The Campaign for the Outer Relief Road

The outer relief road, or bypass road, is nearing completion. When opened it should make a huge difference in relieving town centre traffic congestion. Almost half a century has passed since the then Athy Urban District Council considered proposals to lessen anticipated traffic congestion in the town. Traffic was anticipated to increase over the following years and quite rightly the local authority officials in the mid-1970s set about planning for the future. Looking back to a time when the value of the built heritage of our town was largely unappreciated and ignored, it was no surprise that the Council’s consulting engineers engaged to plan for the town’s traffic future proposed an inner relief road as an immediate relief measure. An outer relief road was also recommended as a long-term solution. The inner relief road was planned to run parallel to Leinster Street on the south side, exiting at Meeting Lane and across the back square, bypassing the rear of the Courthouse. The road which was planned to have six-foot-high walls on either side would also require an elevated road from the square to the new bridge a short distance south of Crom a Boo bridge. That inner relief road as planned was the desired development favoured by the County Council officials and it gained the unanimous support of the elected members of Athy Urban District Council in the mid-1970s. It is difficult to imagine nowadays how anyone could have approved the traffic plan, the effect of which was the partial destruction of the finest public space in the county of Kildare. It was the election of a new Council in the mid-1980s which prompted a close look at the inner relief road proposal adopted by a previous Council. It is hard to believe that any town planner or engineer would suggest the construction of a new road just a few yards from the town centre, with walls on both side of the new road. It was that part of the extraordinary incompetent road plan which was first dropped. As a sweetener for the supporters of the inner relief road the Council’s consultants indicated that shopping development along the length of the new roadway would be encouraged, but not so as to infringe on the existing businesses on Duke Street and Leinster Street. How this was to be developed was never explained. Indeed as I look today at the number of vacant shop premises on the town’s main streets I dread to think what might have happened if an inner relief road gave rise to the emergence of further business premises. The inner relief road was opposed by what I believe was the majority of the local townspeople, but despite this the local Councillors by a slim majority supported the County Council officials in their drive for that road. It was not to be as the Planning Appeal Board for the very first time in its history refused permission for a local authority road plan. The Board’s notice of refusal cited the more appropriate development as the outer relief road which is what we are to get later this year or early next year. The townspeople of Athy who campaigned for the outer relief road and opposed the inner relief road got it right. The County Council officials and the public representatives who chose the inner relief road got it wrong. It is well to note that none of the present-day Council officials or public representatives were involved in the outer relief road versus the inner relief road struggle. It was a struggle which went on for several years and involved the call for a plebiscite which was rejected, the holding of public meetings in Emily Square and a door to door canvas for support for the outer relief road. The campaign ended with the six-day public hearing held in the Stand House Hotel on the Curragh, which months later gave the result which the local people had championed. What the campaign taught the local people is that public officials, while claiming to listen to the voice of the people, for the most part ignored the people they serve. Official opinions, I acknowledge, are more often than not in line with those of the general public, but too often we come across instances where the differences between the general public and the officials cannot be merged. The anti-inner relief road campaign is a case in point where the Council officials by various devious means over a long period of time sought to thwart the will of the people. Most notable was the persistent failure of the Council officials to acknowledge the correct count of HGV vehicles passing through the town centre. The true figure which was much larger than that previously stated on numerous occasions by the officials was only finally revealed at the public enquiry. The campaign for the outer relief road and rejection of the inner relief road uncovered institutional arrogance which should have had no part in 20th century local government. Institutional arrogance was the hallmark of the landlord dominated local authorities of the 19th century. The passing of the Local Government Act in 1898 extended the right to vote in local elections and put local government on a truly representative basis which led to the virtual disappearance of the landlord class from local administration. Subsequent changes in local government law saw the emergence of the county manager with executive powers, while the elected members of the councils exercised reserve functions. The initial unhappiness of elected members with the new managerial system led to some changes in the managerial role, but were never completely resolved. However, the lack of autonomy and the weakened power of county councils resulting from departmental control is a continuing issue which makes local government less local than it should be. Despite these shortcomings our long-awaited outer relief road is nearing completion, despite decades of frustration on the part of the local people and many examples of institutional arrogance by former Kildare County Council executives.

