Convent Cross, A Letter from Oregon, Listowel Courthouse and a Heart Warming video poem

Convent Cross, October 2020

This is the grotto area at Convent Cross with the Ballybunion Road on the right of the photo. The long wall enclosing the secondary school was built in the past few years. The pedestrian crossing was put here to relieve problems with people crossing at a busy junction.

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Listowel Courthouse Then and Now

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I dont know what has happened to this cherry tree but it's no longer here.

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A Letter from Oregon

Hi Mary ~

I wanted to let you know how much we've been enjoying your blog lately. Even with little "new"news to report on, you are keeping our interest here in America! My ancestors left Listowel around 1870 so even "news" from the 19th century in County Kerry is fascinating for me. For instance, when a piece you posted a few days ago said,

 "For three quarters of a century afterwards the people in this district and in North Kerry generally recorded events from the year the boat was drowned” or from the night of the big wind”."

I got so excited! Our family's stories mention that my 2x great grandmother was born "the night of the big wind." (She actually was born a few days before but everybody remembered her birth in connection with the storm.) My own granddaughter was just born a month ago here in Oregon. I'm sure we will be remembering her birth as "the time of the big wild fires." Just knowing that other people from Co. Kerry remembered events the way my family did makes me feel so much more connected to our ancestral home.

Thank you for all that you do! Please keep it up!

Lauren Carroll Davis

Sisters, Oregon

Lauren wrote again and sent us a link to this beautiful video of poems and seen nostalgia music. Thank you Lauren

Blessings

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Some Welcome News from Jimmy Moloney

We were informed this morning (Oct. 29 2020) by council management that the bollards restricting parking in Listowel are to be removed. These bollards were placed in The Square and on Church Street and William Street.

While recognising that public safety has to be number one priority these restrictions were never going to work in a town with a layout like Listowel. I made this point at the time to council management stating that a one glove fits all policy for towns in Kerry was not the right move.

The set down and age friendly parking bays, which have worked well, will remain in place.

While concessions were gained the elected members had no official vote during this whole process. Something I hope that will not be repeated

Kerry County Council needs to explore more possibilities regarding the use of our public areas to help the economies of our towns recover.

John B. Keane Road , Solidarity from Melbourne and a Picture of Relaxation.

Feale sculpture designed by the late Tony O'Callaghan. Isn't it lovely to have contributed something lasting like this to your native town.

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On the John B. Keane Road 

This is a roadside memorial to the late Michael Dee who died in an RTA on this site. Every time I pass it I am taken back to the day of Michael's accident. I was working in the nearby Secondary School when news of the accident broke. Many of the girls were friends and neighbours of his, some of them experiencing bereavement for the first time. It was a sad, sad day.  May he rest in peace.

 This is the Parents and Friends Centre.

The junction with the Ballybunion Road

I took this photo on Sunday October 19 2020

A few days later, on October 22 2020 it was a different story.

I spotted a piece of irony in the name of the company doing the felling.

These were the last few still standing.

All gone.

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My Little Blip

For those of you who missed it, here's the context. Last week, I fell into a little trough. Material for the blog was increasingly hard to come by. Town has had the stuffing knocked out of it and there seemed little to write about that was anyway uplifting. I told this to Billy Keane, who I happened to meet by chance, and he persuaded me to keep going.

Now remember I told you material was hard to come by. So I wrote about this encounter in a blog post. I was nearly drowned in the deluge of pleas to keep going even if it was "only two mice running up Church Street" I had to write about .

I am not going to print here all the responses but I'll give you a typical one, significant because Karen had never written to me before (there were a few of those) and she sent photos.

Hello from Melbourne, Australia!

 

Thank you to Billy Keane for inspiring you to keep going, but especially thank you to YOU.  I forget how I first came across your blog but I enjoy reading it and do admire you for all your work. 

 

My father (may he rest in peace) was from Croughcroneen and my mother is from Causeway, so North Kerry is very special to me.  My Carlow born husband and I were married at St Michaels in Lixnaw, with our reception, and many other subsequent family events, at the Listowel Arms. We have had so many wonderful times in Listowel and feel all the more connected thanks to your blog.

 

You are sharing dog walking photos today so I thought I’d send a couple we took when we participated in the Ireland Funds Remote Global 5k last month. I would prefer if my daughter was wearing a Kerry jersey but the only adult size one we have is Carlow! 

