FEAR NA ROSANN

Fionn Mac Cumhaill
Click on any image for a larger version

The occasion was the launch of a book, Fear na Rosann, about "Fionn" Mac Cumhaill. It took place in The Old Music Shop Restaurant on Dublin's northside on 5 October 2017.

And here we have to pause to sort out what might otherwise become serious confusion in the mind of the reader.

There are three Fionn Mac Cumhaills in this story.

First is the ancient and mythical Fionn Mac Cumhaill, leader of the Fianna (no relation to Fianna Fáil, or to Sinn Féin for that matter). You can follow Fionn's exploits here, but do make sure to come back to read the rest of this post.

The second Fionn Mac Cumhaill is Mánas, subsequently christened Fionn for his agility. He is the subject of the book and we'll hear more about him anon.

The third Fionn Mac Cumhaill, in the image above, is the son of Mánas and the only really genuine one as he had the name from birth and is known not only to have existed but is thankfully still with us. It is he who, with Nollaig Mac Congáil conceived and produced the book.

Distinguishing between these three presents me with a problem which I am solving in the following manner. Fionn (1) never existed, Fionn (2) is the subject of the book, and Fionn (3) is hosting the launch.

And the location? The Old Music Shop Restaurant is a new restaurant but an old music shop. Those of us who attended Coláiste Mhuire across the road, and a host of musicians in Dublin and throughout the country, will remember it as Walton's Music Shop. It even used to have a sponsored programme all of its own on Radio Éireann.

Bertie Ahern

Guest speaker of the night was former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, very much in his role of Northside Taoiseach (with apologies to Phoenix). But there was a lot of sense to that as Bertie gave us the background to Fionn's (3) efforts to rejuvenate this relatively neglected part of the city and of his philanthropic and civic spirited role in supporting the area's institutions.

Bertie did make the point that he himself could take no credit for Fionn's achievements as he did not manage to get the area designated for development or for tax purposes.

Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair

The book was launched by Donegal scholar, Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair. Eithne gave us a most informative and wonderfully entertaining talk in lilting Donegal Irish. She gave us a potted rundown on Fionn (2) the man and his views, throwing a few of her own into the mix as well.

She made it clear that shyness was not one of Fionn's characteristics.

Bhí tuairimí s'aige féin aige - tuairimí láidre - agus nuair a thoisigh sé ag scríobh ní raibh drogal ar bith air a chuid tuairimí a nochtadh dá lucht léitheoireachta go lom, neamhbhalbh, soiléir agus i dtólamh i dteange na ndaoine.

Fionn (2) was a great advocate of the Irish language, but the language as she was spoken by native speakers with all its rhythms and natural richness. He distinguished three types of Irish: the native, the learned, and

ar an drochuair don Ghaeilig - tá Gaeilig Bhaile Átha Cliath ... Buíochas don Rí, tá Gaeilig i gCúige Uladh, agus míle buíochas do Dhia go bhfuil daoine sa Chúige céanna nach ngéileann don dream a bhfuil Gaeilig Bhaile Átha Cliath acu, agus nach dtabharann faic na fríde d'aird ar na daoine atá chomh mí-ionraic sin go bhféachfadh siad le cur i gcéill do dhaoine go bhfuil Gaeilig acu nuair atá a fhios acu féin nach bhfuil.

Full marks for calling out the hypocrites, shysters and tokeneers, though I have to admit that my own Irish is of the Dublin variety and, much as I admire an fhoirm tháite of the Kerry Irish which was the caighdeán in my day, I never really mastered it.

I do, however, share Eithne's nostalgia for the tuiseal tabharthach and have only recently remarked on this myself.

Nollaig Mac Congáil

Nollaig's book is well structured. The first part deals with Fionn (2) the man, his circumstances and his views. The second part consists of Fionn's own writings from various sources, mainly the Derry Journal and the Irish Press. There is also an inventory of his output insofar as it can be ascertained.

