St Brendan The Navigator Feast Day May 16th

Ancient Order of Hibernians St Brendan the Navigator Division Mecklenburg County Division # 2

ISSUE # 3 MONTHLY NEWSLETTER VOLUME# 7

March 2015 Our next business meeting is on Tuesday, March 10th at 7:30 PM

Holy Spirit Parish Center Denver

2015 Officers

Chaplain Father Paul McNulty President Dick Seymour Vice President Lee Madden

Secretary Tom Dowd Treasurer Chris O’Keefe

Fin. Secretary Ray FitzGerald

Standing Committee Joe Dougherty

Marshall Sean Ragan Sentinel Ron Haley

Past President Ray FitzGereld

www.aohmeck2.org

"Níor bhris focal maith fiacail riamh."

Translation: "A good word never broke a tooth."

President’s Message

St. Brendan the Navigator Pray for Us St. Patrick Pray for Us

Erin go Baugh Brothers,

Here we are, the month of St. Patrick, a busy month for our Division. It’s time to proudly display our

heritage. If you haven’t been able to participate in or volunteer to help at our events or activities in the

past, this is the perfect time to make that extra effort. Keep alert to our e-mails, website and information in this Newsletter to see how you can help.

As we approach St. Patrick’s Day, be alert to stores, kiosks, vendors promoting or selling merchandise

that defames or disparages the Irish heritage. Typical are t-shirts depicting the Irish as drunkards and the like. Don’t hesitate to complain either in person or in writing to the vendor or the establishment’s

management that you find this offensive and politely ask them to discontinue displaying or selling the items.

Our big day will be Saturday, March 7th when we’ll be hosting our Fifth Annual Hibernian Dinner & Show celebrating St. Patrick. The event will be at the Msgr. Kerin Parish Center at St. Mark. We have

great entertainment lined up and, like last year, there will be a ceili plus a sing along plus several other surprises. We need a strong turnout from our members, their families and friends to ensure the

success of the event. In the event that your wife can’t make it to the dinner, consider buying a ticket and try to join us anyway. We always need help during the evening selling 50-50 tickets, helping at the

bar and coordinating the servers, etc. and especially help with the clean-up.

The price this year is the same as last year, $25 and a special price for children 12 years of age and

under ($15). We’ll need help around 3pm in the afternoon to set up the parish hall.

This year we will be having a silent auction with several quality items with the biggest item being four

(4) tickets to the University of Virginia /Norte Dame football game in Charlottesville, VA. I know that this item will bring in several large bids and hope to have a credit card machine available so you can

put your bid on a credit card.

On Saturday March 14th, we’ll join other Hibernians from the Sons of Erin and South Carolina in marching in the annual Charlotte St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Brothers should wear khaki slacks and green shirts (Division shirts would be preferable, long or short sleeve). Families are invited and

encouraged to march with our group. We’ll begin the day with a 9am Mass for the Hibernians at St. Peter’s Church on North Tryon St. in Charlotte. What better way to start the day than with a Mass in

honor of St. Patrick. The parade route is usually around a mile, so you don’t have to be an Olympian to trek the streets of Charlotte. After the march, be sure to visit the Charlotte Goes Green Street Festival,

where there will be plenty of food, entertainment and merchandise. Stop by the Sons of Erin AOH division’s booth, where they sell the best corn beef sandwiches around.

On the Feast Day of St. Patrick, Tuesday, March 17th, we’ll be celebrating our annual AOH St. Patrick’s

Day Mass at Old St. Joseph’s Church in Mt. Holly (2139 Mountain Island Highway/NC 273, at the intersection of Sandy Ford Rd.). The Mass will begin at 10:00 am and we will be joined by our Brother

Hibernians from Charlotte and the Ladies AOH Ladies of the Lough Division. Before the Mass we will have a blessing of the grave of the church’s founder and first pastor, Fr. T. J.Cronin, a native of County

Cork. Be aware that there are no restroom facilities at the church. St. Joseph’s is the oldest standing

Catholic Church in North Carolina and is an historical site. Since the parish is inactive, the Mass of St. Patrick is one of the two or three Masses celebrated there throughout the year. After the Mass we will be

heading over to the Family Restaurant in Stanley, a local establishment for food and refreshments. This Mass and the gathering afterwards are open to members and guests.

Balloting is now open for you to nominate a Division Brother for the Hibernian of the Year award. We

will present the award at our Anniversary Dinner (April 30th), at Jeffries in Mooresville, in a private room upstairs, which will celebrate the sixth anniversary of our Division’s founding. At this dinner we will

also have the formal installation of the 2015 officers.

Time flies when you’re having fun!

Our March business meeting will be on March 10th at Holy Spirit PAC center in Denver.

The March social will be a St Patrick’s Day celebration at Brian Fay’s Cork and Cask on March 17, 2015 at 6:30 PM. Many of us have been there before.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that we are now in the season of Lent. Try to increase you spirituality during this period. One example is to participate in the 40 Days for Life peaceful witness at

a local abortion mill, where we pray for a change of heart and for the end of abortion. Your parish bulletin will provide you with opportunities.

