Pre-deceased by his parents Larry and Peggy; Mr Buckley sadly passed away unexpectedly.
His passing is most deeply regretted, sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his sorrowing family; loving daughters Susan and Angel, their partners T.J. and Mark, grandchildren Shannon and Patrick, his brother Oliver and partner Julie, extended relatives, neighbours and friends and beloved dog Jessie.
The extended Buckley family wish to express their appreciation for your understanding at this difficult time, and have made arrangements for those persons wishing to send messages of condolence, to use the link shown HERE.
What Socrates Might See In Today’s Modern Irish Politics.
Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, who lived in Athens from 469 to 399 BCE, was one of the most famous thinkers in human history. People call him the ‘Father of Philosophy’. He is remembered as the man who asked uncomfortable questions and forced everyone around him to think much deeper.
But here is the shocking part; Socrates hated and feared democracy. He thought democracy was actually one of the fastest ways a society could destroy itself. It is about photographs, handshakes, receptions, speeches, media clips, and symbolic moments. A bowl of shamrock handed over in Washington is not just a diplomatic ritual; it is a political image. A Government Minister appearing abroad under the banner of St Patrick’s Day is not only representing the Irish State; they are also being seen to represent the Irish State and that suttle distinction matters greatly.
Socrates never saw an Irish modern day parliament, a press conference, or a St Patrick’s Day diplomatic tour. But he did understand something timeless about politics; public life is rarely driven by wisdom alone. It is often driven by appearances, persuasion, and performance. That is why his criticism of democracy still feels uncomfortably relevant.
Socrates worried that political systems often reward the people who can present themselves best, not necessarily the people most fit to lead. He feared that politics could become less about truth and judgment, and more about selling an image to the public. In his eyes, the danger was not just bad leadership. The deeper danger was a culture in which style begins to replace substance.
That concern feels familiar when we look at present-day politics, including in Ireland. Every year, St Patrick’s Day becomes far more than a national celebration. It also becomes a major political and diplomatic season. In 2026, the Government announced its largest St Patrick’s Day outreach programme yet, with senior representatives travelling to more than 50 countries. The official purpose is clear enough: promote Irish interests, strengthen ties, support trade, and connect with the global Irish community. That is the stated case, and in fairness, there is real diplomacy in it.
But politics is never only about the official case. It is also about optics. It is about photographs, handshakes, receptions, speeches, media clips, and symbolic moments. A bowl of shamrock handed over in Washington is not just a diplomatic ritual. It is a political image.
And that is exactly the kind of thing Socrates would have noticed. He would likely have asked whether these moments are primarily exercises in good governance, or whether they are also examples of politics as theatre. He would have asked whether voters are being shown serious leadership, or a carefully managed performance of leadership. He would have asked whether the public is meant to judge outcomes, or simply absorb impressions.
The St Patrick’s Day Problem: Diplomacy or Political Theatre? To be clear, this is not an argument that politicians should never travel abroad, or that St Patrick’s Day diplomacy is meaningless. In fact, current coverage stresses that the Washington visit in particular can carry genuine strategic importance for Ireland, especially in trade, foreign relations, and maintaining access at the highest level of US politics. The Government’s own language around the programme is explicitly about economic diplomacy and international partnerships, not just ceremony.
But Socrates would probably insist that this is precisely why the public should look harder, not softer. His concern was always that democratic politics makes it too easy to confuse visibility with value. A politician travelling abroad looks active. A politician standing beside world leaders looks important. A politician wrapped in national symbolism looks patriotic. Yet none of those things automatically tells us whether they are governing well.
That is the real point of the comparison. In modern Irish politics, St Patrick’s Day can serve two purposes at once. It can be genuine diplomacy, and it can be domestic political branding. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they often reinforce each other. A successful foreign visit can strengthen Ireland’s position abroad, while also strengthening a politician’s image at home. The public sees confidence, access, prestige and relevance. And once again, Socrates’ old worry returns; are citizens judging leadership by wisdom and results, or by appearances and emotional effect?
He would likely have been especially suspicious of the pageantry. Not because symbols are worthless, but because symbols can make shallow politics look profound. They can turn scrutiny into applause. They can make carefully staged public life feel like evidence of competence, when it may only be evidence of presentation.
That does not mean every ministerial trip is empty. It means democratic citizens should be careful not to stop thinking the moment politics becomes ceremonial.