 

It is Spring time here and we are about 12 weeks into a hard lockdown. It has been challenging, but our case numbers are in single digits now and restrictions are easing. Sending solidarity to all of you going back into a hard lockdown. What a year it has been.

 

I’ll sign off now, I have meant to contact you before but wasn’t sure how to - it didn’t occur to me to just reply to your email! 

 

Keep up the great work and thank you!

 

Karen Kennelly Fogarty

Melbourne (originally from Virginia, USA)

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An Artistic Coup

The model is Delia O'Sullivan. The artist is David Morrison and the picture has been chosen to be one of the pictures on a set of greeting cards to raise money for the Jack and Jill Foundation.

If you would like to buy the cards, just go to the Jack and Jill website and the card is included in Incognito Pack 2. The rest of the cards are lovely too.

Listowel and Tipperary, A poem and Handball Memories

Máire MacMahon Takes us on Trip on The Tipperary Blueway  

These two photos are of a little garden at the river side of the old graveyard in Kilsheelan which the Tidy Towns have turned into a little garden for people to enjoy.

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Photo: Eamon ÓMurchú

Winter Solstice Blessing ~ John O’Donohue

 

                               1

Somewhere, out at the edges, the night

is turning and the waves of darkness

Begin to brighten on the shore of dawn.

 

The heavy dark falls back to earth

And the freed air goes wild with light,

The heart fills with fresh, bright breath

And thoughts stir to give birth to color.

 

                                 2

 

I arise today

In the name of Silence

Womb of the Word,

In the name of Stillness

Home of Belonging,

In the name of Solitude

Of the soul and the Earth.

 

I arise today

Blessed by all things,

Wings of breath,

Delight of eyes,

Wonder of whisper,

Intimacy of touch,

Eternity of soul,

Urgency of thought,

Miracle of health,

Embrace of God.

 

May I live this day

Compassionate of heart,

Clear of word,

Graciousness in awareness,

Courageous in thought,

Generous in love.

 

John O’Donohue, Irish poet and philosopher

“Matins” (Morning Prayer)

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Carmody's Corner

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Happy Handball Days

Michael Enright, formerly of Bridge Road, has been in touch.

First of all, thanks a million for your blog. Please don't stop. Apart from local residents, all of us

 Listowel exiles need those features and memories. We cannot even travel to Listowel and

 the Kingdom in these dismal times.

May I share my memories of the handball days in Listowel during the 40's and 50's. 

The alley was a hive of activity in those days. Not just handball, but other dodgy pastimes like

 pitch and toss, card games like poker. Some great handball competitors then-- my late brother 

Tom, Dermot Buckley, Kevin Sheehy, John Joe Kenny, Johnny Halloran, Fr Kieran OShea, and 

Junior Griffin. Breandán OMurchú is another survivor. Only "senior " players got a game on 

Sunday mornings-- the rest of us juniors were banished to a one wall alley at the side of the 

main arena. There could be 20 or 30 people there. Some of those people would be competing 

for All Ireland medals if they played in a standard 3 wall alley.

A serious problem arose when the ball was hit out of the alley and landed in the river, 

 in high flood. One unlucky volunteer had to climb the wall adjacent to the alley, 

cross the main road and descend down another wall to Buckleys field. 

He then had to race along the river in the hope of spotting the ball, which usually came to rest 

at a dead pool somewhere before the Racecourse bridge. 

Thanks again, Mary.

Michael Enright

Junior Griffin made this contribution to a website celebrating handball and old handball alleys;

Irish Handball Alleys

"There was a time when we literally had nothing in our pockets and handball was our main

sporting outlet as it really cost us nothing. In fact as young boys during the war years 

some of us in the Bridge Road made a bit of money out of the handball.

On a Sunday morning the alley was packed with many young, and not too young,

 men awaiting their game of handball.  No emigration. 

 A few of us budding entrepreneurs from the Bridge Road would have picked up one old penny 

somewhere, when there was 240 pence to the old pound, and we would make our way to a lovely old lady named Mrs Dowling about a mile outside Listowel 

and buy apples from her and then go back to the alley and sell our apples. Our aim was 

to make a profit of 3 old pence, 2 pence for the Sunday matinee and the one penny left 

would buy us 2 squares of the old Cleeves slab toffee. Our week was made, we wanted nothing 

else. The two squares were joined together and we would break them by hitting them

 against the metal leg of our seat in the local cinema. More than likely a square, or maybe both, 

would hit the ground, but the word hygiene was not on our dictionary in those days. 

