He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast, And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past. Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done, In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.
And tho’ sometimes, to his neighbours, his tales became a joke, All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke. But we’ll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away, And the world’s a little poorer, for a soldier died today.
He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife, For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life. Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way, And the world won’t note his passing, though a soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state, While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great. Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young, But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man? Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife, Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?
A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives. While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all, Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.
It’s so easy to forget them for it was so long ago, That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys, Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand, Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand? Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?
He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin, But his presence should remind us we may need his like again. For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honour while he’s here to hear the praise, Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days. Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say, Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.
Two Armistice Day Associated Events will be happening here in Thurles over the coming week.
Event No. (1):
For just 1 night only, War Dead Databases will be available for viewing and consultation by the public in The Old Abbey Inn, Holycross, Thurles, Co. Tipperary on Friday 9th November, 2018, from 7.00pm to 9.00pm. Admission to this event will be free.
So, if you have had a relative killed in the Great War, he or she will be recorded in these databases. Same are the most comprehensive roll of WW1 Irish casualties in the World and include 26,000 photographs of serving personnel published in the 26 county newspapers of the period. They cover all the casualties and include over 10,000 that are not listed in Ireland’s Memorial Records.
If you have an item from the war, e.g. medals, uniforms or equipment, do bring them along, where they will be identified.
These War Dead Databases were used to compile 31 WW1 books, including the “Tipperary War Dead” and the “26 County Casualties of the Great War”, and have been kept in Camden Fort Meagher in Crosshaven, Co. Cork. They can be searched by ‘Place’, ‘Name’, ‘Unit’, ‘Date of death’, ‘Burial place’or ‘Memorial’ and cover all the Allied Armies, Navies, and Air Forces, in the U.S., Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.
Any voluntary donations to this latter event, on the night, will go to the Suir Haven Cancer Support Centre, situated here in Thurles.
Event No. (2):
“A Nations Tribute” will take place across the world, when pipers from various countries will play the tune, ‘The Battle’s Oer’ at 6.00am on November 11th, 2018; commemorating 100 years since the signing of the Treaty, which ended the Great War.
On Nov. 11th. 2018 (Armistice Day), here in Thurles, Piper John Moloughney together with pipers from the Sean Treacy Pipe Band, representing Moycarkey & Borris, Co. Tipperary, will play at a monument dedicated to John Cunningham, V.C. at his birthplace (Born 28th of October 1890) in Stradavoher, (Hull Street), Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Educated at the Christian Brothers School, (CBS) Thurles, John, before the war, was employed as a farm labourer. John went to France on 19th December 1914, becoming a Corporal in the 2nd. Battalion, the Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians).
On 12th April 1917, at Bois-en-Hache, France, he was in command of a Lewis Gun section on the most exposed flank of the attack. His section came under heavy enfilade fire and suffered severely. Although wounded he succeeded almost alone in reaching his objective with his gun, which he got into action in spite of much opposition. When counter-attacked by a party of some twenty of the enemy, he exhausted his ammunition against them, before standing in full view to throw bombs. He was again wounded and fell, but he picked himself up and continued to fight single-handed with the enemy until his bombs were exhausted. He then made his way back to his lines with a fractured arm and other wounds. Corporal Cunningham died 4 days later in hospital at Barlin from the effects of his wounds, on 16th of April 1917.
He is buried at Berlin Cemetery, Plot 1, Row A, Grave 39 near Nouex Les -Mines. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for Bravery in action. There is a tablet bearing his name in St. Mary’s cemetery, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
His brother, Pakie (Patrick) Cunningham is also buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard, Thurles. He also died at home on 4th. June 1915, from wounds received in France. He was a Lance Corporal in the 1st. Leinster Regiment.
Piper John and his companions now intend to play at John & Pakie Cunningham’s birthplace at 6.00am on the morning of November 11th. 2018 and in St. Mary’s Churchyard at 11.00am on the same date.
Progress Report On Templemore Flood Relief Scheme – Michael Lowry T.D.
Independent Deputy Mr Michael Lowry has today confirmed that “further to a number of meetings with Minister Boxer Moran concerning my desire to ensure that the Templemore Flood Relief Scheme is advanced as quickly as possible I have been informed by the Office of Public Works (OPW) that the main scheme is progressing. Also an engineering solution has been identified and agreed with the engineering staff of Tipperary County Council, to resolve the flooding problems at Blackcastle Road and Priory Demesne which have had a huge negative impact on residents of that area”.
