Tributes paid to the late Muiris Ó Rócháin

MUIRIS Ó Rócháin, programme secretary and director of Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy in Miltown Malbay, passed away on Monday. The late Mr Ó Rócháin taught at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Spanish Point and was one of the primary driving forces behind the annual summer school since 1973. He had been ill for some time.

“We worked together for nearly 41 years as colleagues teaching and in the Willie Clancy Summer School. I just happened to call up at 5pm on Monday and he passed away at about 5.10pm,” Harry Hughes, who worked alongside Muiris on the Willie Clancy Summer School organising committee, told The Clare Champion.
“He has left an enormous legacy to traditional Irish music not only in Miltown Malbay but nationally and internationally. He came to Spanish Point in 1970 to teach maths and Irish. Loads of people have forgotten the fact that professionally he was a teacher. I’ve been hearing a lot of pupils talking about him over the last 48 hours and they remember him with great affection,” Harry added.
Originally from Dingle, Muiris taught in Dublin for a number of years before moving to West Clare.
Miltown Malbay concertina player, Edel Fox was also fulsome in her praise of her late mentor.
“I’ve known him my whole life. My parents are really into music as well and they would have socialised a lot with Muiris and his wife, Úna. I was brought up around the music scene and Muiris was always a great figure in my life. He was very encouraging and he liked young people from Miltown playing music,” Edel said, adding that Muiris had launched her first CD.
“Upholding the tradition was very important to Muiris. Every musical occasion I can think of, from students’ Christmas concerts to festivals, sessions, everything that I have ever done musically in Clare, I associate Muiris with being there and being part of it. You’d bump into Muiris at a lot of festivals all over the country. He knew everyone,” she noted.
In Edel’s experience, Muiris always encouraged and supported young musicians.
“Aside from having a great rapport with an older generation of musicians, Muiris was incredibly encouraging to the younger generation. There’s a lot of us teaching now at the Willie Clancy week. He made sure it spanned all age groups. He tried to showcase everybody as much as he could,” Edel said, before pointing out that Muiris organised the Willie Clancy Summer School his way.
“He had his own inimitable way of running the festival. There was no Facebook or website. I know for a fact that Muiris still documented everything with a pen and paper. Telephone, pen and paper; that’s how he ran Willie Clancy week. There isn’t another person that could run a festival of that magnitude the way he did,” Edel laughed.
Local councillor Michael Hillery said Muiris had made an enormous contribution to the county.
“He made a fabulous contribution. The summer school was a huge economic boost for the area and it was also a tremendous cultural event. It had a huge spin-off for the area. Muiris Ó Rócháin was a very unassuming man and a man who was very well respected in the area. He had great foresight and vision and that’s why the Willie Clancy Summer School has flourished down through the years,” Councillor Hillary commented.