Brendan Drumm

By Niall Hunter-Editor

Confirmation is expected shortly that consultant peadiatrician Prof Brendan Drumm is to take over as Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive, where he will be responsible for running the health service and its 90,000 plus staff on a day-to-day basis.

While the Department of Health has now accepted the HSE’s recommendation that Prof Drumm (48) be given the crucial post, his formal acceptance of the post has yet to be announced, but should be confirmed shortly following discussions on a remuneration package and some administrative matters.

It is though unlikely at this stage that the successful candidate will turn down the job offer at the last minute, as happened with Dr Aidan Halligan last year and which left the health service in some uncertainty as the administrative reform process began.

Seen as a dynamic figure, Brendan Drumm has extensive clinical, academic and research experience, and has in the past been outspoken on the provision of adequate hospital resources. While he has no 'macro' administrative experience, he did chair Comhairle na nOspideal, the consultant post regulatory body, for five years, and has administrative experience at clinical and academic levels.

Brendan Drumm (48) was born in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, and subsequently attended Summerhill College, Sligo, and University College Galway, where he was conferred with a medical degree 1979. In 1981, he started his postgraduate clinical training at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, one of the world's most prestigious children’s hospitals. He was subsequently appointed consultant paediatric gastroenterologist at the hospital and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. In 1989 he returned to Ireland and was appointed consultant paediatrician at the Regional Hospital, Limerick.

In 1991 he was appointed Professor and head of the department of paediatrics at University College Dublin (UCD) and consultant paediatric gastroenterologist at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin. Occupying these senior clinical and academic positions, both in Canada and Ireland, has, many believe, provided Professor Drumm with a good insight into the Irish health system, from the delivery of patient care, staff training and research through to service and organisational management.

As Professor of Paediatrics at UCD he has been responsible for paediatric training for all medical students passing through the university during the past 14 years. He has also had a major input into undergraduate medical teaching and the development of the faculty of medicine at UCD. Given the number of graduates he has come in contact with over the years, and his clinical and research expertise, Professor Drumm is very well known among medical practitioners and clinicians around the country.

Between 1995 and 2000, he was Chairman of Comhairle na hospital, the statutory body responsible for regulating consultant appointments in the public sector and advising the Minister and health agencies on the organisation of hospital services nationally. This position will have given him a good knowledge of the workings of the health service on a national basis and, indeed of the politics of service organisaiton and development

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Patrick Devaney-Author

Patrick Devaney grew up on a farm in County Roscommon and attended Woodbrook National School and the Presentation Brothers in Carrick-on-Shannon before going as a boarder to Summerhill College, Sligo. From an early age he enjoyed drawing birds, fish and butterflies, an activity that was encouraged by his mother. While in Summerhill he would occasionally write ballads and humorous verses to amuse his classmates, then one day he wrote a poem, ‘Night in the Country’, which was published in the Sligo Champion. The desire to be a writer was born. After leaving Summerhill he studied Civil Engineering in University College Galway, where his interest in art and poetry competed with his dreams of building roads and bridges in Africa. After the death of his father he emigrated to New York. While working as an electrical draughtsman he attended City College at night. In New York he continued to write poetry, then tried his hand at writing plays. Returning to Ireland in 1969, Patrick obtained employment with County Kildare Vocation Education Committee and has been working as a teacher of Maths and English ever since. He is married with five children and lives in Maynooth.

Writing a Story: A story usually arises out of something that moves me or some experience that lingers in my mind. My first published book, Rua the Red Grouse, grew out of my interest in the unique plants, insects and animals to be found on a raised bog and my fascination with grouse. The ideas underlying my next book, The Stranger and the Pooka, arose from two sources: a child who had been raised in a henhouse and a woman who had gone to live as a hermit in a West-of-Ireland bog. These images haunted my mind and I asked myself what would happen if the child escaped into the bog and the woman encountered him? Providing the child with a ‘voice’ of his own was an interesting challenge, for example, he thinks of a house as a ‘nest-place’ and night as ‘star-time’.

In my latest book, The Psychic Edge, I imagined a boy who is being bullied and wondered what would happen if this boy had second sight like Fionn MacCumhail had. On a more general level, I tried to present the problems faced by modern teenagers as realistically as possible while adding a touch of fantasy. One thing that helps me when writing a novel is to set out a time chart so that changes of season and progression of events are described accurately, for example, Rua the Red Grouse covers the four seasons, while The Psychic Edge starts in February and ends on the 17th of March. Another useful device is to make a list of the characters with their ages and appearances. Finally, write that first draft, however crude and incomplete – you will always be able to improve it by rewriting.