Independent TD Mr Michael Lowry
Deputy Lowry stated:
• The Templemore flood relief scheme commenced construction in June 2017, being carried out directly by OPW staff, with specialist contractors engaged as necessary.
• The OPW have 10 directly employed staff committed to the scheme, active on 5 different sites across Templemore. If necessary an additional crew will be assigned to the site to keep within the completion time scale.
• Work has been progressing in several areas of Templemore, with 3 field bridges now complete, and 2 further bridges under construction.
• Over 130m of new channel has been excavated, with 320m of existing river downstream from the town having been widened.
• A structure on the Richmond road has been demolished successfully, and works on utilities diversions are also ongoing.
• OPW staff have been in ongoing discussions with landowners in the area, as well as with concerned bodies such as Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) and the local angling club.
• It is envisaged that, barring significant delays, works should be completed towards the end of 2019.
Deputy Lowry stated that he is very grateful for the support of Minister Boxer Moran and the commitment of the OPW to this project. “I am satisfied that all of the disappointments and setbacks of the past have been overcome with this scheme coming to fruition next year”, Deputy Lowry concluded.
Accusations of under-investment and charging exorbitant development duties to start-up companies and other enterprise projects were levelled against Tipperary County Council yesterday; as up to some five thousand citizens of all age groups, took part in a march through Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary, in protest at what was described as “years of solid neglect and lack of investment by various governments”.
Organisers of the #march4tipp protest described their area as being an unemployment black spot with employment figures in excess of five times the national unemployment average. Some 22 businesses were recognised as having ‘shut shop’, in the town’s main thoroughfare in recent years.
Organisers were particularly vocal in their criticism of Tipperary Co. Council; accusing them of investment failure and being anti-business with regards to their dealings, while making exorbitant development charges on companies and other enterprise start-ups.
Against a backdrop of funding now being promised for the regeneration of Dublin’s inner city; educational institutions here in Tipperary town claim to be suffering from significant disadvantage, through not receiving DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) funding.
Tipperary County Council reject these claims, stating Commercial Rates in the town are among the lowest within the State and further reiterate that it is fully committed to working together with businesses to develop the economic, social and tourism potential of Tipperary Town.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael election hopefuls had conveniently vacated Tipperary Town for at least some of yesterday and were busy canvassing the housing estates of Thurles town, pushing election literature through unsuspecting letter boxes, in the faint hope of being granted substantial salaries; expenses, and into the future, that ever-lucrative State pension for their early retirement.
Regrettably the Kilshane House, Co. Tipperary “free lunch”, hosted by the tax payers supporting Tipperary Co. Council and held back in early 2017, attended by over 200 guests from the Multi-National and Indigenous Sectors, Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, as well as high profile figures drawn from the world of Sport and Entertainment, not to mention the former Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mrs Mitchell O’Connor, failed to return even one single, miserable dividend.
Independent Presidential candidate, Mr Peter Casey, yesterday visited a new, yet controversial, 1.8 million ‘state of the art’ housing estate here in Thurles. The estate, built for the benefit of the Tipperary Traveller community here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, continues to remain vacant. His visit, which saw a large Garda presence in the area, came just days after Mr Casey made, what some would claim, controversial comments about the Traveller community.
A number of Traveller families are refusing to move into these homes at this €1.8m Cabragh Bridge development, because of a dispute with Tipperary County Council, regarding the availability of stables and land for horses.
Mr Casey had described this Traveller action as “blackmail”, and on a recent Podcast, claimed the State’s recognition of the Traveller community as being an ethnic minority was “a load of nonsense” – “these people that are camping on someone else’s land” – “They are not paying their fair share of taxes in society”.Mr Casey and his lady wife, Helen, on arriving at Cabragh Bridge, stood to view the housing development, with Mr Casey uttering quietly under his breath, the words “Solar panels”, while others thought similarly but remained silent.
Mr Casey addressed the media, as he stood outside the now barricaded gates of this vacant housing development, but made no attempt to meet any Traveller family in temporary accommodation across the road from the houses, claiming he did not wish to“invade upon their privacy.”
RTE TV’s midland correspondent, Mr Ciaran Mullooly, was on hand to interview Mr Casey regarding his comments on the formal recognition of Travellers, suggesting same were perhaps some what racist in content towards this Traveller assembly, who had been identified as a distinct ethnic group within the Irish State by former Fine Gael Taoiseach Mr Enda Kenny.
