Easter, also called Pascha (Passover) or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial, following on from his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD.
This year (2022)Easter Sunday falls on Sunday, April 17th, in exactly two week’s time.
Meaning of the word Hallelujah.
The word “hallel” in Hebrew means a joyous praise in song. The second part, “Yah”, is a shortened form of “Yahweha”, a lesser known name for God or Jehova, thus the word means “Praise Yahweh”, or “Praise God”, joyously.
An Easter Hallelujah.
Sung by Cassandra Star & her sister Callahan and written by Kelley Mooney
A crown of thorns placed on His head He knew that He would soon be dead He said, “Did you forget me, Father did you?” They nailed Him to a wooden cross Soon all the world would feel the loss Of Christ the King before His Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
He hung His head and prepared to die Then lifted His face up to the sky Said, “I am coming home now Father, to you” A reed which held His final sip Was gently lifted to his lips He drank His last and gave His soul to glory Hallelujah, Hallelujah
The soldier who had used his sword To pierce the body of our Lord Said, “Truly, this was Jesus Christ our Saviour” He looked with fear upon his sword Then turned to face his Christ and Lord Fell to his knees crying Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Took from his head the thorny crown And wrapped him in a linen gown Then laid him down to rest inside the tomb The holes in his hands, his feet, and side Now in our hearts, we know he died To save us from ourselves, oh Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Three days went by, again they came To move the stone, to bless the slain With oil and spice anointing Hallelujah But as they went to move the stone They saw that they were not alone For Jesus Christ has risen, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
“The public is entitled to expect conduct of the highest standards from all those involved in the local government service, be they councillors, county/city managers, other local authority staff or non-councillor members (“external members”) of local authority committees.” – Local Government Act 2001 Ethical Framework for the Local Government Service. View HERE.
Councillors in carrying out their role are obliged to make decisions based solely on consideration of the public interest and the common good. More generally, councillors should in all matters seek to ensure that their conduct does not bring the integrity of their office or of local government into disrepute.
“Continued progress on the Suir river walk” – Quote Councillor Seamus Hanafin. (February 20th, 2022).
“Last year saw the completion of the first phase of the Suir River walk from Thomond Road to Clongour. The path was resurfaced and widened and has made the walk much more accessible and pleasant for everyone. Lots more people are using the walk as a result. Over the next six weeks we will see more progress with two more sections being upgraded. This coming week contractors will begin site preparation works on the pathway running from Monakeeba to the Mill Road through the double ditches. Some vegetation will be removed and illegal dumping cleaned up. Over the next 4 to 6 weeks they will then commence widening of the path, re-surfacing and fencing. This will provide an off road walk from the Mill Road to Kickham Street When this is completed, contractors will then move to Ladyswell to carry out the same works from the Turtulla side to the Mill Road. This work is very welcome and will be a real addition to the amenity of our town. Phase by phase we are delivering a better, safer and more accessible leisure route around our town. As always, I want to acknowledge and thank Thurles Lions Club who have been to the fore in this project and the management and engineering staff of the Thurles Municipal District for their on-going efforts. Work will continue to deliver further sections of the walk.” – View HERE.
NB: Thurles Lions Club in no way wishes to be associated with Mr Hanafin’s press release, which has brought about the wanton destruction of the last visible piece of Thurles town’s Great famine heritage.
Using the video shown hereunder, compare Mr Hanafin’s 6 week old press release with what actually happened last weekend, with an on-site workforce continuing to toil last Saturday in an effort to speed up their destruction. Take into account that in the 6 preceding weeks, as promised, not one supermarket trolley, not one fridge, not one washing machine, not one hoover, not one discarded item of clothing, not one rotting mattress, bottle or canetc. was removed from this Great Famine Double Ditch.
Having taken action without the consent of his local electorate; Fianna Fáil Councillor Mr Seamus Hanafin should now resign his post, as Chairperson of the Thurles Municipal District Council and TD Mr Jackie Cahill, who supported Mr Hanafin, should resign his seat in Dáil Éireann.
“The Local Government Act 2001 (“the Act”) sets out a new ethical framework and imposes a statutory duty on all in the local government service to maintain proper standards of integrity, conduct and concern for the public interest.”Local Government Act 2001[Updated to 19 October 2016].
“Our heritage is about our past, our present and our future and contributes greatly to the quality of life in our urban and rural communities. It is shared by all and is fully inclusive. Interaction with our heritage not only provides physical and mental health benefits but contributes to overall well-being, while biodiversity is an essential component in the functioning of our environment”. – Signed by Mr Joe MacGrath, Chief Executive, Tipperary County Council.