St. Brendan the Navigator, pray for us!

Dick Seymour

"Statue outside the Cobh Heritage Center, which is dedicated to the history of Irish emigration."

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR TICKETS YET?

St. Brendan the Navigator AOH Proudly Presents

Our 2015 Hibernian Dinner & Show

St. Patrick Celebration

When: Saturday, March 7, 2015

6:30pm to 10:00pm

Where: St. Mark Catholic Church

Msgr. Kerin Family Center

14740 Stumptown Road

Huntersville, NC 28078

Musician/Ventriloquist BRIAN TIERNAN’s dynamic guitar/banjo playing traditional lively, family-friendly, sing-a-

long, songs followed by a set with the RINCE NA H’EIREANN School of Traditional Irish Step Dancers. Tis a grand

time you’ll be having when you join us at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.

Tickets: $25.00 per Adult

$15.00 Children 12 and Under

For Reservations: e-mail: aohmeck2@aol.com or contact:

Ray FitzGerald at (704) 992-1702

Dick Seymour at (704) 960-4500

Ticket Includes: Entertainment, Irish Dinner, Dessert and Coffee

Beer/Wine Cash Bar *50/50* Raffle Prizes

*PLEASE PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS BY MARCH 2, 2015*

*NET PROCEEDS WILL SUPPORT CATHOLIC EDUCATION*

March Birthdays

Patrick Phelan Division Brother March 1st

Heather Seymour Daughter of Brother Dick March 4th

Father Josh Voitus Division Brother March 5th

Elizabeth Madden Daughter of Brother Lee March 5th

Leanne Vaccaro Wife of Brother Tom March 6th

Michael Schilling Son of Brother Larry March 7th

Deacon Bob Murphy Division Brother March 12th

Jack Leahy Son of Brother Ted March 12th

Scott Albertson Son of Brother Ed March 19th

Dan O’Brian Son of Brother Bob March 22nd

Patty Leahy Daughter of Brother Ted March 24th

Dexter Koehl Assoc. Member March 28th

Chris O’Keefe Division Brother March 31st

Scott Albertson Stepson of Brother Ed March 31st

March Anniversaries

Vicky & Mike Daniels March 4th

Angeles & Bob Murphy March 16th

“Cuimhnigi ar na daoine ar thainig sibh”

“Remember the people from whom you came”

Division Calendar of Events for

March 2015 March 7th, Hibernian Dinner & Show at St Mark’s

March 10th, Division Business Meeting Holy Spirit 7:30PM

March 14th, St Patrick Day Parade Downtown Charlotte

March 17th, St Patrick’s Day Mass at St Joseph’s, Mt. Holly 10:00 am

March 17th, Division social at the Cork & Cask 6:30 pm

March 28th, Irish Movie Night at St Mark’s Admission is FREE 6:00pm

"Customs House in Dublin." "Row houses in Cork."

"Powerscourt Estate." "A bagpiping corps in the Waterford

City, Co. Waterford, St. Patrick's Day parade.

Irish America News

.

Irish American buys all of Walmart’s offensive t-shirts, will return them March 18

Since IrishCentral first published a story about Kevin Westley’s mission to buy up stereotyping Irish t-shirts from

Walmart in the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day and return them March 18, the Long Island, NY Irish dance instructor and

radio host has been overwhelmed by the response. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would get this big of a

reaction,” he said during a catch up phone call.

The initial interview with Kevin, published on Thursday, has received almost 8,000 shares and over 200 comments. His

story was picked up by ABC and FOX news, and a camera crew from CBS paid a visit to his home. He also has a series

of interviews lined up with radio programs in Ireland for Monday morning.

This marks the second year that Westley has taken a stand against the sea of green t-shirts that appear in stores before St.

Patrick’s Day, stereotyping the Irish as drunks and linking Irishness to alcoholism. Fed up with a lack of response from

the Walmart stores and the corporate channels he complained to, Westley decided to take matters into his own hands –

buying as many of the t-shirts as he could carry, keeping them in boxes and the trunk of his car and, per Walmart’s

exchange policy, returning them all on March 18. He had two aims in sharing his story. “My first goal was to get the t-

shirts off the shelves, the second was to get people talking about this.

“At least people can now read the story and make their own decision – is this guy just a retired nut who has too much time

on his hands or is he concerned about stereotypes?”

Westley takes the issue very seriously, recalling an uncle who died of cirrhosis and the stories his grandfather told about

the “No Irish Need Apply” signs he saw growing up in Boston. “It’s nothing to make fun of,” he said.

Unlike last year, Westley said, he has received a lot of positive feedback, with people from New York on down to Florida

saying they're going to do the same thing.

But there have been naysayers and detractors, people saying things like “I hope they charge you for re-shelving” or “I

hope they don’t’ take [the t-shirts] back.”

“Why act like that about it?” Kevin asked. “Why can’t we just have an intelligent, polite conversation?."

He has also heard from the manager of a local Walmart in connection with one of the complaints he had lodged, though

the phone call wasn’t entirely productive.

One of the offensive t-shirts in question.

