THE Scattery Island Heritage and Tourism Forum in Kilrush has challenged members of the local town council to support the group in its efforts to make Scattery Island more accessible.

 

At last Thursday’s January meeting of Kilrush Town Council, a delegation of forum members attended and addressed the meeting.

“The overall aim of the group is to promote Scattery Island as a visitor destination in West Clare and ensure that locals and visitors know of its rich and varied history,” Rita McCarthy, Clare VEC, outlined at the start of the presentation.

Later, local businessman George Brew challenged the councillors to use the final 18 months of their term to leave a lasting legacy. Town councils are likely to be dissolved nationwide in June 2014.
“You’re in the final term so what’s going to be your legacy? Is this elected body going to go out gently like a candle in the wind or are you going to leave your masters in Dublin with the idea that you’re a council of some note? What focus will you take to prepare to legacy?” Mr Brew asked.

“Wouldn’t it be a good time to put down a marker to central government for perhaps a new local administration at some point in the future? Again the question, what kind of a project would you support? Scattery Island combines strands of history from Ireland, Britain, France, Spain and Scandinavia. You’ve got a history of battles out there, saints and serpents, there’s an awful lot of folklore and you can throw in Brian Boru for good measure. There’s a deep trough there to build a tourism and heritage project. My only question is will this council provide the leadership and political will and open doors for our group?” he queried.

Mayor of Kilrush Mairéad O’Brien assured forum members she would support their efforts.
“You have absolutely got the support of this council. I can only speak for myself but I think that this is a very proactive council and we are for the development and future of this town. While this council is not going to be here in 18 months, we’re all still going to be here. We’re all residents of the town and we all have a vested interest that Kilrush is progressive and successful,” she said.

Rita McCarthy outlined in detail how the Scattery Island Heritage and Tourism Forum was established and what its aims are.
“This started as a result of a Heritage and Tourism programme that the VEC ran in the local adult education centre here in Kilrush. The idea was that Scattery Island is a very obvious heritage site that is on our doorstep. What we found when we were talking about various heritage sites within the town and the possibility of developing tourism around heritage, was that a lot of people who came from other parts of the county to the programme, didn’t know anything about Scattery Island. That surprised us. They’d never been on the island. They knew very little about it as a site, its heritage or its breadth of history. From that, we decided to work on it as a project,” Ms McCarthy explained.

In conjunction with the Office of Public Works (OPW), the group acted as volunteer guides on Scattery Island during the month of September. They have also worked with a LEADER mentor to help with settings objectives.
“We came up with four objectives. The objectives are to make Scattery’s terrain more accessible to visitors, to improve visitor access to Scattery from Kilrush, to make the history and heritage of Scattery accessible to visitors and to promote Scattery’s unique heritage to target markets at home and abroad,” she added.

In conjunction with The Gathering, an event will be held on Scattery Island on the weekend of July 12 to 14, while the heritage group also plan to write a broad history of the island, with help from Dr Bernadette Whelan, UL and Clare VEC. A list of more than 70 people living in the US, with Scattery Island connections, has been compiled. A report on the island’s terrain has also been sent to the OPW.

Councillor Tom Prendeville, who along with the late George Harratt, is a founder member of Comóradh Sheanáin Naofa, which promotes Scattery Island and its links with St Senan, told the meeting three extensive histories of the island have already been written.
Stating the proper name for Scattery Island is Inis Cathaigh, Councillor Prendeville advised the forum members to tread carefully with their plans.

“I would caution anybody who would go in and take on any specific task without having first of all recourse to the OPW and to Dúchas. It’s a very sensitive area. When we organised Comóradh Sheanáin Naofa, we had to take out an indemnity of €12m in case the pilgrims would attack the monuments,” he said.

“I welcome the group and I welcome what you’re setting out to do but you’re not telling us something that we haven’t recognised for a long, long time. Any work has to be done with sensitivity because otherwise, you might raise the hackles of people if it’s not done in a very sensitive way,” Councillor Prendeville added.

He also suggested the town council and not the Scattery Island Heritage and Tourism Forum, seek to make progress with gaining UNESCO status for the island. This idea was first broached at a town council meeting in 2012.

However, Councillors Mairéad O’Brien and Ian Lynch suggested the council and forum work jointly on that aspect of the project.
Other members of the forum present at the meeting included Rebecca Brew, Nicki Power, Thomas Burke and Mary Stack.

 

Saint causes controversy

FOURTEEN-hundred-and-sixty-eight years after his death, St Senan’s take on women in the sixth century is causing ructions at Kilrush Town Council.

Nicki Power, a member of the Scattery Island Heritage and Tourism Forum, was addressing the January meeting on plans to hold a Scattery Island Gathering in July, when St Senan and women were first mentioned.

“St Senan and the women whom he didn’t have much time for,” was how Ms Power phrased it.

St Senan, who was born in Moylough in approximately 488, is believed to have established himself on Scattery Island in 534.
It has been alleged that no woman was allowed to live in or even land on the island. St Cainir, a relation of St Senan’s, had established a convent to the West of Ballylongford. She crossed the river and hoped to end her days on Scattery Island but Senan forbade her to come ashore. She requested the last sacraments and a grave on the island. Senan agreed to this and she was buried at high water mark.

However, Councillor Tom Prendeville reacted angrily when it was suggested St Senan preferred to keep his distance from women.
“Not true, not true, not true. He was not a misogynist in any way. That’s a total myth. Nothing was further from the truth so get your facts right,” he told Ms Power.

“It’s something that we all were fed when we were growing up. That stems from a silly old poem written by Thomas Davis about St Cainir; ‘Oh woman get thee hands from this holy isle,” Councillor Prendeville added.

He then gave examples of how St Senan may have been, in fact, pro-women. “He was responsible for the establishment of a convent on the Erris Penisnula. He was revered by women. The person he revered most in his life was his mother, Conjella, and his sister was St Imy of Killimer,” Councillor Prendeville noted.

Mayor of Kilrush Mairéad O’Brien said she had heard a few things about St Senan but was open to listening to contrary views.

“The myths have to be investigated, whether they’re true or untrue. Certainly, it was one of the first things I heard when I moved here as a 12-year-old child. I heard all the horror stories of St Senan. If they’re not true, then what we would welcome are historians to tell us the truth and the myths and folklore that go with it,” Councillor O’Brien commented.