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Senator Joe Costello 

Born: Sligo 13/7/1945. Educated: St. James' Well, N.S., Summerhill College, Sligo; St. Patrick's College, Maynooth and U.C.D., graduating with an M.A. in 16th Century Irish History, and a H.Dip in Education. Secondary Teacher in Loreto College, North Great George's Street, Dublin 1, and River Valley, Swords, Co. Dublin 1972-1990. Schoolmaster Fellow, Trinity College, Dublin 1980. Elected to Seanad Eireann 1989

Elected to Dublin City Council. Elected to Dail Eireann 1992. Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin 1991-2. Elected to Seanad Eireann 1998 (highest Labour vote ever, topped the poll). Leader of the Labour Party in Seanad 1997-present. Chairman of the Prisoners' Rights Organisation 1975-1990. Vice-Chairman of Amnesty International 1984-1987. Executive Member of the Irish Council of Civil Liberties 1976-1990. Chairman of the City of Dublin Vocational Educational Committee 1993-present. Chairman of the Labour Policy Development Committee 1995-present. Labour Representative on the British and Irish Parliamentary body 1997-present. President of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland 1990-1991. Interests: Reading, writing, soccer and Gaelic fan.

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Michael Holmes-Dervish

Michael is a native of Sligo town. His grand aunt Cissy Boyd was a proficient singer, tin whistle and accordion player. Michael’s sister Anne inherited their grand Aunt’s musical talents and became a successful musician in her own right firstly in Ireland, then later in the USA. Anne taught Michael his first chords on the guitar and through her own playing got him interested in Folk music. Anne emigrated to the states when Michael was 16 and from her he inherited an old guitar which he used to continue teaching himself.

While attending Summerhill College he met and became friends with Shane Mitchell and Liam Kelly. At this stage Michael had been involved with a few amateur bands and had begun playing folk music in a couple of local pubs including the legendary Shoot the Crows. He and the other two future founding members of Dervish began playing together primarily for fun.

As they began to evolve together musically the three decided to put together a band playing original songs and tunes, but avoiding the cliched use of traditional instruments normally employed to insert snippets of jigs and reels into overtly modern music Instead they tried to utilise the flute and accordion to play pieces which were possible on the instruments yet didn’t try to sound Celtic or particularly Irish.

They added a guitarist and drummer to the line-up before finally getting singer songwriter Yvonne Cunningham to front the band under the charming name of ‘Who Says What.’ The line-up worked quite well and Michael wrote and co-wrote several of the songs along with Yvonne, while Liam and Shane found new ways of playing their instruments which would not have been obvious within the settings of traditional music.

Eventually the band members went their separate ways after a productive and relatively successful three years. Michael moved to London to find work and was joined a year later by Liam and Shane.

While living and working in a different country the boys strove to stay in touch with traditional music and because of this Michael and Liam wrote several pieces of music together - two of which are still played frequently by Dervish - ‘The World’s End’ and ‘The Hungry Rock.’ They continued to search out Irish sessions and musicians and to experiment with writing original Irish tunes. It was during this time in England that Michael bought his first bouzouki from the well-known music dealer, John Alvey Turner.

His first approach to the instrument was to translate chords from both the standard and DADGAD guitar tunings. After finding the basic root structures for various keys it was a matter of playing along to tunes and exploring the different options the bouzouki offered compared to the guitar.

A couple of years later while home on holidays in Sligo a local entrepreneur approached Shane Mitchell to organise some musicians to make a recording of Sligo music. The assembled group comprised Shane Mitchell, Liam Kelly, Michael Holmes, Brian McDonagh and fiddle player Martin McGinley. The resulting album was titled ‘The Boys of Sligo’ and the members chose the name ‘Dervish.’

The recording enjoyed great success despite the fact that there was no band to tour in support of it. The requests for the group from festivals and media programmes inspired the members to consider seriously forming together as a working traditional band. After weighing up the pros and cons Michael and Liam who were both still working in London at this stage chose to commit themselves fully to the project and moved back to Sligo in 1989. And so the story goes...

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Fr. Michael O’Flanagan was born in 1876 near Castlerea, Co. Roscommon to parents who were native Irish speakers. Following a primary education at Cloonboniffe N.S., he had his first association with Sligo when he attended secondary school at Summerhill College . On graduating there in 1894, he entered St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he was ordained for the Diocese of Elphin in 1900. Following his ordination he returned to Summerhill College and worked there as a teacher until 1904.

His clerical duties soon became interlaced with efforts to establish a viable basis for the movement towards Irish Independence. He firmly believed that the Irish language, rural industry and the local Church were vital elements in the achievement of this. His skills of oratory were matched by an originality and genius for fundraising. Prior to one of his trips, on behalf of Connradh na Gaeilge, to America, he cut a sod from each of the thirty two counties of Ireland ; bringing these with him, he invited Irish-Americans to walk on their native soil at a dollar a time.

