Although I'm not from the Midlands (and must confess I detest the accent), I felt I must stand up for them! Here is my response to the accusations of Killinascullyism:
Conversations like this are precisely the reason it's good for us to have a country Taoiseach again.
As someone from a rural background but living in cities for the past 6 years, it constantly amazes me when I go home that there is no ATM, no decent coffee, no broadband, no bus service, no bank and nothing to do except go to the pub.
I'm not saying a country Taoiseach will fix all of this (especially not the first two
) but I think his presence might refocus the attention of the Dublin media on the fact that a lot of us live outside the Pale, some of us even in places where celebrations such as the one we saw over the weekend would be a great sign of community and togetherness, precisely the things Bertie used to witter on about but never actually practiced.Despite all Bertie's talk of community and social cohesion, he never appeared to do much about it. He knew the people of Drumcondra (or they knew him) and he liked to go to Fagan's. That was about the size of it.
Cowen, on the other hand, has a big family history in Clara. His father had the local pub, he was TD for the area, and he himself grew up there. His kids go to school there.
And the people of Clara wanted to celebrate one of their own in their own way, which is not unlike the 'own way' of most small towns in this country.
As for the references to Killinaskully, my homeplace is not a million miles from Pat Shortt's, and, although it pained me to admit it for a long time, I recognised most of the characters in it. But how is that something to be ashamed of? I would rather have a Pat Shortt character living next door to me than anyone from Fair City...
No comments:
Post a Comment