And perhaps that is where the Irish comparison becomes sharpest. A modern voter can easily be encouraged to see St Patrick’s Day travel as proof of leadership in itself. Ministers are abroad. Photos are everywhere. Meetings are announced. Statements are issued. Flags, shamrock, receptions and speeches create the sense of national importance. Yet Socrates would ask the most irritating questions of all; what, exactly, was achieved?What changed?What was secured?What problem was solved?What outcome, beyond publicity, can actually be measured?
These are very Socratic questions. They cut through image and force politics back onto the ground of reality.
So if we bring Socrates into present-day Irish politics, the lesson is not that International St Patrick’s Day visits are automatically dishonest. It is that democracy always carries the risk of mistaking spectacle for substance. Politicians may travel abroad in the name of Ireland; in the spirit of St Patrick, and in pursuit of real diplomatic goals, but they also travel in full awareness that public symbolism is politically powerful.
Socrates would have warned us not to be hypnotised by that power. He would have reminded us that democracy weakens when citizens stop examining what they are shown. The problem is not that politics contains ceremony. The problem begins when ceremony becomes a substitute for judgment.
Socrates did not say this as a theory. He watched political instability and democratic conflict in Athens during his own lifetime, and he was later condemned to death by an Athenian jury in 399 BCE.
And the most tragic part is that Socrates himself became a victim of democracy. He was put on trial by a jury of ordinary citizens. They were not philosophers. They were not trained judges. They were simply a crowd. And that crowd voted to execute him. He died by forced suicide; consuming a poisonous mixture containing hemlock, so in the end, democracy seemed to prove Socrates’ point, in the most brutal way possible.
And in that sense, his criticism still stands, not just in ancient Athens, but also in our modern Ireland. too.
Pre-deceased by his beloved daughter Bethrose, father Ivor, mother-in-law Valerie Tait (Ballyvoloon House, Whitegate, Co. Cork); Mr Green passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family, following a long illness most bravely borne, and while in the care of staff at the Community Hospital of the Assumption, Thurles, Co. Tipperary and University Hospital Limerick City (UHL).
His passing is most deeply regretted, sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his sorrowing family; devoted and loving wife Rachel (née Tait), sons David-óg, Finn and Sam, mother Joan Green (née Lennon, Ayrefield, Kilkenny City), sisters Fiona White and Orla Black, father-in-law Jim Tait, nephews, nieces, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, life-long friend John O’Neill, extended relatives, neighbours and a wide circle of friends.
The extended Green and Tait families wish to express their appreciation for your understanding at this difficult time, and have made arrangements for those persons wishing to send messages of condolence, to use the link shown HERE.
Note Please: Donations in lieu of flowers to Irish Cancer Society in memory of Mr David T. Green.
Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society PRO Mr Tim Maher Reports:-
The Annual General Meeting of ‘Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society’ was held in Lismackin Hall on February 10th 2026 last. The outgoing Chairman Mr Tim Lee welcomed everyone to this their 13th AGM. He thanked everyone for attending the meeting in the Hall and on their videoconferencing application ‘Zoom’. He told the meeting that the club had yet another great year in 2025. He said they had commenced the year with the AGM in February by electing a new committee. Members had continued with very successful hybrid meetings and it has now become part of their normal meeting each month, over the past few years.
He stated that the club had a great visit to Cahir on their Historical Outing; visiting the Swiss Cottage and Cahir Castle, before meeting up with Mr PJ O’Meara from Cahir’s historical society, who took members on a tour around the town. Finishing in the square, the society went to the Cahir House Hotel where they had a meal, on what was described as a wonderful day, on probably the hottest day of the year.
This year they helped the Hall Committee, by applying for a grant under their name to purchase new tables for Hall.