Tipperary County Council Chief Executive Mr Joe MacGrath, in light of his total failure to communicate, and indeed other failures, should immediately also be asked to resign his position.
It is important that our readers take a few moments to peruse the “Inner Relief Road, Archaeological Survey”, paid for by Tipperary Taxpayers; forwarded to me by Ms Sharon Scully, (Thurles District Admin.), following a complaint made by me to the Standards In Public Office Commission(SIPO), and published yesterday HERE. New to her current admin post in Thurles MDC, Ms Scully informed me that the Great Famine Double Ditch did not exist, based on this same Archaeological Survey and indeed so misleading is this survey, her comment in 2021 is totally understandable.
On Wednesday last,March 23rd, we watched, helplessly, as the last vestige of our local Great Famine Heritage was eradicated, together with its rich biodiversity and at least 12ft X 9in of thick, mature Whitethorn. In an effort to call a halt to the destruction of both the biodiversity and heritage, we attempted to contact the offices of the National Parks & Wildlife Service, same department under the umbrella of Minister of State Mr Malcolm Noonan, (Carlow/Kilkenny Constituency).
Indeed, since his appointment as Minister for Heritage (together with Electoral Reform) in July 2020, we had contacted him by email regarding the saving of this piece of Thurles heritage, on numerous occasions. His only reply, dated 22nd Aug 2020, at 20:25 hours, and emanating from Malcolm.Noonan@oireachtas.ie, to me, read:
A chara, Thank you for taking the time to contact me. If your query is in relation to my role as Minister of State with responsibility for Heritage and Electoral Reform, please contact my departmental office at MOS@housing.gov.ie Otherwise, you will receive a response as soon as is practicable.
Is mise le meas, Malcolm Noonan, T.D. Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform. His constituency office passed it on.
Not to be outdone, I contacted the Minister Noonan’s office. A telephonist tasked with redirecting calls to the Parks & Wildlife Service, explained that she couldn’t give me any of the Rangers contact numbers (Private Phones), but she would transfer me to a ranger that was flagged as “active”. There was no reply. In all, she transferred me to 8 different contact numbers with no reply from any of those contacted.
Eventually, I did obtain a number from another office, which accepted a message and I was eventually contacted 28 hours after the first of the whitethorn trees were removed, at about 6:00pm on the following evening.
Without mentioning names of those public servants involved, a message on Fri, 25th Mar, 09:58 read
George, Thanks you for these. I’ll request the Local Ranger —— pay a visit but due to leave this will not take place till next week. Please note that if these works are part of development covered by planning permission, then they are exempt from Section 40 of the Wildlife Act. ‘Unnamed’ will update you on his findings in due course. Kind regards, etc.
My reply read:- You email reply/content is fully noted. To say the very least, I am totally disappointed by the direction currently emanating from the offices of National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWL). Next week will see all of the biodiversity and trees removed from this area. Yours sincerely George Willoughby.
I have been given to understand that prior to approximately 12:00 noon today, a named Wildlife Ranger had visited the site, who was informed that “the trees and other biodiversity had been removed prior to March 1st”, as I had forecast in my email. However photographs taken by me, are automatically dated on digital cameras, which will prove otherwise.
In a final ditch attempt to obtain assistance on 24th Feb 2022, at 20:13 we sent to MOS@housing.gov.ie and to Malcolm.Noonan@oireachtas.ie, an email, addressing the following which included pictures which read:-
Sir, As requested by a telephonist / secretary at your office, I herewith attach pictures of heritage destroyed this week, due to your failure to reply and assist, as I requested back in 2020.
Above also is proof that your office received my communications and then ignored me completely.
I now wish to know, what is your intention to prevent further destruction? Note: Picture DSC_0435 has been levelled. (Picture was of Leeway Gate & Pillars).
Same was built in 1846 together with the blacksmith built gate, which had a market value of at least €2,000. All have been levelled and gate either buried or removed. (Gate has since been returned and dumped on site)
Note: Picture 20220222_180846(Picture of Stile) which shows the stile entrance built in 1846, destroyed by Tipperary Co. Council. I understand that your email system is primitive, not allowing you to read links. In the event that same has improved since 2020, see page 6 of Great Famine Minutes – Thurles/Rahealty Famine Food Relief Committee at http://www.hiddentipperary.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Great-Famine-Minutes-Thurles-1846-1847.
Yours sincerely George Willoughby
The Office of Green Party TD, Mr Malcolm Noonan, (Minister of State for Heritage etc) aided by local Thurles councillors, Thurles Fianna Fáil and Independent TD’s Cahill & Lowry, together with the apathy displayed by Thurles Chamber of Commerce, played out on the business people of Thurles, have now cost Thurles residents; the unemployed; those forced to commute and aforementioned business people, millions of euros in future lost revenues.