What a lovely, carefree life it was.

The end of the war changed all that, as most of the hand ball young men of

 that era emigrated to different corners of the world. As I got older I played a lot of handball 

myself and gave many years as secretary of the local club.. 

The game of handball meant a lot to us in those days and I honestly believe that as

 young boys and then as young men it kept us out of harm’s way as the game of handball 

was such a brilliant game to play". Junior Griffin, May 2020

October 2020, 1999 Old Girls and Retiring to Ireland

 A Walk in Gurtinard Wood and The Garden of Europe in October 2020

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Alumni of Pres. Listowel Reunited

(Majella McGregor shared this on Facebook)

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Thinking of Retiring to Ireland

Listowel Pitch and Putt Course on Friday October 16 2020

If you live abroad and you are looking at peaceful scenes like this you may be thinking of relocating to Ireland in your retirement. Here is a great letter Tom Fitzgerald found on the internet pointing out some of the pros and cons;

Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,

Ireland offers the best of traditional country living. This Emerald Isle is steeped in history, heritage, legend, and lore. It's also one of the safest places on Earth, its unspoiled environment one of the most protected. The entire country outside Dublin and Cork can feel like a small town, and certainly living or retired in any of Ireland's many villages you'd be welcomed and made to feel well at home. 

Retiree Residency No Longer Easy

In December 2011, Ireland introduced a new residency permit option known as Stamp 0. Previously, Ireland had offered a residency option for retirees that was similar to still current rules for "self-sufficiency" residency in other EU countries including Portugal and France. You qualify for these programs simply by showing you have enough income to support yourself in the country.

The new Stamp 0 requirements for qualifying for residency in Ireland are greater. You must show 50,000 euros per person in annual income plus a lump sum available for emergencies equal to the price of a house in Ireland. The size or type of house isn't stipulated, so it's not clear how much the lump sum must amount to, but you should figure at least 150,000 euros.

Stamp 0 residency doesn't qualify for naturalization. It is not a path to Irish citizenship.

Qualification criteria for the country's various residency visas are continually under review, so, if you're considering applying for residency in Ireland, check the government's immigration website regularly for up-to-date information.

An Irish Passport

Ireland has been known as the "gateway to Europe." Historically it has been relatively easy to get a second passport here, either through residency or ancestry. Then, as an Irish national, you were free to roam the rest of Europe. Today citizenship-through-residency is much more difficult (because establishing residency is more difficult). However, you still can be eligible for Irish citizenship if one of your parents or grandparents were born on the Irish isle, either in the Republic of Ireland or in Northern Ireland.

Don't Become A Tax Resident

If you spend 183 days or more in Ireland in one year or 280 days over a period of two years, you are considered a resident for tax purposes. (In the latter case, you'll be considered a taxable resident in the second year.) Ireland is not a low-tax jurisdiction for individuals, one reason part-time retirement can be a good choice.

Ireland taxes most income according to two tax bands—20% and 40%—and, rather than allowing deductions from income prior to calculating tax owed, it offers credits on the calculated tax.

Retired in this country, your retirement income would not be taxed in both the United States and Ireland. The tax treaty between the two stipulates that pension and Social Security income is taxed in the country where you are tax resident only.

No Place For Winter Living

Another reason Ireland is a top part-time retirement option is the weather. Unless you are a writer or painter looking for a secluded lifestyle to practice your art, you probably don't want to be here in winter. Before committing to full-time living in Ireland, spend time in the country November through March, when the days are short, the sky is grey, and the damp inescapable.

Could You Rent Your Part-Time Home?

If you decide to live or retire in Ireland part-time, you might want to rent your home during the months you're not living in it. This is not as realistic an option as it can be elsewhere. Assuming you'll be in residence in Ireland during the spring and summer, you'll likely struggle to find a renter for the winter months. 

The Property Market

In response to the current global situation, the property market in Ireland is already showing signs of softening. Asking prices are no longer indicative of real values. This is good news for the would-be property buyer. The bad news is that the market is all over the place and nobody knows what anything is worth. While this can work to your advantage, it makes it difficult to know what you should expect to spend on what you want to buy. 