A journey to Monaghan and Kells while visiting Derry / Remembering Eileen Tuohy

I was on a journey of remembrance last week as I travelled to and from Derry where I spent a few days within the walls of that ancient city. On the way northwards I stopped over in Monaghan town where I spent a few happy years more than fifty years ago. I went to Monaghan in November 1967 as the new Town Clerk on promotion from a similar position in Kells, Co. Meath. I was newly married and lived in a second storey flat overlooking the Diamond in Monaghan town. My two sons were born in the Beech Hill Nursing Home which has since closed and is now the site of a secondary school. It was in Monaghan that, with the help of a County Council loan, I bought my first house for the princely sum of £750. A three bedroomed end of terrace house, number 4 Dr. MacKenna Terrace was the Taaffe home for two years or more. Great memories were recalled as Breege and myself revisited sites and scenes of young lives spent amongst the wonderfully friendly Monaghan people. The town’s streetscape has not changed much even if new business names showed how the passage of time reveals the almost inevitable generational changes we have come to expect. Monaghan has a strong commercial heart evidenced by the lack of too many charity shops. It’s success is re-enforced when you find Dunnes Stores and an Easons book shop in the town. These two businesses follow success and help to ensure its continuity. The commercial strength of Monaghan town owes much to the local authority’s decision to provide parking throughout the town at very reasonable rates. Monaghan’s car parking rates of one euro for two hours is an encouragement to local shoppers and visitors alike to do business in the town centre. Other towns I have visited recently in County Cork allowed parking for two hours free of charge which is a parking regime first successfully trialled in Steyning West Sussex many years ago. The Monaghan parking rates I found were similarly imposed in Omagh and Strabane and confirmed the savvy northerners acceptance of the wisdom of not discouraging town centre shopping by imposing revenue gathering charges. The local council here in Athy informed us when parking charges were first introduced that they were intended to better regulate parking in the town and were not intended as a revenue collection exercise. Soon after they were implemented, the fee paying parking areas were extended widely throughout the town. This has damaged Athy’s commercial life. Monaghan has several easily accessible car parks in and around the centre of the town including all day parking for one euro in designated areas. Clearly, the town fathers recognised that encouraging footfall in the town’s centre was far more important than creating an income generating scheme to bolster local rates. As I travelled northwards from Monaghan, I found the rural villages of Bready, Magheramason and New Buildings all within a short distance of each other and near to Derry City flying Union Jacks and Ulster flags on every available electricity pole. The message was clear and for a visitor from the South somewhat discomforting. Derry itself was flag free insofar as I could see and the people there were very friendly and reassuring. I spent a few hours on a guided tour of the Bogside led by Paul Doherty whose father Pat was one of the thirteen men shot dead by members of the Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday, 3rd January 1972. The Bogside is festooned with murals which remind us of the difficulties faced by the locals during the Troubles. Listening to the guide, it was clear that decades of discrimination and gerrymandering which effectively disenfranchised the majority still shapes the minds and hearts of the local people. The following day I visited the much publicised Derry Girls Exhibition in the Tower Museum as my son Francis, one of the Monaghan youngster’s, was the Art Director on the T.V. series. In the same building was an extensive exhibition telling the story of Derry City. It was one of the best Exhibitions of its kind I have ever seen and is well worth a visit if you are ever in Derry. On our return journey we called to Kells, where in May 1967 I took up duty as a Town Clerk and where after marrying we lived for two months at the end of a one and a half year term in the job. The Town Hall where I had my office is now an Auctioneers but otherwise like Monaghan the streetscape shows few changes. Kells held many memories for me. It was there that a small group of us living in digs played football almost every evening in St. Colmcille’s Park. Amongst those were the legendary footballers Des Ferguson and Greg Hughes who were living in Kells at that time. They appeared once or twice a week while the rest of us haunted the playing pitch every evening. I recalled those whose company I enjoyed while working in Kells and also in Monaghan and as I walked the once familiar streets of both towns, the fading memories of 50 years or more ago returned. The friends and acquaintances have in many cases passed on but they are still remembered with fondness. During the week, a one time resident of Offaly Street passed away. Eileen Tuohy lived in No. 22 Offaly Street with her parents Michael and Annie and with her older brother Tommy and younger sister Mary. Michael was an old IRA man from East Clare who served as a Garda in Athy for many years. He died in 1972 and his wife Annie whom he married while he was stationed in Tullow, died four years later. Mary, the youngest of the family died in London in 2015 and six years later. her brother Tommy, a Marist priest, died. Eileen who was born in 1936 was the last of the Tuohy family which formed part of the strong family based community which existed in Offaly Street in the 1940’s and beyond. The street is no longer home to any of the families who lived there during my young days. Sadly, the local shops Kitty Websters and Sylvesters as well as Moore’s on Emily Square corner are no more while even the local pub and Bobs Cinema are long closed. Friendships and acquaintances forged in younger days are constantly being lost as old age gathers more and more of us in its grip. My journey of remembrance which started in Monaghan followed by a visit to Kells ended this week with a funeral to St. Michael’s cemetery to bid farewell to an old neighbour.

