Downpatrick Head, near Ballycastle on the north coast of County Mayo, is one of the most fascinating heritage sites in Ireland. Rising to 38metres from the sea, it is a Signature Discovery Point on the Wild Atlantic Way. It is renowned for its spectacular sea stack, known as Dún Briste, ‘the broken fortress’, which broke from the mainland in 1393 in some natural cataclysm caused by the wild Atlantic waves. The sea stack, with its myriad layers of rock about 228m from the shore, once measured 63m by 23m, but further erosion has taken place in recent years. It was once the site of a promontory fort, one erected during the Iron Age, 600 BC to AD 444, with large earthen banks or stone ramparts on a natural coastal site. The headland is named after St Patrick, who is said to have founded a church there, and who is reputed to have had a big association with north Mayo. The ruin of an early church (possibly a successor of a still earlier church) can be seen there, as well as a holy well and a statue of St Patrick.

  The headland was once a place of pilgrimage on Garland Sunday (the last Sunday of July). The name of the headland, in Irish Ceann Dhún Pádraig, Patrick’s headland fortress, comes from St Patrick and from the promontory fort on Dún Briste. On the east side of the headland there are the remains of a smaller promontory fort. The headland has an underground cavern with open crevices and a blow-hole with a subterranean channel to the Atlantic Ocean. A sensitive architectural and landscape installation, known as The Crossing, was erected as a safety installation there from 24 June to 4 July 2014 by Travis Price and architectural students on the Spirit of Place Programme from the Catholic University of America, Washington DC, in co-operation with local landowners and Mayo County Council. Twenty-five local people lost their lives there while hiding in the aftermath of the defeat of the French/Irish at Ballinamuck in 1798.

  The location provides great views of the Atlantic Ocean and the fascinating Belderg cliffs. There is an observation hut, or lookout post, from the Second World War there, built to help guard the coast of neutral Ireland. Each such hut had a unique number, the one on Downpatrick Head being number 64. The country’s name, ÉIRE, was laid out nearby with white flagstones to warn approaching aircraft of the State’s neutrality. There are great views on the horizon from Downpatrick Head as far away as the mountains of Sligo and Donegal. The cliffs are a natural haven for wildlife, especially nesting sea birds. Visitors are warned by a notice at the carpark that they are entering at their own risk, as the area is dangerous with blow-holes, subsidence and eroding cliffs. This is in an area of great scenic beauty and interest, but extremely dangerous and should be treated with caution

One of the most popular plays ever staged in the west of Ireland was The Country Boy by John Murphy from 1959, chiefly by Charlestown Theatre Group and produced by a doyen in local amateur dramatic circles, Paddy Henry. The play had many resonances which were familiar in the west of Ireland at the time. Located near Castlebar in County Mayo in the late fifties, The Country Boy is based on the theme of emigration and its effects on those who went and on those who stayed, with the dreams, thoughts and fears as seen from both sides of the Atlantic over two generations. The plot centres around the family of Tom Maher and his wife, Mary Kate, who farm a small holding. They have two sons, Eddie and Curly. Eddie has just arrived back from the USA after fifteen years, with his American-born wife, Julia, and is hailed as a paragon of success. Curly, 25, now wants to follow Eddie to America, chiefly to escape from the stultifying influence of his obdurate, dominating, and uncommunicative father. After a short time, the initial boasting of their success by Eddie and Julia gives away to exchanges which show a troubled marriage and that their real lifestyle, of hardship, alcoholism, and numerous regrets, is far from what they led their family in Ireland to believe. As a result, Eddie does not want Curly to follow in his footsteps and tries to convince him that he would be far better off to remain at home. Curly has a girlfriend, Eileen Tierney, and is torn between his love of her and his desire to escape to a new life. Tom Maher, a product of his time, place, and circumstances, has inevitably to accept change. It results in a happy ending, but with a final revealing comment from the aging patriarch. Eventually Curly and Eileen agree to marry and stay at home. He informs his parents of the news and that the wedding will take place on Monday… three weeks. His father, Tom, responds:

“Monday, three weeks (slowly something dawns on him and he turns back into the kitchen, his face a mixture of pain and frustration), well wouldn’t you swear he does it to me on purpose. Monday, three weeks! The bloody fair-day in Castlebar!”