Take Planning Permission Seriously

Planning laws in Ireland are strict, even for locals. A native of one county can find it difficult to buy a building lot, for example, in a neighboring county, and a foreigner looking to build a house definitely faces challenges getting the proper approvals. The more rural and undeveloped the location, the more difficult planning permission can be to obtain.

Planning permission is also required when renovating an historic property and when adding on to an existing house. If you intend to buy a home of your own, inquire as to any extensions or improvements to the property and ask to see the relevant planning permissions. If changes were made without them, you could face fines or be required to revert the property to its original state after you've become the owner. 

Health Care

Outside the main cities, access to emergency and medical services can be a challenge. Apart from local clinics and community hospitals with limited services, your closest general hospital can be hours away. For the past few years, there has been a hiring freeze and budgetary cuts within the Health Service Executive, resulting in understaffed wards and lengthy patient waiting lists. For day-to-day general complaints, you will be fine, but critical and emergency care can be lacking. As a result, Ireland is not a place to consider for retirement if you have serious health issues. 

Infrastructure And Access

Outside the main cities, infrastructure and access can be limited. In much of Ireland, narrow and winding roads are the order of the day, and rural roads can be in poor condition, more similar to what you might expect in Central America than Europe. If you decide to own a car while living here, a four-wheel-drive is recommended. 

Cell phone service is reliable across the island, but, outside the main cities, Internet access can be more or less reliable depending on who is servicing the area. If high-speed Internet service is important, check what are the available options before renting or buying a home.

LGBT Living 

While, in 2015, Ireland held a referendum and voted to allow same-sex marriage, the nation in general, given its strong Catholic background, isn't entirely comfortable with homosexuality. There is no concerted or organized activism, neither pro nor con, however, and homosexuality has become more socially acceptable in the last decade. Outside Dublin and Cork, you'll find little open community and no gay bars or clubs. Neither, though, will you face discrimination.

A Nation Of Tea Drinkers

The Irish believe that a cup of tea cures all ills. Whatever the complaint, the remedy is a cuppa'. Traditionally a nation of tea drinkers, real coffee crept in during the years of the Celtic Tiger. Where once you'd be served instant coffee or a tar-like brew, barista coffee is now more widely available and a staple among the younger generations.

Sincerely, 

Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

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A Bit of Perspective

We all know people who have survived T.B. many of them having spent months or even years in an isolation hospital. But not everyone survived.

According to a letter from Hugh Duffy in The Irish Independent Oct 17 2020, in Ireland between the years 1950 and 1960, 10,000 people died of T.B. A survey carried out by RTE described Ireland in the 1940s and early 50s as one of the poorest countries in Europe.

According to the same letter writer, the widow of a victim of T.B often had no choice but to appeal to the "Relieving Officer" for help to feed her hungry children. His advice, more often than not, was to place her children in an industrial school. The state preferred to pay the industrial school to look after her children rather than give the poor woman a decent allowance to allow the more orphans to keep their mother's presence in their lives.

Times have changed. Now we are urged to stay at home and mind one another. Maybe it would help sometimes to reflect on how far we have come.

Mount Brandon, A Poem, John B. Keane Road and The Fall of the Fitzmaurices

On Mount Brandon in October 2020

Photo; Catherine Moylan

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Photo; Eamon ÓMurchú

The Peace of Wild Things

 

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry - The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry.

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On the John B. Keane Road

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A Brilliant New Book from Kay (Moloney) Caball

"After a gatherer comes a scatterer," goes the old saying.

Years of painstaking research has come to fruition in Kay's chronicle of Kerry's premier family,. The Fitzmaurice dynasty was one of the wealthiest and most powerful and well connected families in Ireland once upon a time. Now nothing, not even a shred of that great wealth, those great houses and estates remains. The story of how all of this was lost is a fascinating tale of profligacy, squandering, wealth mismanagement, internecine feuding, and infidelity. 

Kay Caball tells it well.

This buachall, Francis, has a Listowel connection. You can read letters to and fro to his Listowel agent Rev. Christopher Julian, when, once again, he was strapped for cash. The earl was constrained to sell some of his holdings to Lord Listowel and to raise a loan on his already heavily mortgaged estate.

Kay's book will be in the shops on Thursday October 28th. It will be available to buy on Kay's website

My Kerry Ancestors

in Listowel at Woulfe's bookshop, where Brenda is operating a click and collect service,  in Eason which is open as it is a newsagents, and on Amazon.