After a term (1912-14) as Advent preacher at St. Sylvester in Rome, his involvement with the people of North Sligo began when he was appointed in 1914 as curate to the parish of Ahamlish, serving in Cliffoney village. Immediately on his arrival in North Sligo he encouraged the people there to organise in defence of their rights that were often impinged upon by oppressive bureaucracies, landlords and the R.I.C.

Shortly he became involved in a remarkable incident that came to be known as the ‘Cloonerco Bog Fight’. Taking on the establishment, against the wishes of Bishop Coyne, he agitated for turbary rights [right to cut turf] for the local people. This situation was brought about by the Congested District’s Board’s acquisition of the Hippsley and Sullivan estate and their consequent insistence on re-distributing turf cutting rights to families who had relatives in the British Army or R.I.C.

Despite intensive correspondence by Fr. O’Flanagan to have the people’s rights restored, the Congested Districts Board (C.D.B.), a Government body, were determined to reserve the bogs for people of their choice: families having members serving with the British army and so on. By late June local people were in a desperate position as no turf had been cut and they were facing the unthinkable prospect of a winter without fuel.

Ignoring a warning by Bishop Coyne not to get involved, Fr. O’Flanagan, addressing his congregation at Cliffoney Church on June 29th, 1915 , told them to wait outside for him after Mass. Here he instructed them to assemble the next morning with their turf cutting implements. He would lead them to the bogs where he himself would cut the first of the forbidden turf. This was done and the dauntless Fr. Michael led his flock to the Cloonerco bogs. A large body of R.I.C., under Sgt. Perry, (who was to die some years later in the Moneygold ambush) followed and ordered the crowd to stop.

True to his word the dauntless priest stepped behind the spade and cut the first turf. It was a clever move as the RIC, fearing the vengeance of the people, would be very reluctant to arrest a priest. Some of those present were arrested and legal action taken but the turf were cut and saved and eventually brought down from the bogs where they were built in a large stack close to the R.I.C. barracks directly in front of what is now Cliffoney Parish Hall. A large sign was placed on the stack: “OUR OWN TURF FOR OUR OWN PEOPLE: FOREIGNERS HAVE NO RIGHTS HERE”.

O’Flanagan survived the actions brought against him by the authorities but Bishop Coyne, furious at this flouting of his authority, transferred him from Cliffoney to Crossna in Roscommon. The people were dismayed at the removal from their midst of a priest and leader they had come to love and respect. Walking and on horse and ass carts they made their way in procession to the Bishop’s palace in Sligo pleading with him that their priest be returned to them. When this was refused they barricaded Cliffoney Church, nailing the doors and windows shut, thus preventing Bishop Coyne from sending a replacement. They mounted a guard day and night to prevent any surprise move by the Bishop. Large crowds assembled on Sundays outside the Church to recite the Rosary.

The impasse lasted until Christmas 1915 when the Bishop agreed to provide a priest ‘who would be a good Irishman and a patriot’ to replace Fr. Michael O’Flanagan. Thus ended the remarkable saga of the ‘Cloonerco Bog Fight’.

Father Michael O’Flanagan played a prominent part in the War of Independence in the following years. The freedom of Sligo was conferred on him and an illuminated scroll presented by Sligo Corporation in June 1918 on behalf of a grateful people. Outside the Town Hall, according to reports in the Sligo Champion, enthusiastic crowds ‘cheered themselves hoarse’.

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Father Edward J. Flanagan, founder of Father Flanagan’s Boys Home, now Girls and Boys Town, Nebraska, was born on July 13, 1886, in Leabeg, County Roscommon, near Ballymoe, County Galway, Ireland. He was the eighth in a family of eleven children. He was very frail at birth; his grandfather held him, keeping him warm by the fire. His parents were hard-working farmers, intelligent and very devoted to their religion. Many years later, Father Flanagan wrote of his home:

“The old-fashioned home with its fireside companionship, its religious devotion and its closely-knit family ties is my idea of what a home should be. My father would tell me many stories that were interesting to a child—stories of adventure, or the struggle of the Irish people for independence. It was from him I learned the great science of life, of examples from the lives of saints, scholars and patriots. It was from his life I first learned the fundamental rule of life of the great Saint Benedict, ‘Pray and work.’”

As Edward grew older, his father commissioned him to take complete care of the sheep and cattle. Edward’s duty was to keep the animals from wandering into the dangerous peat bogs that bordered their property on two sides. This pastoral work gave him much time to think, to study, to read and to pray. He noticed his father saying the rosary as he worked, and he too, began to pray the rosary.

