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I hope the recent scandals in the Catholic Church will not discourage the noble tradition of the cleric as the social champion of the people. It is time that we had their like to nail their colours to the mast once again. Growing up in the last century, I was familiar with such names as Fr James McDyer and his tireless campaign against the official neglect of Gleann Cholm Cile; and Canon George Quinn and his fight for better social housing. There were several others, who have spilled over into recent years, including Fr Peter McVerry and his fight for homeless people in Dublin, and Fr Harry Bohan and his belief in the staying power of families in rural Ireland. But the champion of them all, the priest with the soft voice and a twinkle in both eyes, was the indefatigable Monsignor James Horan. Not only did he re-design the village of Knock to make it more people friendly, he built schools, clinics, and a convent, and a vast basilica. He organised community water schemes, and forestry plantations, and built an impressive international airport in the bogs of Mayo. 

THE MAN sitting behind me laughed uproariously. Volleys and explosions of mirth erupted from other punters nearby. A standing ovation greeted the final curtain. Yet Vernon God Little completely bypassed my own funnybone and that is nothing to do with Decadent’s fine stage adaptation of DBC Pierre’s Booker-winning novel. His brand of humour just doesn’t float my boat.

First match for Galway: 

Galway’s Oscar Wilde Festival takes place next weekend for its third year, from Friday, September 4, to Sunday, September 6. The festival boasts a packed programme and will see Wilde experts and enthusiasts gather to celebrate his life and work in a west of Ireland setting. 

The west of Ireland is set to become a key telecommunications and data gateway over the coming months with the construction of a new transatlantic fibre optic cable system which will have the capacity to handle up to one third of the world’s telephone calls.  This follows the installation of the Irish portion of the cable in Killala, last Friday – the first time a cable of this type has been connected to the Western region.  

Following the huge critical and popular success of their production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman earlier this year, Decadent Theatre Company are back with another exciting, high-profile, show; the stage adaptation of DBC Pierre’s Booker-winning novel, Vernon God Little.

The Dillons were a well known and respected family in Galway. It was put about that it was his determination that his five children should have a thorough knowledge of the Irish language, that led professor Tom Dillon, and his wife Geraldine (Plunkett), and their two maids, to leave the rambling Dangan House, and to settle in Barna, a small Irish speaking fishing village, four miles on the other side of the town.