Duthie's Jewellers Athy

After 105 years the name W.T. Duthie may soon disappear from the local streetscape as the sale of the jeweller shop has been completed and new owners take possession. The Duthie family, like so many others, in decades past, lived over the shop in Athy’s Main Street. Were they I wonder the last family to do so? I called to 30 Leinster Street a few days ago after Heather Duthie phoned me to say that with her brother Alistair, she was clearing the premises of Duthie family items and shop records and equipment. I was interested in preserving as much as possible the artefacts identifiable with the Duthie family business which was first established by Willoughby O’Connor sometime in the 19th Century. Albert Duthie’s father William Thomas Duthie worked for O’Connor in the Leinster Street business and succeeded him when he died in 1903. The name W.T. Duthie was retained as the business name even after W.T. died in 1949 to be succeeded by his son Albert who had joined his father a few years previously after a five year apprenticeship in Dublin. I have previously written of Albert Duthie who passed away at a young age in 1979, describing him as a passionate promoter of Athy Town. I first got to know him well when I was living in Dublin in the 1970’s. I called on Albert on a few occasions while visiting Athy seeking help with various Athy related questions. He was always very helpful and extremely knowledgeable in relation to local matters. I know he promoted the town as much as he possibly could and to this end he had the Athy crest embossed on cups and other items sold in his shop. Older generations will remember with fondness the Santa Claus which appeared in the Duthie Shop window in the weeks before Christmas. The nodding Santa Claus was the acknowledged forerunner of the festive season and was cherished by the youngsters in the town. Following Albert’s death, his wife Anna, a native of Ballybay in County Monaghan continued in the business until finally the shop closed for the last time on the 31st July 2013. Heather Duthie and her brother Alistair have kindly donated many items from the iconic jewellers shop to the local Heritage Centre. Included amongst those items were account books kept by Albert in which he recorded watch and jewellery items left in for repair. Looking through some of those earlier books, I came across names once very familiar in Athy. Names such as Miss Dallon and Mr. Hickey of Emily Square, Miss Breen of Offaly Street and Miss Stynes of Leinster Street prompted reminders of persons we knew over half a century ago. Another interesting item donated was a watch rack hanging with watches which had been left in for repairs over the years but never collected. An unusual item I received on behalf of the Heritage Centre was a trout caught by Albert in the River Barrow which he had preserved and mounted for display in the shop. That fish was recognised by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee as a specimen river trout having weighed 5lbs ½ oz and was recorded in the Associations returns for 1963 as having been caught by A. A. Duthie on the 27th May 1963. An interesting note which Albert prepared as a member of Athy’s Angling Club during 1964 gave the following details of fish caught by club members. Tommy Gray of Kilmoroney caught a Pike weighing 10lbs while Patrick Brennan of Belview captured a Bream weighing 3lbs, 7oz. A trout of 3lbs, 1oz was caught by Patrick Conway of Ballyroe and George Chatfield of St. Joseph’s Terrace caught the largest perch weighed 1lb, 7oz. The final entry referred to the 1lb rudd which was caught by Nicholas Cahill of Pairc Bhride. Albert Duthie was a dedicated member of the Angling Club and acted as Secretary of the Club for many years. In one of the watch repair books, I found a postcard advertising “St. John’s Reliance Lever Watch” printed on behalf of C.H. St. John of 3 Duke Street who was described as a Watchmaker, Jeweller and Optician. The 1913 Irish Directory lists the local watchmakers and jewellers as W.T. Duthie, W.P. St. John and E. Higginson, the last two located in Duke Street. As Charles Henry St. John of Duke Street died in 1947 aged 73 years, I wonder if the Directory reference to Higginson is correct. The items generously donated by the Duthie family to the Heritage Centre will be retained for future use/display while the business records will be forwarded to the Kildare County Archives. The photograph shows W.T. Duthie, Albert’s father who put his name over the shop door after he took over from W. O’Connor in 1905.

