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An Garda Síochána’s National Awareness Day Highlighting Domestic Abuse.

Go Purple Day – An Garda Síochána’s National Day for domestic abuse awareness – takes place next week, on Friday 30th May.

Go Purple Day aims to increase awareness of domestic abuse and the supports available to those experiencing it. An Garda Síochána encourages you to get involved and support this years Go Purple Day Campaign by baking purple; sewing purple or wearing purple.

Perhaps you might invite friends in for tea or hold a coffee morning in the office. All ideas are welcome!

Above all, An Garda Síóchána asks that you speak to one another about this issue. Without realising, you might just give someone the crucial support they’ve needed to begin to share some of the fear they deal with alone.

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, please contact 999 or 112 or your local Garda station.

When Books Are Smarter Than AI.

Cashel Library is a very tech savvy and is up to date in this modern age of AI and downloadable books. It is also the place where you can find an old fashioned, newly published book. In fact, Cashel Library is the place where the noted Professor Bernard Goldbach, Digital Transformation Lecturer at the Technological University of the Shannon, was to discover that ‘Books are smarter than Artificial Intelligence’.

Ms Maura Barrett, Branch Librarian in Cashel Library has been working with Transition Year Students since last September on a Women’s History Project. Ms Barrett explains ‘Libraries by and large are matriarchies’ Maura explains, ‘and therefore we feel duty bound to record the deeds of women as HER Story as opposed to what is already recorded in HIS story.

Back Row: Kelsey Gayson, Rhys Coppinger, Professor Mr Bernie Goldbach (TUS), Conor Flanagan.
Front Row – Ms Maura Barrett (Cashel Librarian), Ruby Maher, Rachel Stockil, Eilis O’Keefe, Cillian Farmer
Missing from photo: Jack Dooley.

Mr Seamus Carr, Cashel Community School’s history teacher was wholly supportive, feeling there is an imbalanced and skewed syllabus for Junior and Leaving Certificate.
Mr Carr said, ‘Primarily students are studying the great men of the world and women are being sidelined’. he said. He even cited Nurse Kathleen Farrell who was literally airbrushed out of the 1916 Rising, stating ‘everybody knows about Padraig Pearse, very few people have heard of Kathleen Farrell.’ He was delighted that his TY students were able to be exposed to some women’s history in a non-school, self-directed learning sort of way.

In total, 10 students took part, both male and female. Students conducted some primary research on local women with the view to getting them to think in terms of HER Story as opposed to HIS Story. They explored mythical women, Viking women, medieval women, enlightenment era women and women of 1916 and Cuman na MBan; right up to women of the 21st Century.

All women researched had a link to Co. Tipperary. They then moved onto genealogy and the tools available to students, via the library service, but with a difference. They researched the matrilineal line and this led to some interesting and fascinating discoveries about their personal heritages. Then each student settled on three women each, with which they wished to showcase and set about recording about 1,000 words each, per woman researched.
After Christmas last, Ms Barrett asked Professor Bernie Goldbach of TUS Digital Arts fraternity, if he could possibly show her, a Generation X person, how to podcast their research so that it could be a transferrable action and create content for Tipperary Studies.
Professor Goldbach went one better. He turned up with very high-tech Podcast suites, Ray Ban Meta SMART Glasses and a portable journalist kit, and together with a whole load of free applications (apps), he created alchemy.
He was very taken with the students, the level of their research and their overall enthusiasm.
Professor Goldbach was to discover that the primary research conducted by the teens was smarter than the AI tools. Having reviewed the original research, (asking CHATGPT and Gemini about some of the research findings, consulting Meta to verify some of the images, whilst viewing them through Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses), they discovered that Artificial Intelligence returned inaccurate research results. So, they decided to stick with the study conducted from the books and manuscripts contained within the library service.

The story doesn’t end there, because students did achieve some interesting results. When using artificial intelligence to create content in other formats, they were able to create audio from handwritten documents for example. Spoken audio clips were able to be generated as video clips and machine learning helped to convert handwriting to digital text. Students recorded short audio summaries of their research, using the Spreaker Studio app.

Digital literacies have become an important skill for everyone who wants to join the fast-moving workspace of today. It is important to know that some tools, like AI, will not be fit for every purpose, but increasingly employers do expect Gen Z’s to be au fait with tools that can increase their productivity.

This research was showcased to parents and students and teachers in Cashel Library and the School Principal, Mr Brian Moran, presented them with certificates of recognition. The 21 Audio clips can be found wherever you find your podcasts by playing ‘Tipperary Heritage and Stories.’

Ms Maura Barrett explains, ‘One of the lovely incidental benefits of this Women’s History Project was the extra skills students gained from Professor Goldbach’s expertise’. Ms Barrett said the students not only went away much more historically informed, they also left with greater confidence and the ability to think independently and approach their research from different perspectives.

Sighle Ní Dhuibhir – Embittered Mistress Of Borrisoleigh, Co. Tipperary.

Tourists/visitors travelling from Borrisoleigh to Nenagh, via route 498, and arriving in the townland of Cullahill, Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary, will observe a crumbling, two storey ruin, or tower house. This ruin is built on the ruins of a castle, latter which clings to a rocky outcrop, known locally as Cullahill castle. Houses built on earlier castle sites usually retain the name of that original castle site.

This building first comes into view on the horizon, easily observed on left-hand-side, as the junction leading to Kilcommon village (L4141) is encounter, just past the bad bends north of Borrisoleigh village.

Drone Footage: Courtesy Pat Corbett (Professional Videographer).
Music:
Courtesy Chris Haugen.