Mr Lee went on to state, “We had a wonderful morning in Clonakenny at the Norebrook Lounge, when we invited the Tipperary Village Tours Tipp FM team, with Allison Hyland and John G O’Dwyer on Friday June 13th. They interviewed and recorded 12 speakers from all the groups in the parish, with music from Davie Brereton, Michael Ryan, and Michael Doyle. The program was later aired on Tipp FM. All interviews were subsequently transcribed for an article in our 2025 publication. Unfortunately, we didn’t have our annual Historical walk/drive this year, due to certain circumstances. We have done all the surrounding rural areas and maybe it’s time to look closer to home again, as it’s been nine years since we had a walk or drive in our own parish. Mr Paddy Coady launched our 12th volume of “Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society 2025” publication in the Norebrook Lounge. Another great achievement, and sold extremely well. Tim thanked all involved in producing this publication, from the authors to the sellers and many more involved. We also launched our website, which is a brilliant achievement, Tim thanked Emma for all her help to date. We have a lot of work to do with the webpages over the coming months but he had no doubt it will be a brilliant resource going forward. We continue to compile research like the Maher families, school, graveyard, memory card, and other historical data, etc. Our Facebook page and private GEDmatch Discussion group page on both on social media remains ongoing, helping to connect new people searching for their family history in different ways”.
Mr Lee further stated that in June, he submitted his resignation as Chairperson of Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society, with effect from tonight. He said he knew it was a bit of shock to the members and that is why after careful consideration he submitted his resignation last June, to give the society time to organize a new Chairperson. “It is time someone new took on the role and bring new ideas to the job and lead it maybe in a new and better direction for the benefit of our society”, he added.
Mr Lee said he had been Chairperson since their formation first in 2013 and during that time he was more than satisfied with what was achieved in that period. When we started, Mr Lee said he could never have imagined the number of projects the society would complete and that to lead this society into so many projects was indeed a great honour.
Mr Lee said that the proudest moment for him was receiving the Ireland XO Volunteer of the Year National award, on behalf of the society in 2015. This was a Government award, and Minister of State and Diaspora Affairs Mr Jimmy Deenihan and Mr Mike Ferick of Ireland XO presented the awards recognising that out of 500 parishes affiliated with Ireland XO that year, they were the most active, reaching out to the diaspora, who were researching their origins and, most importantly, ensuring that every returning member of the Irish diaspora was greeted with a welcome. Very few knew what we were doing outside the parish before then. That award gave Mr Lee great energy to lead the society at that time and look what they have achieved since. “We completed a lot of projects over the years and I didn’t think there was a year when we didn’t implement a significant project or event. Starting in 2013 with the setting up of Bournea Parish Group; the Ireland XO Presentation Night by Henry Healy; the Brief History of Couraguneen Graveyard booklet; all our lectures e.g. Willie Smyth when he packed the hall in 2014 and George Cunningham 2015, Joe Coughlan & Michael Ward 2016, DNA lecture by Tom Ryan 2018, Larry Breen and Rev. Mgr. Dr Maurice Dooley in 2020, the DNA Lecture by Professor Mark Kennedy 2021; first publication in 2014 to our last volume, 2025 (12 incredible publications); all our Book launches, launched by various distinguished people inside and outside the parish, including the Tipp FM Book Launch 2017; The unavailing of a plaque to Tom Delaney in Clonakenny village 2015. The Way we were project, bringing the Couraguneen Church Door back to life, the Commemoration of Toor to Loran in 2016; the school reunion and the outdoor way we were project in Clonakenny in 2017; all the historical walks mapped in our parish and reaching out to our neighboring parishes to do the walks and help them to record the history of their parishes; managing to continue during the Covid pandemic, by introducing different ways to communicate through Zoom meetings and WhatsApp; the sketch we did during Covid to promote the book in 2021; introducing the hybrid meeting in the hall; introducing the DNA GEDmatch Ancestor Project in 2022; the celebration of ten years in 2023; The Graveyard Projects over the years; the Ellis Island Project; digitizing the School Records; the opening of Jim Kennedy’s Castlepark Museum; and finally the new website we have launched in 2025, not forgetting the many smaller projects completed in the past 13 years that we have recorded in our publications.
Photo: Newly Elected Chairperson of Bournea Historical Society Ms Christine Timoney.
After The Chairperson’s address, Vice Chairman Mr Michael Costigan paid tribute to Mr Lee on behalf of the whole group. Mr Costigan said he had always a keen interest in local history and was delighted when Mr Lee asked him in 2012 to help him for a new historical group in the parish. Mr Costigan praised Mr Lee for his brain power and knowledge, as well as his patience and persistence. He said so much would have been forgotten, but those stories will now be handed down to the next generation. Researchers will be delighted with the books that we have published. He thanked Mr Lee for all his work and insight, and wished him health and happiness.