In a letter to Rev. Michael O'Flanagan, Dublin County, Ireland, April 26, 1942, Father Flanagan wrote:  "You also may not know that I was the little shepherd boy who took care of the cattle and the sheep.  That seemed to be my job as I was the delicate member of the family and good for nothing else, and with probably a poorer brain than most of the other members of the family.  I was sent away to school to study for the Priesthood, as I stated above, I wasn't much good for anything else; so my job as a shepherd boy filled in very nicely in preparation for my life's work afterward."

He attended his neighborhood elementary school in Drimatemple and entered Summerhill College, Sligo, Ireland in the Fall of 1900, for his secondary education. In 1904, Flanagan graduated from Summerhill with honors and sailed for the United States. He wanted to become a priest. Later, in answer to the question as to why he wanted to become priest, he responded: “I presume that what caused me to become a Priest was because I wanted to help people – spiritually – I wanted to teach people, and it was that desire that took hold of me and I never had any other desire at any time in my life.” (Letter to Miss Betty Ann Weis, January 21, 1947)

In the United States, he enrolled in Mount Saint Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, and graduated in June, 1906. He entered Saint Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, New York, in September, 1906, and left in the the spring of 1907 due to poor health. Following a period of recuperation with his family in Omaha,  Nebraska, he left to study at the Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. Again poor health forced him to abandon his studies. He returned to Omaha to rebuild his health, and in this period worked as an accountant at the Cudahay Meat Packing Company.

In the fall of 1909, he was accepted by the Royal Imperial Leopold Frances University in Innsbruck, Austria. The high altitude was good for his health, so he was able to continue his studies there, and was ordained with the Jesuits at Innsbruck in 1912.

When he returned to Omaha in 1912, he was assigned to the Diocese of Omaha, administered by Bishop Harty, who had also graduated from Sligo in Ireland. The new Father Flanagan celebrated his first solemn High Mass at Holy Angels Church, Omaha in August, 1912. His first parish assignment was Saint Patrick’s in O’Neill, after which he was appointed Assistant Pastor to Saint Patrick’s Parish, Omaha in March, 1913.

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Albert Reynolds was educated at Summerhill College, Sligo County. Prior to entering politics he was involved in dancehall promotion and the pet-food business. He also developed interests in local newspapers and a cinema. His fascination with politics arose in part from the 'Arms Trial' of Charles Haughey, which he attended. Reynolds became a member of Longford County Council in 1974 and in 1977 won a Dáil seat for Fianna Fáil. Reynolds was appointed Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, and Transport and Power in the Haughey government. He was Minister for Industry and Commerce (1987-1988) and for Finance (1988-1991).

When Haughey resigned in February 1992, Reynolds obtained the posts of party leader and Taoiseach with clear majorities. He was an uneasy leader of the Fianna Fáil – Progressive Democrat coalition government, which ended with the 'Beef Tribunal' (1992) arising from contradictory testimony presented to the Tribunal by Reynolds and the leader of Progressive Democrats, Des O'Malley. The coalition broke up and the General Election of 1994 resulted in a loss of nine seats for Fianna Fáil. Reynolds failed to secure his renomination and resigned the office (14 Dec 1992), but within a month he negotiated a new coalition with the Labour Party. He was re-appointed Taoiseach on 12 Jan 1993. Reynolds was deeply involved in efforts to secure a basis for an end to IRA violence. He opened up channels of communication to the Republican movement and to Loyalist paramilitaries. The Downing Street Declaration was agreed with the British Prime Minister John Major in December 1993 and an IRA cease-fire was announced in September 1994. The successful outcome was widely acclaimed, but within the coalition with Labour tensions had begun to emerge. These finally came to breaking point over an extradition case and the appointment of the then Attorney-General as president of the High Court. In a confused and emotional few days, Reynolds suddenly found himself forced to resign (17 Nov 1994). Biography source: [2]

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Fr Rickie Devine SMA was born in Keash, Ballymote, Co Sligo on 14 August 1931, the eldest of seven children, two sons and five daughters, of Thomas Devine and Mary Kate Shields.  He received his secondary education at Summerhill College, Sligo and St Joseph's SMA College, Wilton, Cork 1945-1951. He came to the SMA Spiritual Year programme at Cloughballymore, Kilcolgan, Co Galway in 1951.  Following this he became a member of SMA on 2 July 1953.  He completed his studies for the priesthood at SMA College, Dromantine, Newry, Co Down and was ordained priest on 18 December 1956 in St Colman's Cathedral, Newry.