From what remains of this existing two storey ruin today; we can observe that both storeys had fireplaces and chimney-stacks on their south-west facing and north-east facing walls.

This visible eerie ruin, especially on late winter evenings, dates back to the early 17th century, and is reckoned to be only the second building on this elevated site. As the drone footage above shows, the ruined foundations of the older castle still exist, same estimated to date from as early as the 13th century.

It was one fortress of the Dwyer clan, latter who, over a 200 years period, constantly feuded with the nearby Bourke clan, in matters pertaining to agrarian claims, before finally the two clans eventually made peace.

It is believed that part of the peace negotiations between the Dwyer and Bourke clans was that a sister of the Dwyer clan, residing at Cullahill castle, named Sighle Ní Dhuibhir, would marry Chief of the Burke clan, Walter Burke, latter residing at Borrisoleigh castle, close to Cullahill castle.
However, after four years, in 1623, Walter died, leaving all his possessions in the hands of his wife Sheila, the latter who by this time had become an cruel, embittered mistress who immediately abandoned her husband’s castle at Borrisoleigh and moved back to Cullahill castle.

Sheila had gained the reputation of being a local tyrant and history stands her accused of committing horrendous acts of cruelty on both her enemies and those who simply incurred her wrath.
It is claimed that, at least on one occasion, she placed an enemy in a barrel containing internal spikes, before rolled him down the steep hill, just metres from south east of her abode. The action was repeated until her enemy died.

Others enemies, legends state, met a torturous death by being tied up and submerged in barrels of boiling water, killing them slowly.

Sheila also stands accused of the cruel murder her sister Cáit (Kathleen). It is said that Cáit had eloped with her stepson Ulick, seen then as a “moral relapse” by Sheila.
So displeased was Sheila that she, by means of deception got them to return to the castle, before making them both prisoners.
She ordered both of them to be hanged naked from the battlement of Cullahill castle, hung by their ankles, for them to be scalded to death while in that position, using boiling water poured on them from couldrons above.

Other storeys claim that she regularly had one night stands with lovers and like the Australian Redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), she would then kill her mate the following morning.

Sheila met her own end when she was killed by one of her own soldiers. Again legend states it was her daily habit, on rising from her bed each morning, that she would walk towards the open window and stand surveying her property. It is believed she was killed possibly by accident, when an arrow was shot from a bow by a nearby soldier. It is said that a loud, high-pitched and intense scream reverberated throughout the Castle walls before her lifeless body was later recovered from the ground at the foot of the castle wall. Sighle Ní Dhuibhir was buried in Glenkeen old cemetery, outside Borrisoleigh village.

Eerie tales are often repeated in connected with these same aging ruins. It is said that a sow (female pig) and its bonhams (baby pigs) can be heard screeching in the castle ruins at certain times of the year, while the sound of strange music can be heard on other annual occasions.

Local legend states that gold remains hidden underneath the floor area of the castle. Two young men, legend claims, once set out to locate this hidden treasure. They dug down into the floor of the castle and came upon a large stone slab. They managed to lift the stone slab just slightly and from underneath emerged a huge black bird, who attacked one of the men with its beak, injuring his face, before flying away, never to be seen again. The story goes that this slightly injured young man was suddenly taken seriously ill and died within a few days.
To date no treasure has ever been discovered.

Bealtaine Festival, Cashel Library Events.

Ms Maura Barrett, (Cashel Library) Reports:

On Monday next, May 19th at 3:30pm – Join us for an afternoon with author Ms Carmel Harrington.

From Co. Wexford, Ms Carmel Harrington is an International bestseller of thirteen novels.
Ms Harrington debut was a multi-award-winning novel and several of her books have been shortlisted for an Irish Book Award.
She is a regular on Irish TV screens and radio and has been a guest speaker at Literary events in Ireland, UK and USA. She was also Chair of the Wexford Literary Festival for three years.

Ms Harrington will chat about how she started her career as an author as well as read from her latest novel, while taking Q & A from her audience.

We are delighted to facilitate this evening with Ms Harrington as part of our library Bealtaine events.

Remember, to book your place, please contact Tel: 062-63825 @CrlTipperary @TipperaryCountyCouncil #LibrariesIreland #Bealtaine.

Visitors attending events can locate the Cashel Library building; situated on Friar Street, Lady’s Well, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, HERE. (G487+RX).

Bealtaine Festival, Cashel Library Events.

Ms Maura Barrett, (Cashel Library) Reports:

Tomorrow, Wednesday May 14th beginning at 2:00pm sharp until 4:30pm.
An Introduction to Photography with Cher Gleeson, Cashel Library.

Unlock the full potential of your phone/camera in this informative and hands-on session. Whether you are a beginner or looking to improve your skills this workshop will help you capture stunning images and gain practical insights that you can apply immediately.
Perfect for beginners.
Booking essential to 062-63825 @ETB @TipperaryCountyCouncil #LibrariesIreland #Bealtaine FREE Event.

Thursday May 15th beginning at 2:00pm sharp until 3:30pm.
Stories in Motion: A Theatre Workshop for Adults Cashel Library.

Join in our engaging theatre workshops for adults, where creativity, storytelling and fun take centre stage. No experience needed just bring your enthusiasm! Wear loose clothing on the day!
Booking essential 062-63825 @TipperaryCountyCouncil @LibrariesIreland @ETB @CrlTipperary #Bealtaine FREE Event.

Visitors attending events can locate the Cashel Library building; situated on Friar Street, Lady’s Well, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, HERE. (G487+RX).