  John Murphy (1924-1998) was born in Bellaghy, Charlestown, County Mayo. As a youth, he was a member of the Charlestown Dramatic Society. Like so many young men and women of his generation he was forced to leave and seek employment in England. After some time in England, he went to Belfast, working as a ship engineer for a company based in Rugby. There, he regularly attended plays staged by the Ulster Group Theatre. He wrote The Country Boy in Belfast in 1958. Its first production was by the Ulster Group Theatre in Belfast on April 7, 1959, followed by a month later by the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on May 11. It proved to be a great success. After attempting to secure employment in RTÉ, John Murphy became disillusioned with Ireland and, after marrying Kathleen Rodgers from Sonnagh, Charlestown, they left the country, settling for a few years in England before emigrating to Los Angeles. He worked as a lighting technician and engineer in Hollywood for Disney, Paramount and 20^th Century Fox. He started another play, “The Man from Ballybeg”, but it was not published or produced. John Murphy came to Charlestown in September 1996 to see the local Dramatic Society unveil a plaque on the house in Bellaghy where he was born. (Thanks to Paddy Henry, I had the pleasure of meeting him on that occasion). John Murphy died in Los Angeles on May 31, 1998, and his ashes were buried on the side of Nephin Mountain in County Mayo at his request.

       James Daly (1836–1911) has been described by historian Joseph Lee as ‘the most undeservedly forgotten man in Irish history’ in his book The Modernisation of Irish Society 1845-1918 (1979, pp.69/70).  He had a big role in the land agitation that started in the west of Ireland in the late 1870s, which led to the formation of the Land League and eventually to tenant farmers becoming owner-occupiers of their holdings within a generation.

       A native of Boghadoon in the parish of Addergoole in north Mayo, James Daly inherited a large holding of land on the Palmer estate from his father.  He was educated locally and at the Franciscan Friary at Errew, near Castlebar. With Alfred O’Hea, he purchased the then Mayo Telegraph newspaper in February 1876, and changed its name to the Connaught Telegraph.  Due to illness, O’Hea sold his share of the newspaper to Daly in January 1879.  A strong nationalist, a town commissioner and Poor Law Guardian, James Daly served as secretary of the Mayo Tenants’ Defence Association from 1878, and became a tireless constitutional champion of agrarian reform. Under his editorship, the Connaught Telegraph became the most important newspaper in the country for articulating the grievances of tenant-farmers and social conditions in general in the west of Ireland.  Despite his large farming interests, James Daly was a big supporter of those with small holdings.

         Some tenants on an estate near Irishtown, County Mayo, who were under threat of eviction in January 1879, met James Daly, and asked him to publish their grievances in the Connaught Telegraph.  He rejected their request, in fear of libel action, but advised them to hold a public meeting to ventilate tenant grievances in general, as well as demanding a reduction in their rents.  A meeting was held in February 1879 in Claremorris attended by James Daly, Michael Davitt and others at which arrangements were made for a demonstration to be held at Irishtown on Sunday April 20, 1879.   The Irishtown meeting, which was attended by a large crowd and chaired by James Daly, ignited the flame that was to change the face of rural Ireland. The eviction notices were withdrawn and the rent was reduced by twenty-five per cent. The next big meeting took place in Westport on June 8, 1978, again chaired by James Daly, at which both Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt spoke.  All such land meetings were well publicised in the Connaught Telegraph.  The National Land League of Mayo was established on August 16 ,1879, in James Daly’s Hotel in Castlebar.  This evolved into the Irish National Land League, which was established in Dublin on October 21 1879, with Parnell as President and Michael Davitt, its organiser-in-chief, one of the secretaries.  After becoming a member of its central committee, it is said that James Daly addressed over a hundred Land League meetings.  He, Michael Davitt and James Killen were arrested for alleged seditious speeches on November 19, 1879, at Gurteen, County Sligo and sent to Sligo Jail, but the trial against them later collapsed.  The Land War lasted from 1879 to 1882. After the introduction of the Coercion Act in 1881, James Daly was arrested and spent five weeks in Galway Jail.

         The pioneering work of James Daly in ventilating the grievances of tenant-farmers in the Connaught Telegraph created hope that the system could be changed.  His major roles as secretary of the Mayo Tenants’ Defence Association from 1878, in organising and chairing the important meetings in Irishtown and Westport, in his influential evidence to the Bessborough Commission in 1880, which led to major changes in the 1881 Land Act, as well as his involvement in the Land League campaign deserve special recognition.  However, it was Michael Davitt who recognised the potential of the local agitation in the west of Ireland to change the landlord system.  It was his vision, organising genius, and networking skills which transformed this local protest in Mayo into a county movement and later into a national one with the immediate goal of protecting the rights of tenants and the ultimate radical objective of replacing the landlords with tenant-owners within the law.

