A New Political Party

For some time past there has been much chatter about the need for a new political party in this country. The notion that it will solve all our financial woes is so infantile. I will not insult children, who are very clever, by describing it as childish.

The basic rules of simple arithmetic will always apply. We must use all reasonable means to obtain maximum value from our resources in as efficient and cost-effective a manner as possible. All aspects of our educational structures should be utilized to enable more and more people to avail of the fruits of a productive economy. Thankfully, for some years past, many schools have been promoting a culture of enterprise.

At the present time individuals and groups that have unfortunately been elected to Dail Eireann are spouting simplistic populist cant in order to fool the gullible into thinking that they will cure our financial ills. This is nothing short of criminal.

Lucinda Creighton

Today Lucinda Creighton signalled her intention that she, along with others, will announce the formation of a new political party in this country within the next eight weeks. I wish her well — she has courage. The new party will attract people for a while who still believe that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The one thing that one can be fairly sure of about this grouping is that its leaders will be honest and honourable.

At the present time Dail Eireann is infested with dangerous levels of terrorists and communists. They are expecting to greatly increase their numbers following the next General Election and control the Government. If this ever happened it would be a greater tragedy for this country than a combination of Oliver Cromwell, the famine and the Black and Tans all rolled into one.

The Old Woman of the Roads

At this time of year I feel more grateful than ever to have a house of my own — though humble it may be. It brings to mind a poem I learned in school many years ago which I will quote hereon:-

The Old Woman of the Roads 

Oh to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped-up sods upon the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall! 

To have a clock with weights and chains,
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled with white and blue and brown! 

I could be busy all the day
Cleaning and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on their shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store! 

I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself,
Sure of a bed and loath to leave
The ticking clock and the shining delph! 

Och! but I'm weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there's never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush! 

And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying Him night and day
For a little house—a house of my own—
Out of the wind's and rain's way. 

— Padraic Colum

"If" Final Verse

The following is the final verse of If by Rudyard Kipling:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foe nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

Important Football Win for Cahir

County Tipperary SFC Semi-Final:

Cahir 2-10; Thomas McDonaghs 3-5

In yesterday's Tipperary Senior Football Championship semi-final, Cahir beat Thomas McDonaghs by 2-10 to 3-5. It was important for football in the county that a club like Cahir, which has always promoted Gaelic Football as well as Hurling, should defeat an amalgamation of about seven clubs from North Tipperary who have never shown any interest in Gaelic Football down the years. In the final Cahir will play the great dual club, Loughmore-Castleiney, who beat Aherlow/Lattin-Cullen in the other semi-final.

The saddest part is that the most  important games of the championship are being played over the last four Sundays of the year.

The championship competitions in most grades in the county have been badly run for many years. It is completely wrong to have the Under-21 Hurling Championships, which I consider the best competition of all because it is graded, starting in October as has been happening for some time. Junior B is given greater priority which is ridiculous. The competitions should be structured in such a way that all are completed before the end of October taking into account replays and county team involvement in the All-Ireland Championships.

There are too many meaningless games being played. When the number of participating teams is high, the championships should have teams playing in small groups where even the loss of one game would put pressure on them to stay in contention. The winners of each group should then play off on a knock-out basis. A move away from running championships like leagues should happen. For leagues, the county should be divided into two sections with promotion and relegation between groups. Clubs should not have to travel long distances to play games which would make it unattractive.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

There's music in my heart all day,
I hear it late and early,
It comes from fields are far away,
The wind that shakes the barley.

Above the uplands drenched with dew
The sky hangs soft and pearly,
An emerald world is listening to
The wind that shakes the barley.

Above the bluest mountain crest
The lark is singing rarely,
It rocks the singer into rest,
The wind that shakes the barley.

Oh, still through summers and through springs
It calls me late and early.
Come home, come home, come home it sings
The wind that shakes the barley.

Katherine Tynan

Thanksgiving Day

A national holiday throughout the USA, annually proclaimed by the President and state Governors for general thanksgiving. First celebrated by the Plymouth colony in 1621 after the first harvest in their new home. In 1863 Lincoln proclaimed the fourth or last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1941, F.D. Roosevelt fixed that day by decree. In most states, it is a great family festival, celebrated with turkey dinner cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

Lament for Thomas MacDonagh

He shall not hear the bittern cry
In the wild sky,where he is lain,
Nor voices of the sweeter birds
Above the wailing of the rain.

Nor shall he know when loud March blows
Thro' slanting snows her fanfare shrill,
Blowing to flame the golden cup
Of many an upset daffodil.

But when the Dark Cow leaves the moor
And pastures poor with greedy weeds
Perhaps he'll hear her low at morn,
Lifting her horn in pleasant meads.

Francis Ledwidge