I was surprised Ballydoole was more affluent than RingmoylanâŚ
My estate in Caherdavin is two different colours.
I stopped reading thenâŚâŚ
Kilfinny was the most affluent place in Limerick in 2017 Pobal findings. Island Field most disadvantaged.
We had a red Datsun Sunny estate for years, 977 FIP. The back bumper rusted up and fell off.
3 Likes
We had a Datsun 180B reg 876 NZH the 35 was EIT 864 thereâs more I canât remember
The sea air in Connemara used to make shit of the Datsuns back in the late 70s/80s. Crumbling carcasses dotted around fields as Iâd be carrying my toy laser gun in this post apocalyptic landscape of rock and rust.
8 Likes
If you look around the table, and you donât see the suckerâŚ
This is an interesting study
RTE news : Ancient DNA reveals surprising MS origins
http://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2024/0112/1426187-dna-europeans-ms/
Fucking unvetted migrant farmers. Probably getting free housing and EU grants
Swans are evil bastards
2 Likes
Could anyone do the needful on this?
Sometimes you can pickup Independent articles on MSN, but not this one.
On the face of it, the title The Last Priests in Ireland (RTĂ1, Monday, January 16) suggests we might be in for the kind of bone-dry, whisperingly solemn and self-important documentary the national broadcaster occasionally feels the need to inflict upon us.
Who better, then, to lure in viewers who might otherwise consider the subject matter â the decline in influence of the Catholic Church and the shrinking number of priests â unpalatable than Ardal OâHanlon, Fr Dougal Maguire himself?
âFather Ted ended in 1998, but OâHanlon, by his own admission, spent a long time trying to escape the comedyâs shadow. Some Dougal-level dim members of the public have a habit of confusing actors with the characters they play.
So this couldnât be described as a case of opportunistic stunt casting. OâHanlon has proved himself to be a fine straight actor and a thoughtful, reflective documentary presenter who always seems genuinely interested in what the people heâs talking to have to say â not a trait found in many actors or comedians who turn their hands to fronting factual programmes.
This is not to say the documentary is entirely without humorous moments. Wandering through the eerily empty and abandoned Clonliffe Seminary, OâHanlon recalls how he once heard the priestly vocation calling.
âI definitely went through a period of a week or two when I was exceptionally holy,â he says. He was only about six at the time, which is probably why his religious spell was so short-lived.
Later, OâHanlon is tickled to learn that his old pal, Father Ted co-creator Arthur Mathews, had two uncles who were priests, one of whom liked fine food, good wine and travelling to the US.
Mathews also casually throws out the nugget that his great-great-granduncle on his motherâs side was none other than Archbishop (later Cardinal) Paul Cullen, who the Vatican despatched to Ireland in 1850 to put proper Roman Catholic manners on the Irish Church, which was rather relaxed and ramshackle in how it went about its business.
At the time, says Professor Salvador Ryan, priests here were called âMisterâ not âFatherâ. Cullen was effectively the Vaticanâs âenforcerâ. He organised the Thurles Synod, which was designed to bring Irish priests into line by turning them from plain old Catholics to strict Roman Catholics.
âHeâs tickled to learn that Arthur Mathews had two uncles who were priestsâ
They were told to clean up their sartorial act (black clothes and dog collars were suddenly in), steer clear of card games and dances, and stay off the booze.
Given the popularity of the âwhiskey priestâ in Irish literature, you have to think that last one didnât quite stick.
While the population dropped, the number of priests soared â a trend thatâs been brutally (at least from the Churchâs point of view) reversed. OâHanlon noted that in the year of his birth, 1965, 400 priests were ordained. In 2023, the number was down to 10.
There were some fascinating contributions here. OâHanlonâs childhood friend and next-door neighbour Michael Donnelly, who became a priest for real, likened the feeling of being called as like a man who meets a woman and realises immediately she is the one for him. âThereâs something in you that just knows,â he said.
A more familiar face, former priest Michael Harding, who was inspired by liberation theology, speaks about how the reign of Pope John Paul II made him realise âwe were on a bus reversing into the 19th century.â
One of the most intriguing contributors is Fr Roy Donovan, PP of a Limerick parish, who says âRome killed Catholicismâ and questions whether the Church should be trying to recruit more priests.
OâHanlon, who describes himself as âan agnostic, yet still appreciative of my Christian heritageâ, says heâs not out to give the Church âanother kickingâ.
Yet his anger when talking about âthe elephant in the roomâ â the sexual abuse scandals that caused so many to turn away from the Catholic Church â and how women have been âpainted out of the pictureâ was hard to disguise.
The documentary is followed on Tuesday by a companion film, The Last Nuns in Ireland, with Dearbhail McDonald.
I read that as Pirates, not much of a difference I suppose.
Limerick resorting to filth as per usual.