Mr Casey, who had been proposed or seconded by four county councils including Tipperary Co. Council, was quick to explain his remarks“My position is that the Irish Proclamation [1] states that we should cherish all the children equally. It doesn’t say we should cherish some children more equal than others. Once President, I wouldn’t be able to say anything, but now that I can, I think that it just wrong, downright wrong.”
[1] Mr Casey was correctly referring to an extract taken from the Irish Proclamation of Independence, [Poblacht Na H Eireann The Provisional Government Of The Irish Republic To The People Of Ireland], which states:- “The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past”.
When asked what he hoped to achieve by his recent remarks, he stated that he wished to “bring attention to this situation. People need to stand up and say something is wrong, as people tonight sleep rough on the streets of Dublin”.
When it was suggested to him that there was a legal process currently under way with regards to Irish homelessness, he replied that“it seemed to be taking rather a long time”.
A group of protesters, representing the Traveller community, arrived late outside the Cabragh Bridge development yesterday, as Mr Casey was leaving, however despite being only a few metres away they did not attempt to communicate with Mr Casey.
In a written statement, released by and on behalf of Traveller families to all media personnel present, they now deny demanding stables or “paddocks” from the council; stating on the other hand that they had agreed to move to the houses if “grazing land” was provided for their horses.
In this statement, the Traveller community declare that “as proud Traveller families living peaceably at Cabragh Bridge, Thurles, for four generations, we want to express our horror and disbelief on the hateful media campaign being waged against us and, it seems, against every Traveller family in Ireland”.
With the present incumbent President Mr Michael D Higgins having the support of Fine Gael, it came as no surprise that the Fine Gael Taoiseach, Mr Leo Varadkar, yesterday stated that Mr Casey’s remarks were “very divisive and largely designed to get attention for him and his campaign”.
Since his visit to Thurles, Mr Casey has decided to take the weekend off from his campaigning in order to ponder carefully, on whether he should continue in this presidential election race. However it was obvious from yesterday that Mr Casey has now garnered strong support, particularly from those dwelling in remote rural Tipperary, latter who have been the target of continued criminal activity being carried out by roaming gangs. Could this be another case of, to use the words of Thomas Davis, (Editor of The Nation newspaper in the 1840s), “Where Tipperary Leads, Ireland Follows”.
President Higgins, is also being supported by Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats and the Green Party. Election pamphlets being paid for by Fine Gael are using pictures of their elected TD’s and Senators, rather than pictures of the President, with claims that President Higgins has banned political parties who are backing his re-election, from using his image on any literature or posters published.
Sinn Féin’s Presidential candidate, Ms Liadh Ní Riada, is also for some reason distancing herself from her party support, by conveniently leaving Sinn Féin off all her election posters
Fine Gael Minister Mrs Regina Doherty has stated that Fine Gael plan to spend between €50,000 and €100,000 in assisting the incumbent President, while the Labour Party are spending up to around €70,000.
Meanwhile do note that those representing Fine Gael who are requesting us to provide them with substantial salaries; expenses, and a State pension, into the future have indicated that they are visiting Thurles tomorrow, (anxious no doubt to avoid tomorrows embarrassing ‘Rural Development Neglect protest’ in Tipperary Town), to undertake some “reconnaissance” and perhaps generate support. Five words if you meet them “Thurles Ring Road – What Date”.
In the wake of the resignation by Louth TD Mr Peter Fitzpatrick from the Fine Gael party last night; poll topper and Tipperary Independent TD Mr Michael Lowry is increasingly likely to hold the balance of power in terms of passing the upcoming Budget on October 9th, next. The resignation of Mr Fitzpatrick will now further reduce the strength of Fine Gael in Dáil Éireann from 50 seats to 49.
An Taoiseach Mr Leo Varadkar last night stated that he was sorry to learn of Mr Fitzpatrick’s resignation, latter whom had been a strong opponent of the holding of the last Referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
While Mr Lowry remains silent as we go to press; Mr Fitzpatrick has stated that he believes Fine Gael are “style over substance”, and he, as a TD, had remained increasingly isolated while within the party structure. In terms of his political future Mr Fitzpatrick stated that he would now continue to represent his constituency as an Independent politician.
Mr Fitzpatrick said he would continue to support the Government in the forthcoming Budget, but only if he is convinced that it will assist the “squeezed middle who paid a big price during the years of austerity.”
The Fine Gael party will also now be depending on the support of another Independent, one Mr Michael Harty TD, for the county of Clare. Mr Harty had previously announced that he would remove support for this upcoming Budget in protest at the permitted closure, by this government of post offices in our rural villages.
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