Following the completion of his studies in 1957 he was assigned as a missionary to Nigeria, to Ondo Diocese.  He worked there until 1972 when the diocese was divided and continued working in the new diocese of Ekiti until 1983.   A keen sportsman - he played football for Sligo and was Connacht 100m and 200m athletics champion - he became actively involved in football and boxing organisations in Nigeria. 

He also built up a reputation for building churches, schools, hospitals and presbyteries.  From 1983-1994 he worked in the Archdiocese of Abuja.  For a time he was the missionary supervisor of the building of St Paul's Missionary Seminary at Abuja.

In recognition of his services he was awarded two honorary chieftaincy titles, a rare distinction.

Deteriorating health forced him to return to Ireland and from 1994-1996 he worked in the Diocese of Elphin and was based in Dangan.  From 1997-2000 he was based at SMA House, Claregalway where he was involved in mission promotion work.  In 2000 he retired to SMA House, Blackrock Road, Cork. 

Fr Devine had been in failing health for some time and he died peacefully at SMA House, Blackrock Road, Cork on Saturday evening, 11 June 2005 aged 73 years. He is survived by his sisters, Eileen, Eva and Georgina and by his brother, Tom. 

Fr Devine's remains were received at the SMA Community Chapel, Blackrock Road, Cork where there was concelebrated Mass on Monday 13 June at 12 noon.  This was followed by removal to St Kevin's Church, Keash, Co Sligo.  The Funeral Mass was concelebrated on Tuesday 14 June at 11.00 a.m. and was followed by burial in the Knockbrack cemetery.  Fr Fachtna O'Driscoll SMA, Provincial, was the main celebrant and preached the homily.

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MATTIE McDONAGH

Sports followers around the county, the province, the country and overseas, were deeply saddened to learn of the recent death of Mattie McDonagh from Ballygar.
Mattie was the only man from Connacht to win four All-Ireland senior football medals, in 1956, 1964, ‘65 and ‘66. He won ten Connacht senior medals and a Dublin senior medal with Erin’s Hope in 1956. Mattie played minor hurling with Roscommon and minor football with Galway in 1956. He also won two Connacht senior medals with Summerhill College, Sligo and also two Colleges senior Interprovincial medals with Connacht in 1954 and ‘55. He was also a member of the Connacht team that won the Railway Cup in 1958.
A gentleman to his fingertips, Mattie commanded great regard and respect wherever he went. He had a lovely, pleasant and engaging manner which endeared him to so many and added to his legendary status in sport in the West and around the country.
John Keenan from Dunmore, who won three All-Ireland medals alongside Mattie from 1964-66, paid a fine tribute to Mattie when he spoke on the Mid-West Radio Late Show. He recalled some of the special attributes that made Mattie McDonagh such a favourite down through the years.

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Dr Brian Gibbons was brought up in Keadue, County Roscommon in the West of Ireland. He was educated at Keadue National School, Summerhill College in Sligo before graduating in medicine from the National University of Ireland (Galway) in 1974. He came to Yorkshire in 1976 to undertake vocational training in general practice in Calderdale.

In 1980 he became a general practitioner in Blaengwynfi, working in partnership with Dr. Julian Tudor Hart, Glyncorrwg to form the Upper Afan Practice. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1995.

The Upper Afan Practice developed a national and international reputation for practice innovation and research over two decades. It undertook pioneering work on the prevention of heart disease, developing community based general practice and promoting patient involvement.

Since commencing work in the NHS, Dr Gibbons has been a member of the Medical Practitioners Union Amicus and has served as a National Council member for almost two decades. He is also a member of the British Medical Association. He has served on the West Glamorgan Morgannwg Local Medical Committees from 1980 and became Committee Secretary in 1994. For most of the 1990s he also represented the Medical Practitioners Union on the Welsh and UK General Practice Committee of the BMA.

Dr Gibbons has been a member of the Labour Party since 1980 and has been involved in many community actions to promote the regeneration of his local area. He has been a school governor at Cymer Afan Comprehensive school for over 15 years.

Dr Gibbons was elected as to the National Assembly for Wales in May 1999 as the Welsh Labour candidate. He has served on the National Assembly's Health and Social Services Committee, the Audit Committee and the Economic Development Committee. He was appointed as Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services in October 2000. Following the 2003 election Dr Gibbons transferred portfolios and became Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Transport, with special responsibility for transport.

In January 2005 Dr Gibbons was elevated to the Cabinet of the Welsh Assembly Government becoming Minister for Health and Social Services.

On his appointment Dr Gibbons said: "I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Jane Hutt, for all the hard work that she has done by putting into place the building blocks for an improved health service in Wales. Being the Minister with responsibility for the NHS in Wales is of course a big challenge but it one I am looking forward to".

