Ass and cart embarrassed Castlebar councillors
By Tom Gillespie
WHEN this photograph of an ass and cart appeared on national television in the 1970s it sent members of Castlebar Urban Council (UDC) into a collective frenzy.
The nine members were angered that the image portrayed the county town as backward and in no way as progressive.
The war of words between the councillors and RTÉ’s Frank Hall rumbled on for months.
Paddy Flannery’s ass and cart, parked in a no-parking area outside Paddy Jennings’ shoe shop on Tucker Street, appeared on Hall’s Pictorial Weekly.
At the next meeting of the UDC, Fianna Fáil’s Willie (Pansy) Cresham led the charge against what he described as ‘the disgraceful depiction of Castlebar as if it were still in the 1950s’.
Needless to say the row received front page coverage in The Connaught Telegraph and, of course, was fodder to Frank Hall who continued with the story for weeks.
At that time Castlebar Chamber of Commerce were extremely active in promoting the town and were the backers of the Castlebar International Song Contest and the Four Day International Walking Festival.
But the ‘ass and cart’ image damaged that image and local businesses were upset as the row dragged on.
Connaught Telegraph editor John McHale was secretary of the chamber and along with his fellow officers came up with a ploy to get their own back on Mr. Hall.
They did so by inviting Hall to be guest of honour at their annual dinner dance in the Travellers Friend Hotel.
He readily agreed and requested that he be collected on arrival at Castlebar railway station.
Members of the chamber and Councillor Cresham, who was chairman of the council at the time, lined the platform as the Dublin evening train pulled in.
Following the usual hand shaking Mr. Hall was led to his transport - an ass and cart - which he proudly mounted and was escorted through the streets of the town to the hotel where he gave a very humorous speech.
The following morning Mr. Hall was driven to the railway station where Councillor Cresham was there to see him off.
The following Wednesday the photograph of Mr. Hall sitting in the ass cart dominated the front page of The Connaught Telegraph.
The encounter gained Castlebar national publicity and exchanges in the council chamber in the courthouse were regular features on Hall’s Pictorial Weekly, one of the most popular home produced RTÉ programmes of the day.
Needless to say, the councillors took every opportunity to raise matters that would attract the attention of Mr. Hall and his team and with the likes of councillors like Dick Morrin, Frank Durcan, Jude Ainsworth, Martin Hopkins, John Heneghan, Johnny Mee, Michael Neary, Willie Lavelle and John Garavan, they were never short of ammunition.
In particular, verbal spats between Frank Durcan (Fine Gael) and Dick Morrin (Fianna Fáil) created headlines week after week.
The monthly meetings were held in the district court chamber in the courthouse at a time when there was no ban on cigarette or pipe smoking. From the press bench, it was often impossible to see a councillor addressing the meeting because of the smoke cloud, but we always recognised their distinctive voices.
Author Noel Campbell, a former member of the council, in his book A History of Castlebar Municipal Government 1613-2014, describes Durcan and Morrin as ‘rabid party men’.
Hall’s Pictorial Weekly (incorporating the Provincial Vindicator) enjoyed great success on RTÉ television from 1970 to 1982.
Frank Hall was the presenting genius and he introduced each week’s edition from behind his editor’s chair with a wide-eyed innocence that hid a rapier wit.
Anything of a critical nature that had to be said was delivered solemnly and much more in sorrow than in anger. This approach allowed him venture into the tricky political and social territory that was off-limits to others.
He assembled a team of actors around him who, week in week out, created mayhem as Ballymagash Urban District Councillors or Cha and Miah, the savants of Tooreendohenybeg.
If the Minister for Hardship seemed to sum up the personality of the whole government, then surely Larry O’Hooligan became the quintessential local politician on the make.
RTÉ itself was regularly lampooned - religious programmes, the news and various current affairs offerings got the treatment.
The Riordans provided Frank and his creative partner, John Condon, with richly comic pastures on more than one occasion. The bosses didn’t like it, but success brought freedom.
Over the years the elected members of Castlebar UDC and later Castlebar Town Council were to the fore in promoting the benefits of Castlebar as a location for business set-up as well as developing infrastructure around the town.
Sadly, the abolition of town councils in 2014 was, in my view, a retrograde step that has left Castlebar without a strong voice. They have been replaced by municipal authorities which cover several districts.