This was followed by the election of Officers 2026. Chairperson: Christine Timoney. Vice Chairperson:(Regional) Michael Costigan. Vice Chairperson:(Global) Anne Evola. Secretary: Ann Feehan. Assistant Secretary: Mary Conway. Treasurer: Dick Conroy. Public Relations Officer (PRO): Tim Maher. DNA Project Admin: Gail Hannigan
Committee Members were as follows: Paud Treacy, Aidan Lee, Michael Kiely, Hannah Greed Quigley, Nora Byrne, Margaret Maher, Philomena Hynes.
Newly elected Chairperson. Our new Chairperson, Christine Timoney lives in the city of Melbourne in Australia. She attends our meetings via Zoom every month. Christine Timoney first joined Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society in 2014 when she rented a traditional Irish cottage in Killough for four months from July to early November. The goals of her extended visit from Australia were to experience something of what it might be like to live in rural Ireland, and to reconnect with four distinct lines of Tipperary ancestors.
On one of those four lines, Christine’s maternal grandfather John Costigan left Borrisnoe for Australia in 1882, arriving as a 19-year-old in Sydney with his sister Mary Anne. They were followed seven years later by two more sisters Annie and Hannah.
John Costigan later moved on to Brisbane where in 1901 he married Honorah McMahon of Portroe. The youngest of their children was Christine’s mother Mary Costigan, born 1909. John Costigan died in Brisbane over one hundred years ago, on 30th July 1925.
Like many nineteenth century Irish emigrants, John and his sisters left more brothers and sisters behind in Ireland, and Christine feels very blessed to have reconnected in 2014 with her extended Costigan-Maher family, a great many of whom still live here.
Throughout her childhood Christine was entranced by exotic-sounding place names like Borrisnoe and Devil’s Bit Mountain, and now, having repeatedly achieved her dream of walking in her ancestors’ home places, she has stepped into the role of chairperson – from afar – of Bournea’s vibrant and active historical group. The group now boasts members from across the parish, elsewhere in Ireland and across the world. Their meetings are hybrid: every month the locals meet in Lismackin Hall while others Zoom into the meeting from Ireland, USA and Australia.
At the group’s recent AGM, Christine paid tribute to their impressive thirteen years of achievements under the inspiring leadership of founding chairperson Mr Tim Lee, and pledged to continue the many successful annual projects, including the publication of a fresh volume of Bournea history every year, the popular historical walk/drive each summer, the public history lecture and the members’ annual excursion to places of historical interest.
This year she also hopes to oversee significant progress in oral history interviews with long-time local senior residents,enhancements to the newly launched Bournea website and a thorough study of the movement of families into, out of and within the parish in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For this last project, the group keenly awaits the release of the 1926 census of Ireland, which will be freely available online from 18 April.
Christine pays tribute particularly to the group’s resilience in adapting to the challenges of the pandemic in 2020 and is grateful that their response was to go hybrid with their meetings. This has created a unique environment for cooperation and collaboration between local residents passionate about history and genealogy, and like-minded descendants of Bournea emigrants who moved to othercountries over the past couple of centuries.
Christine thanks Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society for offering her this unique opportunity to make a difference from afar.
The Ursuline Secondary School community here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, is celebrating with great pride, following the news that former student Ms Jessie Buckley has won the 2026 Academy Award for Best Actress for her powerful performance in the film “Hamnet”.
The Academy’s official results confirm Buckley’s win, while multiple reports noted that she became the first Irish performer to win the Oscar for Best Actress.
Jessie Buckley’s success has been warmly welcomed in Thurles, where she is remembered as a talented and creative former Ursuline secondary student whose journey from the classroom to the world stage continues to inspire immense local pride. Recent local reporting has also identified Buckley as a past pupil of Ursuline Secondary School, Thurles.
Her Oscar-winning role in “Hamnet” has been widely praised by critics and audiences alike, with Buckley earning acclaim throughout the 2026 awards season before securing Hollywood’s highest acting honour. Her performance as Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, has been described as emotionally powerful and deeply memorable, helping to cement her place among the most respected actors of her generation.
For the Ursuline school community, Jessie’s achievement is a moment of enormous joy and celebration. It is a reminder to current and future students that talent, dedication and belief in oneself can lead to extraordinary opportunities. Her story reflects the strength of ambition nurtured at local level and realised on the international stage.
Everyone at Ursuline Secondary School, Thurles, extends heartfelt congratulations to Jessie on this remarkable achievement and wishes her continued success in all future projects.
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