Thurles Information

Gardaí At Nenagh, In North Tipperary, To Host Property Marking Event.

Gardai at Nenagh in North Co. Tipperary will host a ‘Property Marking Event’ at Arrabawn Homevalue premises, latter situated at Tyone, South of Nenagh, on Wednesday next, May 1st, between the hours of 12:30pm and 3:30pm.

**‘Property Marking Event’**
*Picture courtesy of An Garda Síochána.*

Persons wishing to have items of property marked on that date, are reminded to please ensure they have their EIRCODE with them.

The machine being used can mark items including trailers, chainsaws, power tools, bicycles, lawnmowers, etc.

High Court Judge May Impose Custodial Sentence On Circuit Court Judge.

A former fifty-nine-year-old Circuit Court judge, who was also a former Dublin Secondary School Teacher; a Solicitor and a Thurles Fianna Fáil local District Councillor, is expected to be sentenced on May 29th next, having been found guilty of the sexual abuse/assault of six young men, some 30 years previously.

Mr Gerard O’Brien, a Thurles native, with an address at the Old School House, Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co Tipperary, was earlier found guilty by a jury, in 2023, of one count of attempted rape and eight counts of sexual assault, in relation to the six unnamed complainants.

These offences are understood to have taken place in Dublin, between March 1991 and November 1997. Mr O’Brien was a secondary school teacher and aged in his late 20s and early 30s at that time, while the unnamed complainants were his students or former students. Latter were aged between 17 and 24 and are now aged in their 40s and early 50s.

Former barrister and now a Judge of the High Court since 2019; Mr Justice Alexander Owens has stated that it was likely he would impose a custodial sentence on Mr O’Brien and has asked for a report from the prison service about how they can meet Mr O’Brien’s needs in prison, in view of his obvious disabilities.

Mr O’Brien was born with the rare congenital condition, known as Phocomelia, which has resulted in him being born with no arms and only one leg; same injuries brought on by the congenital anomaly of the drug Thalidomide, brought into prominence as a characteristic side effect of the use of the drug thalidomide, used during pregnancy.

Mr O’Brien had initially denied all the allegations against him, but following the guilty verdict, he conveyed his resignation to the President in accordance with the requirements of section 6 (2) of the Courts (Establishment and Constitution) Act 1961, in early January of this year.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens has today questioned if the school could have done more to protect their students.

Irish Blessing In Music & Song.

May the Road Rise to Meet You.

Irish “Go n-éirí an bóthar chun bualadh leat”, translates as “May the Road Rise to Meet You”.

Lyrics: American musician, singer-songwriter Roger McGuinn and his wife Camilla, (the former was founder and leader of ‘The Byrds’).
Vocals: Irish American singer-songwriter, Cathie Ryan.

May the Road Rise to Meet You.

Summertime the sun would shine, we’d lay out in the field,
Sheltered in the shadow of a tree.
We write our songs to take along,
And sing out on the road,
And you would always sing this song to me.

Chorus.
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be at your back,
May the sun shine down warm upon your land,
May the rain fall soft upon your face until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Autumn leaves would leave the trees,
In colours on the ground.
Swirling patterns beautiful to see.
I’d lay my head down on your lap,
I would not make a sound,
And you would always sing this song to me.

Repeat Chorus.

In the winter days the trees would shiver in the wind,
Waiting for the warming touch of spring,
You’d hold me in the firelight.
We’d stare into the flames,
And this is what you always used to sing.

Repeat Chorus.

May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

END

A Song For A Sunday.

Here Comes That Rainbow Again.

The lyrics, hereunder, were inspired by the novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, written by American writer (and winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature) the late John Steinbeck (1902-1968).

Vocals and Lyrics: American retired country singer, songwriter, and actor Kris Kristofferson.

Here Comes That Rainbow Again.

The scene was a small roadside café.
The waitress was sweeping the floor.
Two truck drivers drinking their coffee,
And two Okie* kids by the door.
“How much are them candies?” They asked her.
“How much have you got?” She replied.
“We’ve only a penny between us”,
“Them’s two for a penny,” she lied.
And the daylight grew heavy with thunder,
With the smell of the rain on the wind.
Ain’t it just like a human?
Here comes that rainbow again.