What has struck me so far as I read the book is the unbelievable material poverty of the Rosses. This appears to have become acute after the famine and with the splitting up of holdings through inheritance so that they became progressively smaller and smaller and totally unable to support their owners and their families. This led to families being farmed out to the richer farmers elsewhere in Donegal and eventually in Scotland. These people were treated worse than animals. Liam Hogan will have my blood if I mention slavery but Nollaig does. However this is a metaphor and what is involved is more like indentured seasonal labour but with possibly less rights than their comparators in the Carribbean.

Yet, out of this abject poverty and oppression came some fine literature and, of course, the nation, and subsequently the State, was relying on these people as the source for the preservation of the Irish language and its restoration as a national vernacular.

A few things struck me from what Nollaig said and from that part of his book that I have read so far.

Starting school was the first contact most of the children had with the English language and this for them then meant missing out on their own native heritage. As adults, many of them were in a position to, and did, devour the English language newspapers from cover to cover to the extent that they ended up knowing more about what was going on in the world than their betters. And many among them succeeded in nurturing and spreading their own Gaelic culture in spite of the powerful influence of the English language.

And the small matter of formality in grammar and phonetics. Nollaig reproduces one of Fionn's (2) experiences in Coláiste Uladh in Gortahork.

Bhí trácht ar fhoghraíocht ar an Choláiste, más ea. Agus tá tréan cuimhne agam ar an chéad léacht a chuala mé fá fhoghraíocht. D'inis an t-ollamh dúinn go raibh R caol i Máire agus go raibh srónacht in Anna. Ní luaithe a dúirt an t-ollamh a méid sin ná gur bhuail truaigh mé féin. Ní raibh aithne agam ar cheachtar den bheirt a luaigh sé. Ní raibh a fhios agam cé iad féin agus bhí truaigh agam dóibh. Shíl mé gur aicíd choimhthíoch inteacht abhí ar Mháire agus shíl mé gur goncach abhí Anna. Ach chomh luath is a thoisigh an t-ollamh a dh'inse dúinn fán áit gur chóir don teangaigh a bheith nuair a bhéadh duine ag rá na n-ainmneach sin, tháinig athrú ar mo dhearcadh. Agus b'éigean dom a ghabháil ag gáirí nuair a chonaic mé an mhórchuid den rang ag cur cáranna ortha féin agus iad ag iarraidh R caol a chur i Máire agus srónacht in Anna. Thiocfadh leat gáire a dhéanamh ar an Cholaiste agus ní bheadh aon duine míshásta leat.

He also notes the absence of snobbery in the Coláiste.

Ni raibh dréimire an ghalántais taobh istigh nó taobh amuigh den Choláiste.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this most interesting book with its insights into times past, some of the problems of which are still with us in one form or another.

Fionn Mac Cumhaill (3)

Finally, Fionn (3) himself gave us his recollections of his father and of how much he appreciates him to this day. He felt his father would have been proud to have had a former Taoiseach launch a book about him.

Incidentally, it is amazing how things turn out sometimes, and this is me speaking.

Fionn (2) was born in Leitir Catha in the Rosses and my father in law was born a mere five miles down the road in Meenbannad. Both men's fathers had built a bare dwelling on the top of a hillside on the poorest of poor land. Switch the scene to Dublin many years later and my father in law was teaching Fionn (3) in Larkhill Boys National School. Rotha Mór an tSaoil ag casadh ar bhealaí nach mbeifeá ag súil leo.

Presentation: Elrington Ball's History of County Dublin

As a mark of gratitude for his night's work, and maybe more besides, Fionn (3) presented Bertie with a fine six volume set of Elrington Ball's History of the County Dublin, assuring him that Drumcondra had its due of coverage in it.

Nollaig, Eithne, Fionn (3)

There was another more active photographer present on whose back I piggied to snap this formal lineup.

Fionn (3) and Marie

It was mentioned that Fionn (3) and Marie had been together forty years this year. Congratulations.

Some further few pictures from the night below.