         A rift developed within the Land League, and James Daly felt that it had deserted the social group for which it was founded, and left the organisation. In 1888, he sold his newspaper to Thomas Gillespie, who had managed the paper for him, and became a full-time farmer. He was elected as a Castlebar Town Commissioner and from 1899 as a member of Castlebar Urban District Council. He supported the United Irish League after its establishment in 1898 campaigning for the redistribution of large ranches to small farmers. James Daly died in January 1911 and is buried in the new cemetery in Castlebar.

A woman  and a lighthouse on the north-west coast of County Mayo in the West of Ireland had a huge and unexpected role on the outcome of the Second World War. The weather-monitoring unit at Blacksod Bay Lighthouse, at the southern end of the Mullet Peninsula, had a big influence on the D-Day landings in Normandy, in France, on June 6, 1944.   At that time during the Second World War, most of France was occupied by Hitler’s German army. Weather forecasts from Blacksod Lighthouse on June 3, which had to be repeated three times, showed a sharp drop in atmospheric pressure and the arrival of a storm. They were taken by Maureen Flavin, on her twenty-first birthday, for Ted Sweeney, the lighthouse keeper at Blacksod, the man she would later marry.   A native of Knockanure, County Kerry, Maureen came to Blacksod to work in the local post office. The forecasts were relayed to the UK Meteorological Office in Dunstable, north of London, and carefully considered by the Allied Command.  The readings showed a storm coming over the Atlantic to arrive in Normandy on June 5.  Plans were underway for the biggest seabound invasion in world history on Monday June 5 at full moon and low tide, depending, however, on the weather. Partly because of the adverse weather forecast sent by Edward Sweeney (1906-2001) from Blacksod, the landing did not take place on June 5 as planned.  General Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied cross Channel invasion of the European mainland, considered the opposing weather forecasts from the UK and USA weather forecasters. Good weather was required for the landings and the necessary back-up air support.  Eisenhower took the weather forecast received from County Mayo and decided to delay one of the biggest and important military seaborne operations in world history by one day, when the weather forecast showed a short window as an opportunity. The Normandy landings, known as ‘Operation Overlord’, took place on June 6 1944 on several beaches in Normandy, and their success, together with the heroic role of the Russians in the east, paved the way for the liberation of Europe. 

            Maureen celebrated her hundred birthday in June 2023. In June 2021, the US House of Representatives presented Maureen Sweeney with a special award to recall her special role in world history. Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland, in a letter to her in July 2021 wrote: “Yours is such a story and your legacy a most important and enduring one. Your actions so long ago in Blacksod Bay have had a significant influence on the journey that has brought the world to this contemporary moment”.

       County Mayo, in the west of Ireland, stretches from Lough Corrib and the long fjord of Killary Harbour in the south to Killala Bay and Erris in the North, and from Achill Island, Clew Bay and the Mullet peninsula in the west to the counties of Sligo and Roscommon on the east.   It has astonishing scenery, with an unspoilt natural environment, where people have lived in harmony with their surroundings for over 6,000 years. The natural beauty of the green countryside and varied landscape, with mountains, lakes and rivers, is a dream for lovers of nature. Each vista has its own special delight.

       Its coastline, the longest of any Irish county, has three major bays: Clew Bay, Blacksod and Killala. The landscape varies from the relatively flat carboniferous limestone terrain in East Mayo, through a chain of beautiful lakes down the middle of the county from north to south:  Lough Conn, Lough Cullin, Lough Carra, Lough Mask, and the northern section of Lough Corrib, all renowned for their game fishing, to the quartzite peaks along the indented Atlantic coast, where there are cliffs interspersed with pristine sandy beaches.  The cliffs have some of the oldest rocks in the country to delight geological enthusiasts. Large tracts of blanket bog in North Mayo contrast with the mountains of South Mayo, and illustrate the diversity of topographical features that characterise the county, varying from valley to valley.   Mweelrea (817m), the highest mountain in Connacht, situated just north of Killary Harbour, is the start of a charming mountain range: Ben Gorm, Ben Creggan, the Sheeffry Hills, Maumtrasna and the Partry Mountains. This area has some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.