He is married with two grown children and continues to live in Blaengwynfi in the Upper Afan Valley.

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Shane Steven Filan of Westlife made his first public appearance when he entered the world on 5 July 1979, born to Mae and Peter Filan. He was the youngest of seven. He describes himself as being incredibly close to the rest of the family, in particular to
his sister Denise, who looks like his twin, and he loved being the youngest: 'I got away with all sorts of devilment. I have to admit that when I was growing up I did get spoiled because I was the youngest. I was looked after until I matured. I got
whatever I wanted. Then, when I got i bit older, everybody was the same really. But when I was younger, definitely I was spoiled rotten'. Mae and Peter have run a restaurant, the Carlton Café, for over thirty years. All of the Filan kids helped out in the family business during their school holidays. Shane has been into horses all his life, as has his whole family. 'Growing up around horses was wonderful,' says Shane. 'There's nothing like the feeling of freedom when you're out in the fresh air, cantering cross-country'. But it wasn't all play. Shane has a load of trophies from show-jumping.

The first school he went to was Scoil Fatima in Sligo. It was a primary school and he spent four years there from the age of four up to second class. After that he went to St. John's, because it was a bigger school. Shane loved football - soccer
and Gaelic, and he was really into it. Then Michael Jackson took over for about three of four years when he was eight or nine. Shane had all his records, all the videos and he used to spend hours watching them. Shane did everything he did and can still do the moonwalk. Then he went to secondary school, Summerhill College. It's a huge school and has about 1200 pupils, all boys. At Summerhill they got him into musicals and they did a lot of school plays. Shane was a year ahead of Kian. Mark was in Kian's year and he was a year ahead of the two of them. Shane knew Kian around that time very well. He had known him before but they got to be really good mates when they started doing plays together and then Mark came in when Shane was about 15, so he got friendly with him. Shane got his first job when he was 16. He worked across the road from the restaurant for a couple of days in a hardware store and then he worked in EJ's Menswear for a couple of days. Kian worked there as well. After that Shane had another job for about four months. That was in Buckley's. It's a builders' providers store, it's got bricks and wood and stuff like that. That was the only serious job Shane really had. After Summerhill, Shane went to college for six months, where he studied marketing and accountancy. But he wasn't really happy in the college 'Limerick Regional College', cause it wasn't what he wanted to do. Singing was what he really wanted to do.

Shane started singing Billy Joel's Uptown Girl when he was very young. He used to love singing and he was a very good singer when he was young. But it was Michael Jackson who encouraged him to go on stage. He got a lot of inspiration from him. When Boyzone came out Shane bought a lot of Boyzone singles and albums. Shane started acting in plays at school. He used to do plays in the local theatre, the Hawkswell, so he did different plays with different production companies from Sligo. The first play Shane did was Grease. After that he also did Oliver and Annie get your gun.

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Rev. Tommie Mannion

The death took place on Thursday last at Roscommon County Hospital of Very Rev. Tommie Mannion, retired PP. Prescott, Wisconsin, USA. Aged 84, deceased had lived in retirement at Ardsallaghmore, Roscommon since June of 2000. Son of the late Martin and the late Ann Mannion (nee Moore, Creher, Ballyforan) he was the youngest member of a farming family of six, four boys and two girls. Born on March 10th 1920, he was educated at Lismoyle NS, Summerhill College, Sligo and St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

His ordination to the priesthood was delayed for seven years due to ill health and he was ordained by Bishop John Treacy, a native of Killina, Tulsk, on May 31st 1952 in La Cross Diocese, Wisconsin, USA where he ministered in various Parishes for 48 years. He attributed his cure from illness to Our Lady of Knock and the late Mr John T O’ Hanrahan, Surgeon at Roscommon County Hospital. His first parish to minister in was Cashton and he then transferred to Salem and had the distinction of building Catholic Churches in both parishes. He continued his building programme in Wausau, Wisconsin and in his last parish, Prescott, where he ministered as a PP for 25 years, he oversaw the building of a convent, an extension to a school and a new gymnasium.

Of an affable, caring and witty disposition, he was a most engaging conversationalist who had the ability to recall events and happenings of yester year in great detail. For many years he was an annual visitor in the summer months to his family members and friends in Mid-South Roscommon. He was a lover of all sport and in particular Gaelic games and he had the distinction of cycling to the All Ireland Final of 1943 involving Roscommon. He was also a lover of Irish music, song and dance and his favourite artist was South Roscommon singer, Brendan Shine. He is survived by nieces, nephews and innumerable other relatives. His remains were removed to St Brigid’s Church, Curraghboy on Friday evening and following Concelebrated Mass on Saturday at 3 o’clock the funeral took place to Cam cemetery. The principal celebrant of the Mass was Right Rev. Mons Charles Travers, PP, Roscommon.

