Barbara Sheridan, Retired Editor of Kildare Nationalist

Barbara Sheridan, the Editor of the Kildare Nationalist when that paper first appeared following the separation of the Nationalist and Leinster Times into Carlow, Laois and Kildare editions, retired last week. I first became aware of Barbara, then a young local journalist when I returned to Athy 41 years ago. I wrote a few historical articles which made their appearance in both the Leinster Leader and the Nationalist and Leinster Times. With my election to Athy Urban District Council in 1985 my appearances in the local press became much more frequent. These appearances owed nothing to my penmanship but to Barbara’s acute reporting on Council meetings in the local Council chamber. At those meetings I always sat in the same seat facing the press reporters who overlooked the sunken chamber where the elected representatives and Council officials sat. My choice of seating was determined not by any anxiety on my part to help the press catch my every word but rather by my decision to sit directly opposite Council Paddy Wright. The Sinn Fein Councillor’s words and actions were always likely to create controversy in the Council chamber. I must admit I often ignited the flames of controversy while persistently attacking some might say goading the Sinn Feinner. Reporting on the monthly rows between Paddy and myself gave Barbara the reporter many a good headline. “Orgies held at derelict Athy site said Councillor” was one of many claims made by Paddy who said that the building was owned by the Council chairman, Frank Taaffe. The building according to Paddy was used for “cider parties, orgies and everything”. The pity was I never got invited and never found out what “everything” was. The Council years reported by Barbara Sheridan gave the Nationalist and Leinster Times readers front page headlines such as “Athy UDC row erupts in violence” and “Athy UDC clash ends in walkout”. The offending parties came back for more every month and surprising despite all the rows much good was done during our time on the Council. I stepped down from the Council in 1999 to lead the opposition to the inner relief road and to fight for the outer relief road. The Kildare Nationalist had emerged in 1992 and shortly afterwards Barbara approached me about the possibility of writing a weekly article for the new paper. My first article appeared in September 1992 and that short piece ended with the line “Eye on the past will each week deal with a topic of interest from the history of South Kildare when we will delve into the rich vein of local history which remains to be discovered and related in future articles”. Barbara who started me on the columnist’s journey, which still continues, did me the honour of launching Eye on Athy’s Past Volume III in 2007. She wrote in the foreword of that book how she invited me to contribute a regular column to the Nationalist. The brief she claimed was broad – it was to be something on local history – nothing too serious – and it had to be readable. I thank you Barbara for the opportunity you gave me to tell the story of a town steeped in history and of a people rightly proud of the place we call our own. I call myself a Kilkenny man exiled in Kildare despite having spent the vast majority of my years in the shortgrass county. My early working life was in Naas where I knew Barbara’s father, Brinsley Sheridan as one of the stalwarts of the Moat Club. My first and only appearance on stage was in a play put on by a newly formed county council drama group. The play was performed in Naas and Caragh sometime in the early 1960’s and Brinsley Sheridan was the stage manager and set designer for that play. His daughter, Barbara continues the family connection with the Moat Club in Naas this time as a director. Congratulations and best wishes to Barbara on her retirement. This auld fella will continue on the road Barbara opened up for him for another while.