In the coming days I will be highlighting this lost tourism revenue issue and also documenting what goes on behind the curtain, within Fianna Fáil, locally, so keep following Thurles.Info.
“If the Government is to restore public confidence in its ability to stop abuse or misuse of power, it needs to accelerate efforts to promote transparency and accountability in public office.”
Approximately, half of the Great Famine Double Ditch, the last morsels of Thurles Towns rich history is now gone for ever, courtesy of “cute hoorism” by local councillors and their attempts at self promotion. Picture shows the base for the new inner relief road being installed.You can see from this picture that this new housing, in no way, impeded on this piece of national heritage. Pic. G. Willoughby.
Before I discuss the current situation regarding the loss of the Great Famine Double Ditch now and over the coming days and weeks, I would like to make the following statement known, to a shocked 5 to 8 thousand daily readers of Thurles.Info. I, George Willoughby, as a former proud member of the hugely respected Thurles Lions Club, wholeheartedly continue to support Thurles Lions club and their magnificent organisation in every possible respect, both in their past charitable efforts and in any future ventures. Thurles Lions Club are an organization comprised of members that give selflessly to Thurles town and its environs. They are collectively motivated simply and solely by a desire to do good and to genuinely help others. They are not currently and never have been, motivated by self promotion like our current local councillors, and millionaire chasing local politicians. They never have and never will use and abuse causes which seek only self promotion.
Tar & Cement – Author Verdelle Smith. “Many years later, tired at last I headed for home to look for my past I looked for the meadows, there wasn’t a trace Six lanes of highway had taken their place Where were the lilacs and all that they meant Nothing but acres of tar and cement. Yet I can see it there so clearly now Where has it gone? Yes I can see it there so clearly now Where has it gone?”.
How Councillor Mr Seamus Hanafin [See last paragraph on Mr Hanafin’s Facebook page, dated February 20th 2022], went on to, quote, “acknowledge and thank Thurles Lions Club, who have been to the fore in this project”remains a total mystery to the Lions Club members with whom I spoke.
This evening March 25th, 2022, I wrote/sent the following email to the editor of the Tipperary Star, Mr Noel Dundon.
The text reads as follows:- “To Mr Dundon, It is with regret that I must now insist that no further photographs (being my intellectual property) either taken in the past, or photographs from my current social media pages and websites, are to be used in any of your publications. As you will be aware 99% of pictures taken and published in the Tipp Star in the past 40 years, were given to your publications totally free of charge.
However, recently you promoted Councillor Seamus Hanafin in an article which I find totally untrue. It claimed that Thurles Lions Club was involved in the Thurles River Walk path project, suggesting that the club were involved in the loss of the Great Famine Double Ditch. In publishing this article you used my picture/image of Thurles River Walk, firstly without crediting the author and secondly using details in your text that I regard as untrue.
This picture must now be removed from all on line publications immediately.
From recent talks with Thurles Lions Club members, no funding came from the Lions club organisation, for these projects and as a former Lions Club member and strong supporter of International Lionism, I find that their name is now being used incorrectly in relation to recent lost heritage; lost to the business people of Thurles, its residents and Thurles Tourism.
It is with regret therefore that I can no longer commit to allowing any of my work to be used in your local papers/editorials. Previous permissions granted are now fully rescinded. It is also disappointing to note that at no time over the past 3 years did any of your publications, despite being approached, attempt to support Thurles people in retaining now defunct heritage; instead deciding to churn out the effluvium sent to you by local councillors and politicians. From next week I personally will no longer purchase your weekly publication, in protest.
I remain, Yours Sincerely George Willoughby.
In the next few days Thurles.Info will be discussing my dealings over the past 3 years with our Government Departments; that of Heritage, National Parks & Wildlife Service, latter in their failure in protection, granted by Section 40 of the Wildlife Act, while under the governance of Green Party Minister for State Mr Malcolm Noonan, and finally the National Monument service, and Tipperary Co. Council’s Heritage Office, all of which are no longer fit for purpose in modern Ireland.
The Atlanta, Georgia US born Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (Pen name, Peggy Mitchell, November 8th,1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American journalist and author who provided us with that great 1939 epic historical romance novel, “Gone With The Wind”; same being one of those golden American pieces of literature that readers and later film goers, worldwide, can truly never forget.
She too had been born into a family with ancestry not unlike that of her novels heroin, namely Scarlet O’Hara.
