Galway Advertiser 1981/1981_07_09/GA_09071981_E1_004.pdf 

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g a l w a y . g l e a n i n g s

An extraordinary instance of civic justice occurred in this town. James Lynch Fitz-Stephen, an opulent merchant, was mayor of Galway in 1493. He had made several voyages to Spain. When returning from his last visit he brought with him the son of a respectable merchant named Gomez. Young Gomez soon became the intimate associate of Walter Lynch, the only son of the mayor, a youth in his twenty-first year, and who possessed qualities of mind and body which rendered him an object of general admiration; but, in these was unhappily united a disposition to libertinism, he was engaged in paying honourable addresses to a beautiful young lady of good family and fortune. Young Lynch fancied his intended bride viewed his Spanish friend with too much regard. The fire of j e a l o u s y was i n s t a n t l y lighted up in his distempered brain, and at their next interview he accused his beloved Agnes of unfaithful ness to him. Irritated at it's injustice, the offended fair one disdained to deny the charge, and the lovers parted in anger. On the following night, while Walter Lynch slowly passed the residence of his Agnes, he observed young Gomez to leave the house, as he had been invited by her father to spend the evening with him. All his suspicions now received the most dreadful confirmation, and in maddened fury he rushed on his unsuspecting friend, who fled towards a solitary quarter of the town near the shore. Lynch maintained the pursuit till his victim had nearly reached the water's edge, when he overtook him, darted a poniard into his heart, and plunged his body, bleeding, into the sea, which during the night, threw it back again upon the shore, where it was found and recognised on the following m o r n i n g . The wretched murderer. He bent his steps towards the town at the e a r l i e s t d a w n of t h e following morning; when he met a crowd approaching, amongst whom, with shame and terror, he observed his father on h o r s e b a c k , attended by several officers of justice. The venerable magistrate had no suspicion

that his only son was the assassin of his friend and guest; but, when young Lynch proclaimed himself the murderer, a conflict of feeling seized the wretched father beyond the power of language to describe. To him, as chief magistrate of the town, was entrusted the power of life and death. The sad procession moved slowly towards the prison amidst a concourse of spectators, some of whom expressed the strongest admiration at the upright conduct of the magistrate, while others were equally loud in their lamentations for the unhappy fate of a highly accomplished youth who had long been a universal favourite. But the firmness of the mayor had to withstand greater shock when the . mother, sisters, and intended bride of the wretched Walter beheld him, approach pale, bound, and surrounded with spears. Their frantic outcries affected every heart except t h a t of the inflexible magistrate, who had now resolved to sacrifice life with all that makes life valuable rather than swerve from the path of duty. In a few days the trial of Walter Lynch took place, and in a provincial town of Ireland, containing at that period not more than three thousand inhabitants, a father was beheld sitting in judgement. The populace loudly d e m a n d e d the prisoner's release, and were only prevented by the guards from demolishing the prison, and the mayor's house, which adjoined it; and their fury was increased on learning that unhappy prisoner had now become anxious for life. On the night preceding the fatal day appointed for the execution of Walter Lynch, this extraordinary man entered the dungeon of his son, holding in his hand a lamp, and accompanied by a priest. He locked the grate after him, kept the keys fast in his hand, and then seated himself in a recess of the wall. The wretched culprit asked if he had any thing to hope? The mayor answered, "No, my son -- your life is forfeited to the laws, and at sunrise you must die! I have prayed for your prosperity: but that is at an end. Day had scarcely broken when the signal of preparation was heard among the guards without. The father rose, and assisted the executioner to remove the fetters which bound his unfortunate son. He placed him between the priest and himself, leaning upon an arm of each. In this manner they ascended a

flight of steps lined with soldiers, and were passing on to gain the street, when a new trial assailed the magistrate, for which he appears not to have been unprepared. His wretched wife, whose name was Blake, failing in her personal exertions to save the life of her son, had gone in distraction to the heads of her own family, a n d prevailed on them, for the honour of their house, to rescue him from ignominy. They flew to arms, and a prodigious concourse soon assembled to support them, whose outcries for mercy to the culprit whould have shaken any nerves less firm than those of the mayor of Galway. Still retaining a hold of his unfortunate son, he mounted with him by a winding stair within the building, that led to an arched window overlooking the street which he saw filled with the populace. Here he secured the end of the rope which had been previously fixed round the neck of his son, t o a n iron staple, which projected from the wall, and, after taking from him a last embrace, he launched him into eternity. The house where all of this is supposed to have taken place (cross bones house) was said to have been in Abbeygate Street, and today we show you a drawing of the house originally done for Hardiman's History, but unused by him and also of the skull and crossbones plaque (now deteriorating) over the door. It is good to see the Museum open again, daily from 10,30--1.00 p.m. and from 2.30--5.30 p.m. It has more exhibits than ever and Sinead Sweeney or, Grainne Keaney will be happy to show you around. F i n a l l y , the G a l w a y branch of the Irish Wildlife Federation are having a lecture in the Atlanta Hotel next Wednesday at 8.30 admission free. It's entitled "Ireland's Endangered Plants" and will be given by James White, U.C.D. T.K.