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Fr. Liam Sharkey

Priest defies Rome to seek office (1999)

A ROMAN Catholic priest is defying the Vatican and his bishop by becoming the first Irish diocesan priest to stand for election. Liam Sharkey wants to be an MEP and is canvassing for a seat in this week's election in competition with Dana, the 1970 Eurovision winner who is campaigning in the same constituency. His seniors are furious as the priest is breaching canon law, which forbids clerics from "public office whenever it means sharing in the exercise of civil power".

But Fr. Sharkey maintains that he is not breaking church rules because the European Parliament has so little power. Surrounded by campaign flyers at his house in Highwood, on the banks of Lough Arrow in Co. Sligo, the 57-year-old priest admits to being disobedient, but insists it is in a good cause. "The people in the west of Ireland are being ignored and forgotten. Farmers are being put out of business, small shops are closing down and I want to do something to stop it ," he said. His constituency is Connaught/Ulster, the largest in Ireland, stretching from Galway to Donegal and inland to Cavan. His family helps as much as it can, but otherwise Fr. Sharkey is alone, battling the massive party machines of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

His bishop, Dr. Christopher Jones, said in a statement: "Father Sharkey neither has, nor could in any circumstances be granted, permission to pursue an office contrary to the canon law of the Church." Parishoners have written to Father Sharkey to condemn him and warn that he will be excommunicated unless he drops out of the campaign. But Father Sharkey ignores the protests and believes, no matter what the outcome of the election held on Friday in the Irish Republic, that he will return to saying Mass in his rural parish.

"My seniors don't expect me to win. They think reality will teach me a lesson. They think I will be humbled by a bad vote and go back to being a good priest. Humility is central to the Church's thinking. Father Sharkey's chances are slim. Bookmakers give him odds of 500-1 and an Irish Times poll showed he had support from a mere 2% of the electorate.
Father Sharkey insists that he and Dana, a right-wing Catholic opposed to abortion and divorce, have little in common. he said: "Her thinking is from the Bible belt of America. She has come back here for a quick campaign in the hope of bringing that kind thinking to Ireland."

But Dana, whose real name is Rosemary Scallon, still believes Ireland needs to be saved from the perils of modern living, particularly abortion. She returned to Galway from her home in Alabama in May to run in the election and hopes to capitalise on her success in November's presidential election, when she surprised everybody by coming third with 14% of the vote. Defeat in Friday's vote is likely to end her role in Irish politics. She will return to the US, where a comfortable living can be made singing and campaigning against abortion and divorce.

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Kian John Francis Egan of Westlife was born in Sligo, Ireland, on 29th April 1980, into a musical family. He's been on stage since he was only four and he can play more than five music instruments. It's no secret that Kevin & Patricia Egan's children are all musical, and Kian is definitely showing it. The fifth of seven children - Vivienne, Gavin, Fenella, Tom, Kian, Marielle, Colm - has been involved in plays since he can remember and was also a part of Summerhill College's musicals - one of them is Grease - that would later take him from IOYou to Westlife. Even if he's now in a pop band, he also has a passion for rock. Much to the public generalization that he's the romeo of the band, he has never truthfully been in any public romance until recently dating actress gorgeous actress Jodi Albert.

 

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Mark Scanlon-Cyclist:

It's not often that Sligo gets to see one of its own on the world stage. Cranmore's very own Mark Scanlon is doing himself and his country proud with some tremendous performances in this year's Tour de France.

A native of Joe McDonnell Drive, Cranmore, and a former pupil of St. John's National School and Summerhill College, Scanlon sprung to prominence in international cycling when he won the 1998 World Junior Championship in Holland on his 18th birthday.

Son of Mary and local Haulier Michael, the eldest of four children has seen his cycling career rise and rise and his hard work has paid off with his selection on the Ag2R team for the world's greatest cycle race.

Mark has had a fine start to his first Tour de France settling in to his support role as leadout man for the more established members of his Ag2R Prevoyance team including Jean-Patrick Nazon, Jaan Kirsipuu in the sprints and Brochard in the climbs. He also has been told to get into breaks to make sure the team has a presence at the head of the field. These are the opportunities where he gets to have a little of his own success as opposed to working for the Team's Big Guns.