      Further north, the landscape is dominated by Croagh Patrick, where for a thousand years and more, thousands of pilgrims annually have worn a path to the summit. The view from the top is enchanting on a clear day; the islands of Inishturk and Inishbofin rise out of the pounding Atlantic waves on the southwest, with Clare Island on the northwest, the drumlin-studded Clew Bay to the north, and Achill Island in the background.  There are spectacular sea cliffs on Achill Island.  The Nephin Beg range of mountains lies north of Clew Bay, with peaks of Nephin Beg (627m), Slieve Carr (722m), Glennamong (628m) and Nephin (806m), giving way further north to a large area of blanket bog.  South of Ballina, the River Moy (100km from its source in the Ox mountain range in County Sligo to Killala Bay) forms a fertile valley around the western end of the Ox Mountains in County Mayo.  There is a drumlin area between Lough Conn and Lough Mask and westwards to Clew Bay. Spectacular sea-cliffs can be enjoyed along the North Mayo coastline, especially between Benwee Head and Downpatrick Head, and several sandy beaches all the way along the indented shoreline to Enishcrone (alias Inniscrone) in County Sligo.

          If Monsignor James Horan, parish priest of Knock from 1967 to 1986, were alive today, he would be delighted to see his dream being realised with the success Ireland West Airport. The airport received considerable publicity on April 14, 2023, when President Joe Biden arrived and departed from there on his visit to County Mayo.  The airport also welcomed two pontiffs, John Paul 11 on September 30, 1979 and Pope Francis on August 26, 2018.  It is going from strength and strength and expects to carry about 850,000 passengers in 2023.

          Overcoming numerous obstacles, the airport was built after a long and controversial campaign under the leadership of Monsignor James Horan, on schedule and within budget.  James Horan was born on  May 5, 1911 in the townland of Tooreen in Partry, County Mayo, the son of Bartley and Catherine Horan, née Casey.  After his education at Partry National School, St Jarlath’s College, Tuam, and St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, he was ordained in 1936.  After serving for a number of years in the diocese of Glasgow, he returned to his native diocese of Tuam and worked in Ballyglunin, Tiernea and Lettermullen in County Galway, and Tooreen, County Mayo (where he built a popular dancehall), Cloonfad, County Galway, before his appointment to Knock in 1963, first as curate and parish priest in 1967.  In co-operation with Mayo County Council, he had a development plan prepared for the village, which was implemented over the following years.  His big achievement there was the erection of the new church in 1976, which was later designated the Basilica of Our Lady, Queen of Ireland.  He also oversaw the refurbishment of the Shrine of the 1879 Apparition Gable, the building of hostels for the sick, St Joseph’s Rest Home for residential invalids, a Rest and Care facility, a new confessional chapel, a processional square, and a museum.  His work also ensured that the area around the shrine was landscaped and generous provision made for car parking, as well as arranging for Mayo County Council to make huge improvements in the local village.

           Father James Horan asked the Irish hierarchy to invite Pope John Paul II to visit Knock for the centenary of the apparition, and had the pleasure in welcoming the Pope to Knock Shrine on September  30, 1979. The Pope said in his homily that day: ‘Here I am at the goal of my journey to Ireland, the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock’.  The Pope elevated the new church in Knock to the status of a basilica and promoted James Horan to the rank of Monsignor. Monsignor James Horan, who was chosen as Mayo Person of the Year in 1984, died suddenly on  August1, 1986 on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.  He was buried four days later beside Knock Basilica.         

           Monsignor Horan was totally committed to the development of the west of Ireland and his big project was the erection of an international airport, with the help of a small group of committed friends. They moved quickly to secure an option on about hectares of land from 27 local farmers.   After approval of the project, a new government, facing a crisis in national finances, withdrew support after a commitment of £9.6m. Monsignor Horan and his supporters had to overcome numerous obstacles, and raised nearly four million pounds in private subscriptions in the west of Ireland, the USA and Australia to complete the airport.  This was a huge undertaking by a small group of people on a voluntary basis. However, after Trojan work, the airport was completed and officially opened by Charles J Haughey on Friday May 30, 1986.    The story of the origin and building of the airport as well as the people involved is told by Terry Reilly in his book On a Wing and a Prayer: the Story of Knock Airport, now known as Ireland Airport Knock (2006).  It also inspired a song by Christy Moore, and a musical, On a Wing and a Prayer, directed by Tommy Marren of MidWest Radio in collaboration with Terry Reilly in 2010.

