WHAT is Meitheal Mara? A loose translation is Working Sea Group. It was established in 1994 to promote Ireland's maritime and water related resources, both cultural and physical. It gives all who have an interest in the sea an opportunity to join in building a maritime network of information and mutual support.
The founder, Mr Padraig O Duinnin, learned his love of boats and the water on the Lee Reservoir, near Macroom, Co Cork. His idea was to preserve the history associated with Irish craft from the Wexford sailing cot to the naomhog.
Meitheal Mara encourages the use and display of replicas of traditional craft through races, shows and regattas, as well as running workshops on the folklore of boat construction. One of its main aims is to carry out research into boats that are nearing extinction and to preserve their record for posterity.
The group is at present involved in a survey of Irish coastal areas with a view to collecting oral history and documenting the use development of traditional boats. It is also hoping to create a database and library which would become an important national archival resource.
Besides publishing its own bilingual newsletter, it is cooperating on a major book on the traditional boats of Ireland which will be published by the French specialists in maritime history and traditions - La Chasse Maree. The organisation has conducted a nation wide survey of skin boats and become a recognised authority in the field.
In 1994, Meitheal Mara shipped a three man currach to Canada as part of the Atlantic Challenge. The currach was donated subsequently to the Canadian Maritime Museum. It also sent a currach crew to participate in the Thames Great River Race, and in 1995 members accompanied a number of Galway Hookers to Amsterdam for a maritime festival. Having assembled a team of specialists, it built a small fleet of currachs which were launched on the River Lee in July 1994.
But Meitheal Mara needs a permanent home and funding for a building in which it could build, rescue, repair and record boats conduct research; put on exhibitions; house a library; and teach construction on site.
Cork, with its maritime history, would be an ideal location for a working maritime institution, according to Mr O Duinnin, adding that through the work of the organisation the basis for such an institution already exists.
Last weekend, at City Hall in Cork, the first Meitheal Mara exhibition was opened to the public. It offers a window on the world of currachs, yawls, whalers, long boats, as well as cots and coracles.
Perhaps now that they have got this far, the necessary funding will be provided.