Philip Fitzgerald, Margaret Mitchell’s maternal great-grandfather, had emigrated from near Fethard, Co. Tipperary, same then a fortified, small walled town, shortly after the 1798 Rebellion.
The family were seen as Catholic refugees attempting to evade oppression. Philip Fitzgerald eventually settled on a slaveholding plantation, near Jonesboro, Georgia, US, where he had one son and seven daughters with his wife, Elenor McGahan, who herself was from an Irish Catholic family.
Margaret Mitchell’s grandparents, Annie Fitzgerald and John Stephens had married in 1863; her parents, father Eugene Muse Mitchell, an Attorney, was descended from Scotch-Irish and French Huguenots, while her mother, Mary Isabel or “Maybelle” Stephens, was of Irish-Catholic ancestry, and were both married at her parents mansion home on November 8th, 1892. For the young Margaret Mitchell, (latter regarded as a ‘Tomboy’); Annie Fitzgerald/Stephens, her grandmother, (latter often regarded as both vulgar and a tyrant), existed a great source of eye-witness information, when it came to stories of the American Civil War.
Published in 1936, her only novel ‘Gone With the Wind’, turned the 4 feet 11 inches tall Margaret Mitchell immediately into an instant celebrity; earning her the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. In the same year Mitchell sold the movie rights to film producer David O. Selznick for $50,000, (Equivalent value today of $838,615 or approx. €747,296), latter being the most ever paid for a film manuscript at that period in time.
The film version, a four-hour epic, starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, both being portrayed as ill-fated lovers Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler came out just three years later; winning a record-breaking nine Academy Awards in 1940. Today more than 30 million copies of Margaret Mitchell’s Civil War Novel have been sold worldwide and same has been translated into 27 different languages.
We will never know just how much of her novel contained tales about Fethard, here in Co. Tipperary, learned from the knees of her parents and grandparents, for alas, on August 11th, 1949, Margaret Mitchell was struck by a car while crossing a street to attend a theatre engagement and, sadly, died five days later.
So how much ancestral Irish influence came to the fore in the fictional imagery of Peggy Mitchel’s mind, when she wrote “Gone with the Wind” ?
Rhett Butler: Would her grandparents have talked largely about the Butler lands which stretched from Co. Kilkenny across Tipperary to Cashel and Cahir? Would they have spoken of Cahir Castle, Co. Tipperary? Cahir Castle, winner of the European Film Commissions Network (EUFCN) Location Award in 2021; is one of the largest remaining castles in Ireland. Today, sited a mere 23 minute drive from Fethard, on an island in the river Suir in Co. Tipperary; Cahir Castle had been built in the 13th century, before being granted to James Butler, then newly created Earl of Ormond, for his loyalty to Edward III, in the late 14th century.
Scarlett O’Hara: The name O’Hara has held a distinguished place in Ireland for centuries, mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, (latter compiled between 1632 and 1636). The current spelling of O’Hara is an anglicized pronunciation of the original Irish ‘Ó hEaghra’, meaning “descended from Eaghra”, latter a 10th century Irish chief.
Plantation Tara : Tara is the name of the fictional plantation in the state of Georgia, in this historical novel “Gone with the Wind.” There is little doubt that Mitchell modelled the fictional Tara Plantation after local plantations and establishments existing before the US Civil War, particularly the Clayton County plantation on which her maternal grandmother, Annie Fitzgerald Stephens (1844–1934), daughter of the Irish immigrant Philip Fitzgerald (1798–1880) and his American wife, Eleanor Avaline “Ellen” McGhan (1818–1893), was born and raised. ‘Tara‘ is also an anglicization of the Irish name ‘Teamhair’. The Old Irish form is ‘Temair’. It is believed this comes from common Celtic, ‘Temris’ and means a ‘sanctuary’ or ‘sacred space’ cut off for only ceremony. ‘Tara’ was once also the capital of the inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland. The namealso appears in Irish mythology. According to the aforementioned Annals of the Four Masters, five ancient roads or ‘slighe’(Ways) meet at Tara, linking it with all the four provinces of Ireland.
The lyrics hereunder written by Pete Seeger’s song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” were taken almost word for word from the Bible (Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). The only words Pete Seeger added were “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “I swear it’s not too late.”
Turn, Turn, Turn.
Lyrics by American folk singer and social activist, the late Pete Seeger, [1919 – 2014].
To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose, under heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose, under heaven A time to build up, a time to break down A time to dance, a time to mourn A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose, under heaven A time of love, a time of hate A time of war, a time of peace A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose, under heaven A time to gain, a time to lose A time to rend, a time to sew A time for love, a time for hate A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late
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