       Situated 5.6km SW of Charlestown and 20km from Knock, Ireland West Airport Knock is an international airport and the gateway to the west, north–west and midlands regions of Ireland. It was first used on October 25, 1985, for three Aer Lingus charter flights to Rome. In 2006, its name was re-branded to Ireland-West Airport, Knock. Passengers like the convenience, value, parking facilities and hassle-free nature of using Ireland West Airport Knock. It is a major amenity for the west and midlands of Ireland, and recent growth, after a very severe recession and COVID-19, is very impressive. (www.irelandwestairport.com )

           This year 2023, Ballina, in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, is celebrating the tercentenary of its foundation.   The town made world headlines on Friday April 14, 2023, when the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, visited the ancestral homeplace of his great, great, great grandfather, who emigrated from there to the USA in the 1850s. He had visited the town as Vice-President of the USA in June 2016.        

           From the early fifteenth century onwards, a small settlement developed around the friary on the east side of the River Moy, but the modern town of Ballina was founded in 1723 by James O’Hara, second Baron Tyrawley (1682-1774).  James was a member of the O’Hara family from Annaghmore, County Sligo.  Their support for the Crown was rewarded with the title Baron Tyrawley in 1706.  The founder of Ballina built the first street, on which he set up a linen mill.  After establishing a colony of weavers from Ulster, he secured a patent for a weekly market and a fair. Ballina quickly developed into an important commercial town and small seaport.   A military barracks was erected in 1740, followed by two bridges over the River Moy. The town was briefly captured by General Humbert and his Franco-Irish forces in 1798.

          Ballina (Béal an Ātha, ‘the mouth of the ford’) is now a busy industrial, commercial and tourist town at the mouth of the River Moy, and a gateway to north Mayo.   Originally called Belleek according to Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary (1837), it is the cathedral town of the Catholic diocese of Killala.  St Muredach’s Cathedral (1827-1834), overlooking the River Moy, was designed in the Neo-Gothic style by Dominick Madden.  The spire was erected in 1858.  Ballina is a renowned angling centre, the ‘salmon capital of the world’, with excellent river, sea and lake waters nearby.  The Ridge Pool in the town, about 275m from the head of the tidal waters at the fish traps to Ham Bridge, is the most famous beat for salmon angling in Ireland.  Belleek Woods, on the west bank of the River Moy, are a delightful haven for relaxation, exercise and leisure, with walking, cycling, and nature trails. The quay and marina are also big attractions.

              The principal local landlord family, the Knox-Gores, had a big role in the development of the town.  Investment during the early nineteenth century led to the construction of roads, the quay and two new bridges over the Moy, the five-arched Ham Bridge erected in 1836 and the lower one built by Armstrong and West in 1835.  Other developments from this period included the port, the courthouse and the cathedral as well as several new houses. Belleek Manor was designed by the Dublin architect John Benjamin Keane (d.1859) in the Neo-Gothic style and erected between 1825 and 1831 as the opulent residence of the Knox-Gore family. 

           The Jackie Clarke Collection, which was opened to the public in Ballina on 15 June 2013, contains an amazing accumulation of more than 100,000 items relating to Irish history over four centuries, especially the struggle for freedom. It was assembled over a lifetime by Ballina businessman and politician, Jackie Clarke (1927-2000), and gifted in perpetuity to Mayo County Council and the Irish State by his widow, Anne, in 2005.  Jackie Clarke served as a councillor on Ballina Town Council from 1957 to 1974 and held the office of cathaoirleach in 1960 and 1968.  He attended antiquarian and second-hand book sales in Ireland and abroad, purchasing Irish historical books, maps and documents. The collection is housed in a former Provincial Bank on Pearse Street.  Now a listed building, it was designed by Thomas Newenham Deane in the 1880s, and acquired by Mayo County Council.  It was completely renovated and refurbished to store and exhibit the Clarke Collection.

        The town will soon have another major attraction, the Mary Robinson Centre, which has been developed in her childhood home to celebrate the extraordinary career of the first woman to become President of Ireland, 1990-1997. The main themes explored there are human rights and climate issues.