One truck driver called to the waitress,
After the kids went outside.
“Them candies ain’t two for a penny”.
“So what’s it to you?” She replied.
In silence they finished their coffee,
Then got up and nodded goodbye.
She called, “Hey, you left too much money”.
“So what’s it to you?” They replied.
And the daylight was heavy with thunder,
With the smell of the rain on the wind.
Ain’t it just like a human?
Here comes that rainbow again.

END
*Okie – An inhabitant of Oklahoma.

A 269 Year Old Thurles Recipe For Cheese Cake.

“Little Miss Muffet, she sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider, who sat down beside her, and frightened Miss Muffet away.

As promised on April 21st, 2024, a 269 year old recipe, adapted from the manuscript book of Catherine Hughes, Killenaule, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, dated 1755, and published by Mrs Theodora FitzGibbon, in her book ‘A Taste Of Ireland’, published 56 years ago, in 1968, is published hereunder.

**Milk going to the creamery**, **pictured in the** **late 19th century,** **at Killenaule, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.**

Cottage cheese, once considered to be the least desirable item to pick up in your supermarket’s dairy aisle, is now being heralded as one of the best items to put in your shopping basket.

Cottage cheese, as the name implies, is a type of cheese made up of curds and whey liquid (yes, the very thing Miss Muffet was eating before being rudely interrupted by that spider). It hasn’t always been celebrated for it lumpy wet consistency, but health enthusiasts highlight that it is a good source of calcium. More importantly, cottage cheese is naturally very high in protein, with on average, a whopping 11g of protein per 100g. Protein is essential for human growth and repair and for helping us to maintain our muscle as we get older.

A quick internet search will yield hundreds of cottage cheese recipes including pancakes, breads and desserts, but here’s a recipe for cottage cheese that is 269 years old.

Curds (Grut in Irish) formed an extensive part of the diet of the ancient Irish. They are mentioned in the earliest documented sources. Various early cheeses were made from them; one cheese being ‘faiscre grotha’, (Irish meaning literally ‘pressed curd’).
The Reverend Richard Hopkins Ryland* in ‘The History, Topography and Antiquities of the County and City of Waterford’, dated 1824, says “Cheese made from skimmed milk and called ‘Mullahawn’ was formally an article of commerce in Waterford and was exported in large quantities…”

*Reverend Richard Hopkins Ryland was born in 1788, the descendant of 16th century Protestant planters who had settled in Dungarvan, Co Waterford. Generations of the family became ‘Church of Ireland’ ministers.
Rev. Ryland married Isabella Julia Fleury (latter nine years his junior), the daughter of the Rev. Archdeacon George Louis Fleury of Waterford in 1818; at St. Patrick’s Church, Waterford.
The couple had six sons and two daughters.
His best known historical work was ‘The History, Topography and Antiquities Of The County And City Of Waterford’, (published 1824), which was dedicated to the Duke of Devonshire, while he also published religious pamphlets.
He died in 1866, aged 78 years, followed by his wife Isabella Julia in 1873; aged 76 years, in South Kensington, Middlesex, England. The Tipperary ‘Clonmel Chronicle’ newspaper published her official ‘Death Notice’.

Pastry.
6 oz (6 heaped tablespoons) of flour.
3 oz (3 heat tablespoons) butter.
1 tablespoon sugar.
½ teaspoon salt.
Water.

Filling.
½ lb (2 cups) sweet curds or cottage cheese.
2 eggs, separated.
2 heaped tablespoons sugar (vanilla sugar if possible).
Grated peel and juice of half lemon.
1 tablespoons of butter.

For the topping.
1 egg and one tablespoon each of sugar, flour and melted butter.

First make the pastry by mixing the fat into the flower, sugar, and salt, to a firm pliable dough with a few tablespoons of water. Cool if possible before using. Make the filling by well mixing the curds with the sugar, soft butter, grated peel and juice of the lemon and the beaten egg yolks. Beat is well, then add the stiffly beaten egg whites. Roll out the pastry to fit a flan-tin, 7 in-8 inch across, line the tin with it and paint the bottom with beaten egg (this prevents the bottom pastry becoming heavy).

Put the filling into the pastry case, and, using the rest of the egg, mix it with the topping sugar, melted butter, and flour. Pour this evenly over the top. Bake in a moderate oven (350° F. electric; gas regulo 4) for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
Serve cold, but not chilled, cut into wedges.