Bertie & Nollaig

Fionn (3) & Michael Tutty

The Munster Delegation - Agallamh na Seanóirí
Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh, Jim McMahon, Cathal Cavanagh

The local Parish Priest
who blessed the new premises and the congregation at large

Fionn (3) signing the book

De Buke

Busted Flush

Bertie Bowl

BERD Migration

This is the 20th anniversary of the first overseas annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The Bank was established at its inaugural meeting in London in early 1991, and true to its commitment to its geographical area of operation, the second meeting was held in Budapest in early 1992.

Hopefully, without revealing any State Secrets, I can reminisce a little on some peripheral aspects of that first overseas meeting.

I should start, however, with a word on the Bank's logo (above). Jacques Attali, then PDG (Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive of the Bank) decided to hold a competition for a distinctive logo. The Bank's title in French, is Banque Européenne pour la Reconstruction et le Développement, or BERD for short. In English, BERD sounds like a bird and there was a likilehood that the entries would produce flocks of them. So the first rule was that birds were out. Apart from the visual implications of this ban, it would also circumvent the usual quota of smart-alec remarks, like birds not flying on one wing, birds in the hand, in the bush, and so on.

Another aspect of the competition was the adjudication panel, which included Mary Robinson, who had become President of Ireland by the time the Bank was inaugurated, and Václav Havel, who, by that time, had become President of Czechoslovakia. As a result of her participation in the panel which chose the logo, Mary Robinson was invited to the inauguration in London in 1991. That was her first trip outside the country as President and it made the then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charlie Haughey very nervous. But that is another story for another day, perhaps.

But back to Budapest in 1992. The first event of the Annual Meeting, from my perspective, was the IRA blowing up the Baltic Exchange in the City of London just as I was leaving Dublin for Budapest. So, what has that got to do with the EBRD? Well, the Baltic Exchange is just across the road from the EBRD's then London HQ in Leadenhall St., and were it not for the AGM and the bulk of the Bank's staff being in Budapest at the time, it is likely that many would have been injured, perhaps fatally. As it turned out, apart from broken glass all over the place, only one member of the Bank's staff was injured.

The attack had one immediate consequence for the Irish delegation to the meeting. Our security status was immediately raised to unprecedented heights and the security man assigned to us turned out to be KGB trained. Why the London explosion should have had any implications at all for the Irish delegation in Budapest was not clear to me. But I suppose the Hungarians would not have been up to speed on the nuances of the Irish situation and, in any event, would not have been inclined to take unnecessary risks.

My own initial reaction was how was I going to face colleagues when my countrymen had just almost blown up the Bank's headquarters in London. As it happened, the AGM was attended by the Irish Ambassador accredited to Hungary, Michael Collins, and when I mentioned my concerns to him he was quite firm in his advice. "Hold your head high. They have not done this in your name, whatever their claims." This was a new line of reasoning for me, but as ambassador he must have had to deal with this sort of situation many times, and it made sense. So I steeled myself and took the recommended line.

Our elevated security status did provide some amusing incidents, however.

At one stage, the head of the Irish delegation, Bertie Ahern, then Minister for Finance, had occasion to visit the loo. Our hyperenthusiastic security man preceded him into the convenience and kicked in the door of the cabin to make sure there was no-one hiding inside and to make equally sure that, if there was, he would be in no fit condition to progress his assassination mission. Imagine ...?

Another incident gave the same security man a real fright. It was during lent, and as is publicly known, Bertie is a daily massgoer during this holy season. Well, on the day we were leaving for home, I had arranged for him to attend mass in one of the big churches. Could have been a cathedral for all I remember. Anyway, the security man accompanied the Minister and his Secretary General into the church and kept them under very strict surveillance during the ceremony. This wasn't all that difficult as they were in the one place all the while. Near the end of the mass, the security man, who was beginning to relax and had joined the rest of us at the back of the church, jerked in shock. The mark was on the move. In fact both marks were on the move. He leaped into action and paralelled the progress of the marks up the aisle to the main altar where they received communion and, much to his relief, returned unharmed to their seats. A close call, and a reminder that you are never off duty until the mark is finally out of your jurisdiction.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, but these vivid memories remain as though they were yesterday.

Some more EBRD reminisences