 For more information on the year see www.Ballina2023.ie

        The medals of the late Mayo All-Ireland winning footballer Dr Pádraig Carney were presented to the county by his son, Cormac, on Wednesday 26 April in the Library and Cultural Centre in Swinford,  where they will be displayed. A photographic exhibition there will showcase his career as a Mayo footballer. Cormac Carney, Pádraig youngest son, said:“ my siblings and I are delighted that our father’s medals  will return home to Mayo for all to see”. Bernard 0’Hara, a good friend of Padráig’s for over 40 years, said that he “is delighted with the foresight and generosity of the Carney family to keep their father’s medal collection together in the town where he grew up”.

         Pádraig Carney, ‘The Flying Doctor’ who passed away in Southern California on 8 June 2019 at the age of 91, was perhaps Mayo’s best ever Gaelic footballer, in my opinion the greatest, and one of the all-time greats in the history of the game.  He wore the green and red senior jersey of Mayo with distinction from the age of seventeen in 1945 until his emigration at his prime in March 1954 at the age of twenty-six.   After qualifying as a doctor in 1951, Pádraig married Wexford-born Moira McCabe, a member of his UCD medical class, on 14 October 1953, and he was as determined to succeed in medicine as he had on the football field.  Their decision to emigrate caused consternation in the county and shock throughout the country. The 1950s Ireland was a decade with few opportunities and massive emigration. Mayo had qualified for the National Football League semi-final prior to Pádraig’s emigration and the Mayo County Board brought him back from New York for that game against the favourites Dublin on 25 April 1954.  After completing a day’s work on Friday evening, he left New York for the then twelve-hour flight to Dublin. He captained Mayo the following Sunday to a thrilling 0-11 to 0-7 victory, scoring seven points. It was his finest hour in the green and red and he was once again ‘sports star of the week’. Micheál Ó Hehir, the wonderful commentator, immortalised Pádraig that day as ‘The Flying Doctor’. Pádraig was brought back again for the 1954 League final, where he once again led Mayo to victory.   Mayo County Board told him that they could win the 1954 Connacht championship without him to save money, but that they would bring him home for the All-Ireland semi-final and final, such belief.  However, Galway and the great Séan Purcell had other ideas and they defeated Mayo in the Connacht semi-final. That was the end to his football career with Mayo. We can never forget the joy that Mayo team of the late 1940s and early 1950s brought to the people of this county during a very bleak period in its history.

       Pádraig Carney won every honour in Gaelic football: two All-Ireland back-to-back senior football medals in 1950 and 1951, four Connacht senior medals 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951, two National League medals 1949 and 1954 and one Connacht Minor, 1946.  In addition, he won three Sigerson Cup medals with UCD in 1945/46, 1947/48 and 1949/50 and was captain in 1947-48. After playing for the Combined Universities in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951, he was selected for the Rest of Ireland against the Combined Universities in 1952 and 1953.  He won a Railway Cup medal with Connacht in 1951, as well as two Mayo senior football championship medals with Castlebar Mitchels in 1951 and 1952 (while working in the County Hospital) and a junior championship medal with Charlestown Sarsfields in 1953 (while serving as a doctor in Charlestown).  

      Pádraig Carney was not selected on the team of the century, or the team of the millennium; in both cases he was nominated against Seán Purcell (1928-2005) at centre forward and because of the latter’s long and distinguished record there was only going to be one winner there. With all players on the millennium team included in the newly established GAA Hall of Fame in 2000, Pádraig Carney was nominated to the GAA Hall of Fame in 2001, the first year two new players were to be nominated each year (the other nominee was Jack O’Shea of Kerry).  This indicates how close he was to selection on the team of the millennium, and the result would be the same regardless of who was nominated against Seán Purcell.  A postage stamp (30p/38c) was issued in Pádraig’s honour on 5 September that year. He was selected at centre-field on the Connacht team of the Century in 2000, when all positions were keenly contested except for centre-forward where there was only one sole nominee, Seán Purcell of Galway, who was widely regarded as the best player of the twentieth century. Pádraig Carney was selected on the Sigerson Cup (for universities) team of the Century in 2011 (the only other Mayo player selected was Seán Flanagan). He was inducted into the Western People Hall of Fame in February 2005. The above is an incredible list of football achievements for a career that ended at the age of twenty-six.