Despite the wet and windy conditions and some horrendous crashes in the first phase and the constant shadow of the murky world of drugs looming over the sport of cycling, the popularity of the "Tour de France" is as high as ever with phenomenal crowds lining the routes. Straight away, Scanlon has clearly thrived in the atmosphere of the Tour. It has been eleven years since Stephen Roche rode to victory on the Champs Elysees. Mark Scanlon began the 2004 season ranked 245th in the world. Races in Australia, Italy, France, Belgium, Estonia, Spain, Germany and Denmark have seen the young Sligoman develop into one of the world's most promising talents. A place in The Tour de France was well deserved in his second year as a professional.

Speaking to Irishcycling.com's Shane Stokes before the fourth stage team time trial, Mark said "The race has been fine so far, I've felt pretty good - I did a solid enough ride in the Prologue and then was able to help Jaan in the final few kilometres of Stage 1. I went up and down the bunch to bring both himself and JP [Jean Patrick Nazon] to the front, and then did a big pull inside the final two kilometres. I was surprised at being able to do that; I thought it would be harder up the front at that stage."

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Ray MacSharry

Ministerial career: Ray MacSharry was born in County Sligo. He was educated locally at Summerhill College, Sligo and became a haulier and a small business executive. He became involved in local politics and was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1969. In 1979 he was appointed Minister for State at the Departments of Finance and Public Works, the lower rank of Irish governmental posts below cabinet rank, often called Junior Ministers. In December 1979 he nominated Charles Haughey for the leadership of Fianna Fáil. He was later rewarded for this loyalty by becoming Minister for Agriculture in Haughey's first government. In the short-lived Fianna Fáil government of 1982 MacSharry was appointed Tánaiste and Minister for Finance.

Bugging Scandal in 1983: In 1983 he resigned from the Fianna Fáil front bench due to a telephone-tapping controversy, when it was revealed that as Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, he had borrowed police tape recorders to secretly record conversations with a cabinet colleague. MacSharry defended his action by saying that rumours were sweeping the party that he could be 'bought' (bribed) to support efforts to depose Haughey; he claimed used the equipment to record any attempts made to offer bribes. The scandal was however primarily focused on the decision by the Minister for Justice, Sean Doherty, to bug the phones of two leading political journalists to discover their anti-Haughey sources. MacSharry was a secondary but high profile casuality of the scandal, as the equipment he had used had been supplied by Doherty, who had requested it from Assistant Garda (Police) Commissioner Joe Ainsworth . Ainsworth was also forced to resign when the scandal hit the headlines.

EU Commissioner: In 1984, MacSharry's rehabilitation began when he was elected to the European Parliament. In 1987 Haughey returned to power and MacSharry was appointed to the most senior cabinet post, that of Minister for Finance. He committed himself to bringing order to the public finances and the poor economic situation. His ruthless cutting of state spending earned him the nickname Mack the Knife. MacSharry was subsequently rewarded by Haughey with the appointment to be Ireland's EC Commissioner (now known as EU Commissioner).

Ray, Charles and Diana: As Commissioner he famously became caught up in the rows between Britain's warring Prince and Princess of Wales, when the Prince, on behalf of Britain, attended a public function with MacSharry, rather than rush to hospital to see his young son, Prince William of Wales, who had been injured in an accident. (MacSharry subsequently rubbished Prince Diana's claim that the event showed Prince Charles to be an uncaring father, revealing that Charles had spent the entire function in minute by minute contact with the hospital.)

Business Career: Ray MacSharry was widely tipped to be a future leader of Fianna Fáil but indicated that he had no such ambition. Following the completion of his term as Commissioner, MacSharry retired from politics to pursue business interests. MacSharry is currently a director on the boards of a variety of companies including Bank of Ireland and Ryanair Holdings. In 1999 he was appointed chairman of Eircom plc.

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Bishop Christopher Jones was born in Rathcroghan, Tulsk, Co. Roscommon in 1936 and was educated at Summerhill College, Sligo and at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare. He also completed postgraduate studies in University College Galway and University College Dublin.

Ordained to the priesthood on 21 June 1962 he spent the early years of his priesthood as a secondary school teacher, first in St. Muredach's College, Ballina, Co. Mayo (1962-'63) and in Summerhill College, Sligo (1965-'71).

Subsequently he served as Director of Sligo Social Services (1973-'87) and for a time, as curate in Rosses Point, Co. Sligo, before serving as administrator in St. Mary's Parish, Sligo (1987-'94).

Persistently conscious of the needs and rights of people who are underprivileged he served for many years as Chairperson of the National Council for Travelling People and continues to make representation on behalf of travellers, refugees and other disadvantaged peoples as a member of various Episcopal commissions.

He was appointed Bishop of Elphin on May 24th 1994 and ordained bishop on August 15th of the same year.

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