South Kildare Agricultural Progress 1861 / Patrick McCaffrey, Athy man executed 1861

I am an inveterate reader of our daily national papers. I have put this lifelong habit to good effect when mining the archives of newspapers for those historical titbits which often slip through the cracks of our town’s history. Lately I have been delving into the online digital archives of The Times newspaper of London. In The Times issue of 3rd September 1861 it’s special correspondent was reporting from Athy that August under the title ‘Ireland’s Agricultural Progress’. The anonymous writer gave a detailed account of farming activity in south Kildare and particularly agricultural activity around Athy. He paid particular attention to the lands owned by the Duke of Leinster who he described as having somewhere in and around seventy thousand acres in his ownership. Describing Athy as the ‘corn market and livestock mart of southern Kildare’ he noted it held an agricultural fair almost every six weeks, with a showing of between two thousand and three thousand head of cattle and many sheep. He noted the impact of the Scottish farming settlers brought over by the Duke of Leinster and their effect on the farming practices in the area. He wrote: ‘When Mr. Alexander, the Duke’s steward came, seventeen years ago, not a single cow or bullock was stall fed in winter in this district; now, the Irish farmers, like the settlers, universally practice turnip growing and stall feeding, even the man with only two milch cows being sure to tie one up and fatten her when milked dry.’ As to agricultural labourers in the area he found wages as being very low where men were paid three shillings a day for mowing and up to four to five shillings for urgent work, while women were paid one shilling and six pence for tying corn. The hours of labour were from six o’clock in the morning to six o’clock in the evening, with an hours rest at breakfast and another at dinner time. The chief diet, of the agricultural peasantry, was coarse wheaten bread and potatoes. It is clear that only a few short years after the famine had devastated the county, that life as an agricultural labourer was still tough and a driving force in seeing so many emigrate to both Britain and America. One such emigrant was Patrick McCaffery, and his short and sad life was the subject of a detailed report in the issue of The Times of 13th January 1862. He was born in Athy but his life story prior to his appearance in The Times is not entirely clear, but no doubt he and his family, like many others, were drawn to the industrial heartlands of Britain. Before enlisting in the Army he spent 18 months working in the cotton mills of Manchester or ‘Cottonopolis’. By 1861 McCaffery was a private soldier in the 32nd Regiment of Foot, stationed in Fulwood Barracks just outside Preston, Lancashire, thirty miles from Manchester. McCaffery’s notoriety arose from an incident on Saturday 14th September 1861 in the barracks. McCaffery shot and killed Colonel Hugh Denis Crofton and also Captain John Hanham. The incident appeared to have arisen from a dispute that McCaffery had with his captain whom he clearly intended to hurt or kill, while at the same time accidentally killing the colonel. His trial received significant coverage in both British and Irish papers of the time. McCaffery was represented by the barrister Charles Russell, later Baron Russell of Killowen, a native Irishman who would later distinguish himself in the Home Rule movement as a Member of Parliament in Westminster. Russell later represented Charles Stewart Parnell at the Parnell Commission hearings in 1888-1889. His participation in the tribunal, including an eight-day speech in defence of Parnell was crucial to exposing the forgeries of the fraudster Richard Pigot. But the outcome of the trial was never in dispute and McCaffery was hung at Kirkdale Gaol, Preston in front of a reported crowd of 30,000 people. While McCaffery’s life was short and his ending brutal, the story inspired a folk song which in it’s various iterations has been recorded by a succession of folk singers including Ewan McColl and the Dubliners. It clearly had a resonance down through the centuries and was often sung to the air of ‘The Croppy Boy’. It is a lament for a short life ending in violence replete with regret: ‘At Liverpool Assizes my trial I stood And I held my courage as best I could Then the old judge said, Now, McCaffery Go prepare your soul for eternity I had no father to take my part No loving mother to break her heart I had one friend and a girl was she Who'd lay down her life for McCaffery So come all you officers take advice from me And go treat your men with some decency For it's only lies and a tyranny That have made a murderer of McCaffery’