Settling in to a new period of coalition government, the main question still seems to be how long it will last, and though some predictions would have another election as early as next October, it seems that once the initial jitters are out of the way, governments tend to go on for longer periods than their m o s t loyal s u p p o r t e r s themselves expect. In spite of the forecasts of gloom and in particular trie emphasis on just how bad the books were, the new team seem to be settling in to a good start. However it is early days yet. Hopefully we can leave the politics behind us for a while in the near future, and concentrate on some other more general issues. The backlog of publications and literary items is quite staggering and gives some type of insight into the way financing current accounts in government can mount under pressure. NEW EXECUTIVE It has been a period of change on the local front, too, with Proinsias 6 Floinn t a k i n g over as Chief Executive of Udaras na Gaeltachta -- something which was mentioned in passing last week. This week we bid a formal but very sincere Slan agus beannacht to Cathal Mac Gabhann, who is going back into the private sector in a Dublinbased position, thus leaving Galway and the Gaeltacht after what must be just about the most difficult but interesting position held by any s e m i - s t a t e C h i e f Executive for the past 15 years. Before leaving us, Mac Gabhann gave a long interview to Sean 6 Tuairisg on R. na G. which was a master-piece, as well as being one of the frankest state of the Gaeltacht statements we have had in the past decade. Hopefully, it will be repeated. The only sad thing about the R. na G. broadcast was the news, at the end, that it marked the end of the r o a d for "Trathnona Inniu" on R. na G. one of the best bits of current affairs coverage we have had on any service in recent times and right throughout the General Election campaign. Hopefu lly the programme will resume in the autumn, but it is sad to see R. na G. developing the RTF. disease which seems to assume that life stands still in July and August simply because of their own staff are also away on holidays.

FAIR AND HONEST One of the things which Cathal Mac Gabhann dealt with in the course of his end of term report was the performance of the various Gaeltacht Ministers under whose general political supervision he had to operate right from the days of Micheal 6 M6rain. He had interesting things to say about most of them, their various strengths and the different political problems they faced. But in the end, it seemed to listerers that Mac Gabhann had no hesitation in admitting that the best Minister for the Gaeltacht he had during the period was the outgoing Galway woman, Maire GeogheganQuinn, who had quit the office just a few days before. It is true that Maire was born and reared in the Gaeltacht, and knew the problems and limitations, political and otherwise, of the Department which she ran during the first 18 months of the new Udaris, a n d one of the most economically difficult periods of recent times as well. This, of course, had its reverse side as well because Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn had t o face t h e p o l i t i c a l balancing act of being fair, honest and. in some cases u n p o p u l a r l y s t e r n in Gaeltacht affairs, while at the same time having to rely on G a e l t a c h t vested interests and pressuregroups to a considerable extent in order to be re elected. Whatever other p r o b l e m s face P a d d y O'Toole in his new job, he h a s t h e very d e f i n i t e strategic advantage over Mrs. Quinn that while he too is a native of the Gaeltacht -- or what is left of the Mayo Gaeltacht -- he is a T.D. for East Mayo, and consequen tly not subject to the same types of pressures which made life so difficult for the West Galway Aire na Gaeltachta.

EXCELLED AT HER JOB The interesting thing about the Mac Gabhann evaluati on however was that he seemed convinced that Maire Geoghegan-Quinn was a dedicated, wellinformed and very thorough Minister for the Gaeltacht during her period who, if she did not already have a grasp of all the facts, was prepared to go to the trouble of full and comprehensive briefin gs about different aspects of a problem. Not only that, but she excelled at grasping essentials and forming judgements on an informed summary of all the issues at s t a k e . S o m e of t h o s e conclusions and decisions were u n p o p u l a r and probably wrong in the view of many. But it is good to learn that they were formed as a result of so much hard work. If we are all honest with ourselves it may have to be conceded as well that some of those decisions owed their unpopularity with some interested parties to the fact that they were quite close to the bone. NEW THEATRE ADMINISTRATOR Changing the topic, somewhat we want to mention especially this year the Taibhdhearc Summer Show. "Geantrai" which got off to a good start this year last Thursday with a formal reception and performance. Not as many maithe agus m6r-usisle were around this year to see the Taibhdhearc summer attraction into its second decade. Perhaps the General Election and the new government caught a lot of people short? The Mayor was however very ably represented by an efficiently bilingual Councillor Gerry Molloy, while Sean Stafford, Cathaoirleach na Taibhdhearc, had some f u r t h e r g o o d news in connection with the on going development of the only full-time Irish language thearte in the world. Diiirt se go raibh Sinead Ui Alliirain ceaptha mar Riarthoir lanaimseartha ag an Taibhdearc -- rud a raibh geargha leis le fada. R u g a d h S i n e a d Ui Alliirain, i gCeanada agus togadh i mBaile Atha Cliath i. Fuair si a cuid oideachas i Scoil L o r c a i n a g u s i gClochar San Doiminic, Cnoc Sion. Chaith si se blaina ag obair le GaelLinn. Ceithre bliain mar riinai/riarthoir ar Shlogadh 6g fheile naisiiinta agus Eachtra -- ciirsai eachtraiochta sa Ghaeltacht. Le dha bhliain anuas bhi Sinead ag obair mar riarthoir i Roinn na gCeirnini i nGael-Linn. Compiled by Nollaig O Gadhra

D I KN RN I G P OLM R BE
Have you a relative or friend with a drinking problem ? If so, A I R ANON family group can help you. Come to our meetings at Ozanam House, St. Augustine S t , Galway, every Tuesday and Thursday Nigfct at 8.30 p.m.

Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn was brutally realistic about this and realised that some of the decisions which she had taken in her capacity as a member of the Governm ent were going to cost her dearly in votes in the election. It was not the only problem whhich she and Fianna Fail faced, of course, but it is worth putting on record in view of all the gloating and indeed some of the very unkind abuse which has come to light as a result of the fall in the Minister's vote in the last contest.

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