        Pádraig Carney was outstanding in most games, and really excelled in many, including the 1948 Connacht final replay against Galway. He was playing centre-field against his great rival, Séan Purcell, which many people regard as the two greatest displays ever seen on a football field in Connacht. Pádraig Carney scored nine points that day in Mayo’s 2-10 to 2-7 victory.  James Laffey in his excellent book, The Road to 51: The Making of Mayo Football, stated:

“The Swinford man was still only 20 and knowledgeable football men in the county were already saying they had never seen anything like him…. The nine-point salvo in the Connacht final replay propelled Carney’s burgeoning reputation through the stratosphere. The finest young footballer in the country had been revealed in all his splendour. And he was wearing a Mayo jersey. The famine of the Forties was officially over.“

Seán Flanagan, captain of the Mayo 1950/51 team, in a tribute in 1979 said:

“Pádraig Carney was gifted, fearless and at his best majestic. He combined great strength with the most delicate touch and gained more possession than any of his contemporaries. Of his greatness there is not and never will be any doubt and he is deservedly a legend!”

 Bernard O’Hara said:

“It is wonderful to have the medal collection of this football legend in Swinford. I would like to compliment Cormac Carney and his siblings, Brian, Terence and Sheila, and all ten grandchildren in the next generation, for their foresight to keep all Pádraig’s medals together and for their generosity in presenting them to County Mayo. It is an act of exceptional generosity having regard for the esteem in which he is held by his own family.  It has been decided to place the medals with a photographic collection in Swinford Library, in the town where Pádraig grew up. Here they will be treasured as long as Gaelic football is revered in this county, and, hopefully, that will be forever.”

     A new Primary School Curriculum Framework was launched in Ireland on March 9, 2023, by the Minister for Education, Norma Foley. Developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) after several years of consultation, it sets out ‘an overarching vision’, principles and components for the new curriculum, designed to prepare pupils to adapt in a rapidly changing world with digital technology, artificial intelligence, climate challenges, and continuous change. Work is underway to develop the specific content, but no date has been announced for its full implementation.

     It builds on the current curriculum introduced from 1999, which has six main areas: languages (English and Irish), mathematics, social, environmental and scientific education, arts education, physical education, social, personal and health education.  That curriculum is designed to develop a pupil’s ability to learn independently, to question, think critically, solve problems and  develop good inter-personal skills. There is a big emphasis on doing.  It emphasises numeracy and literacy, as well as science, technology, citizenship, social, personal and health education.  A new religious education programme is also provided.  The White Paper on Education, Charting Our Education Future (1995) enunciated State policy in relation to primary education:

Each child is entitled to an education and learning environment, which facilitates the nurturing of her/his educational potential, in all its richness and diversity. All schools should aim to create such an environment for their students, to the greatest extent possible. The school environment should be a caring one, in which each child’s right to a joyful and safe childhood is guaranteed at all times.

 It went on to state that the curriculum is based on the following principles in accordance with this child-centred approach:

• The full and harmonious development of the child, with due allowance made for individual differences;
• The central importance of activity and guided-discovery learning and teaching methods,
• Teaching and learning through an integrated curriculum and through activities related to the child’s environment.

    The proposed new framework has five broad areas: a language in addition to English and Irish; science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM); wellbeing; arts education, social and environmental education.  The major changes are the introduction of a language  in addition to English and Irish for an hour a week from third class, and an increased emphasis placed on STEM subjects with three hours per week in the junior years to four hours from third class.  The proposed curriculum also aims to aid pupils wellbeing, and support their social, emotional, and physical development, as well as the promotion of active citizenship. Religion is changed to ‘religion, ethical and multi-faith education’, to provide pupils with a wider perspective on faith beliefs.

       Education and training for all walks of life are now a life-long process, ‘a journey and not a destination’. While qualifications can be passports to various occupations and careers, competence and high performance require continuous learning.   Learning is not confined to formal schooling: it is a continuous process from a wide range of sources, family, peers, general social interaction which is important for emotional intelligence, the media in general, social media, libraries, the internet and personal life experiences.

      A good primary education is very important for everyone as it lays the foundation for future development. A positive interaction between teachers and students, in a spirit of love, mutual respect, wonderment and exploration, has a huge influence on young lives.  The objective now is the creation of a joyful, carefree, and enriching educational experience, which fosters a love of learning, self-esteem, wellbeing, imagination, creativity, and high expectations, thus facilitating the holistic development of the potential of all pupils and preparing them to become productive, participative and responsible members of society.