an Irish country road.
Maura and I visited Kenmare recently and we drove out to visit John O'Sullivan, Big John, Katie's nephew, and his wife Mary, at Coolnagoppoge, which is off to the left as you drive up the N71. Afterwards I glanced at my Ordnance Survey map, and my conundrum was answered.
The road on which John and Mary live is quite busy: I think we met two little Post Office vans delivering mail, and a variety of other vehicles, including farm tractors, which was a little unnerving, since the road appeared never to have been graded and we were continually cresting little hills, wondering what we would meet coming the other way. There were lots of houses, the road did have a paved surface, and it was clearly a thriving community. The problem was that this community, and road was hundreds of years old, and progress had passed it by. The clue was in its name on the map: the Beara Way.
Donal O'Sullivan Beara travelled this way at the beginning of January, 1602 with his clan of a thousand people after his defeat by Queen Elizabeth's forces at his Castle of Dunboy. It must have been just a track where they crossed the Caha Mountains, since the road begins only when you reach the Esk Farm, where I met Mikey Mike Dan so many years ago; another of Maura's uncles. Others might feel they needed new roads, but the old ways are fine for the people of the Beara Way.
Maura and I visited Kenmare recently and we drove out to visit John O'Sullivan, Big John, Katie's nephew, and his wife Mary, at Coolnagoppoge, which is off to the left as you drive up the N71. Afterwards I glanced at my Ordnance Survey map, and my conundrum was answered.
The road on which John and Mary live is quite busy: I think we met two little Post Office vans delivering mail, and a variety of other vehicles, including farm tractors, which was a little unnerving, since the road appeared never to have been graded and we were continually cresting little hills, wondering what we would meet coming the other way. There were lots of houses, the road did have a paved surface, and it was clearly a thriving community. The problem was that this community, and road was hundreds of years old, and progress had passed it by. The clue was in its name on the map: the Beara Way.
Donal O'Sullivan Beara travelled this way at the beginning of January, 1602 with his clan of a thousand people after his defeat by Queen Elizabeth's forces at his Castle of Dunboy. It must have been just a track where they crossed the Caha Mountains, since the road begins only when you reach the Esk Farm, where I met Mikey Mike Dan so many years ago; another of Maura's uncles. Others might feel they needed new roads, but the old ways are fine for the people of the Beara Way.
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