A chara, - Many thanks for Patsy McGarry's absorbing insight into a chapter in the history of this island in a recent Irishman's Diary, which highlighted the life and times of one Feagh McHugh O'Byrne.
It is striking that little in the annals of Irish history has been translated into TV series or big-screen films. I would like to see more of RTE's funds directed at opening historical windows to the past. What about a TV series on O'Sullivan's trail of tears to O'Rourke's stronghold in Connacht or a big-screen version of Gaelic Ireland's last-ditch attempt to restore its status and eject English influence at Kinsale, an episode which changed the course of Irish history.
Irish history, with its mix of pain and glory dating to long before the arrival of Strongbow, has a wealth of captivating stories to tell. What a pity Irish film producers and this country's moneymen haven't risen above paltry home-grown series such as Glen roe to use their energies to create historical series with a combined entertainment and knowledge value.
It is ironic too, that two of the most popular TV series on RTE, Father Ted and Ballykissangel, are produced in Ireland by British TV networks using Irish actors and British money. Perhaps we are waiting, as we have done through the years, for British money to write our history in film too. All I can say is what a lazy and unimaginative race we have become in this land the Celtic Tiger.
It all reminds me of an exchange I overheard between an Aer Lingus stewardess and a Japanese passenger on a flight between Brussels and Dublin. The passenger said she had studied Celtic mythology in college and had always wondered why most Irish people still used their names in the English form, which she candidly described as "utterly meaningless" constructs of original Gaelic names.
The Aer Lingus girl smiled politely, shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't have an answer, but offered the retort: "If we changed them back, we wouldn't know ourselves." - Is mise le meas,
Monaleen,
Castletroy,
Limerick.