Michael D opens 33rd Cruinniú na mBád Festival

Presidential candidate Michael D Higgins was in Kinvara at the weekend to open the 33rd Cruinniú na mBád Festival. Hundreds of people took to Parkmore Pier to watch as the turf boats make their traditional journey from Sruthán in Connemara to South Galway.
Speaking at the event Mr Higgins said, “With National Heritage Week beginning next weekend, there could be no better way of celebrating our heritage than to turn the face of the Irish people towards the sea, with all its opportunities, and its dangers too.” 
Mr Higgins was opening the festival 21 years after he had last opened it as mayor of Galway. 
The Cruinniú festival is a unique event on the Irish calendar, which celebrates workboat traditions and features the delivery of turf from Connemara to Kinvara, a trade, which took place at the port up until the 1960s. 
Michael D travelled to the opening on board An Tonnai, one of three traditional turf-boats that have been owned for generations by the O’Brien, Bailey and McDonagh families. He remarked that “the hooker tradition is embedded in everything Irish – the references are there in the sean nós, language, dancing and music”. 
Referring to the tradition of bringing the turf form Connemara to South Galway, he noted that this showed the mutual dependence of communities on each other and also reminded us of an era when major commerce took place on seas. The former Labour TD thanked the current organisers of the festival and paid tribute to former committees, whose hard work had kept the Cruinniú festival alive. 
Dominic Gallagher was master of ceremonies at this year’s Cruinniú. He believes that 2011 saw a return to the best days of the renowned festival.
“The festival was very big this year and the recession has a lot to do with that. There were a lot of people interested in the sailing and the traditions that go with it. There was great racing so the tradition was kept alive and people wanted to come and see it. Lots of people stayed around too because there was a lot more information given this year about the hookers and the families that owned them and the tradition of each boat. That was the big factor. People really appreciated the value of knowing where the boats came from and the background to them. Because the information was being given out, people waited to see the race begin and to see it end,” he explained.
“The festival is huge and it is very important for Kinvara to keep that alive and keep that tradition alive. It is my belief that the more people understand, the more they will enjoy it. There was one boat that was built in 1862 and it was owned by one family ever since and that was amazing. There was a Bedford truck parked on the pier and that was the last truck to take the turf from the quay in Kinvara so it refers to a different part of the tradition of bringing the turf here from Connemara. Some times when bringing the turf, women would be brought too ‘as ballast’. That was the phrase they used but it was arranged marriages and lots of people in Kinvara have their roots in Connemara. Then on the return journey the boats might be loaded with Liscannor stone or the likes,” Mr Gallagher outlined.
“It was a real purist festival this year, lots of interest from boat lovers, and there was great entertainment too. In a recession, everyone digs in and as well as people visiting the area, lots of locals took part in events too. There was a mass broadcast on Radio na Gaeltachta from the pier on Sunday morning, Fr Larkin was the celebrant and that was really lovely. It was very successful and it was a lovely family occasion and people had a great day out. Because of the information, the colour and the effort to make it a family day, people stayed around much longer and I think all the publicans would say that there was a lot less messing than in previous years,” Mr Gallagher concluded.