“When I stated to explain everything to this fellow he didn’t seem to have a clue what I was talking about. ‘What shirts do

you mean?’ he asked, etc. I said ‘you may not see them there because I have them all in the trunk of my car but you'll see

them on March 18 when I return them!’”

Westley said that he is unconcerned about Walmart changing its return policy in light of the publicity his campaign has

received.

“They can't do it retroactively, they have the 90-day return policy printed on their receipts and on signs above the

customer service desk,” he said. “The shorts have not been worn and the tags will be on them when I bring them back.”

Still, he added, “my wife keeps looking at me saying you're on the hook for $400 dollars if they don’t.”

"A pretty view of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin." "Doolin Village, County Clair."

News from Ireland

Aer Lingus slashes transatlantic fares and adds extra flights

Aer Lingus announced a new transatlantic sale that will see will see one-way flights between Ireland and North America starting from $649.

Round trip rates from North America start from:

New York to Shannon: $699 New York to Dublin: $719 Boston to Dublin: $799 Chicago to Dublin: $899 San Francisco to Dublin: $1,099 Toronto to Dublin: $649

Sale fares apply for travel between April 13 and June 15, 2015 and must be booked before 7:00pm ET on March 3, 2015.

The Aer Lingus flights are still considerably more expensive than the $350 return flights announced by Icelandic airline WOW in early February. Beginning in October, WOW Air will fly from Boston and Washington DC to Dublin, although these initial prices are the airline’s lead-in rate and will include a two-hour stop-over in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.

Aer Lingus also announced the addition of new flights on the Chicago route that will see Aer Lingus operate up to ten flights a week between Dublin and Chicago during November and December. The twice-daily flights will add a further 13,000 seats to the route over Thanksgiving and Christmas following strong demand for seats during this period in 2014. Last year was massive for transatlantic travel with an increase of 14% in the number of passengers arriving in Dublin from North America. That growth thrend is expected to continue in 2015. Data from the period November 2014 through January 2015 show that the number of passengers traveling on Aer Lingus' north Atlantic routes rose by 9.1% compared to the same period in 2013/14. This summer there will be 158 weekly departures from Dublin Airport to North America.

Further additions to Aer Lingus’s transatlantic model this year will include additional flights from Dublin to San Francisco, Orlando and New York as well as the establishment of a new service to Washington-Dulles. These additional flights will represent an 18% expansion in the airline’s long-haul capacity this summer.

The airline will also introduce its new business model across its transatlantic fleet next month. Lie-flat seats, 16-inch HD screens and "on-demand" dining will all be introduced in the business class seats of direct flights to North America.

The sale announcement comes as Aer Lingus is the subject of a takeover bid from IAG.

A Wee Bit of Irish Trivia

"The Quiet Man" stars the Shields boys were IRA members and Protestants

The motion picture that defines Ireland to many Irish-Americans is John Ford’s “The Quiet Man.” Although made over

60 years ago, many still believe that the sentimental Ireland depicted in the film was the “real” Ireland of the time. It

wasn’t—and probably never was. The things about the movie that still resonates is those involved in it, especially its

director, Irish-American John Ford, and two of its scene-stealing stars—Barry Fitzgerald and Arthur Shields.

Even today many don’t realize that Barry (real name William Joseph Shields) and Arthur were brothers. Fitzgerald was

born in 1888 on Walworth Street in the Portobello section of Dublin. (As a child he played with the younger siblings of

James Joyce who he called “a young man with a beard and very clever.”)

He was followed eight years later by his brother, Arthur. (Their house, right next to the Jewish Museum, is today marked

by a plaque.) Their father, Adolphus, lists his occupation in the 1901 Census as “Press Reader,” but he was well-known in

Dublin as a labor organizer.

One of the big secrets of the family is that, although the brothers made their living in part playing Catholic priests, they

were all Church of Ireland. (It should be noted that their mother, Fanny Sophia, who was born in Germany, lists her

religion in the 1911 Census as “Agnostic.” Their sister Madeline lists her religion as “Spiritualist”—very outspoken for

women in early twentieth century Catholic Dublin!)

Arthur Shields is one of the great stories of twentieth century Ireland. He became involved early at the Abbey Theatre and

worked there as actor, director and stage manager. (He was known as “Boss” Shields.) But, still unknown to many, is that

he was also a patriot. In 1916 he was a member of the Irish Volunteers and was prepared to fight on Easter Sunday when

the orders were countermanded.

On Easter Monday the revolution was on again, and Shields went to the Abbey and retrieved his rifle from under the

stage. He went around the corner to Liberty Hall and joined with James Connolly’s Irish Citizen Army. (Connolly, an

ardent socialist and master labor organizer, admired his father and congratulated Arthur on his parentage.)

He then marched to the General Post Office in Sackville Street where he fought before evacuating on Friday. He was sent

to Stafford Prison in England with another famous rebel—Michael Collins—and from there they were both sent to the

Frongoch prison camp in Wales. Both would return to Dublin by the end of 1916, Collins to terrorize the British and

Shields to return to the Abbey stage.

William Shields—known as Will to his friends—worked in the Irish civil service in Dublin Castle, which must have been

an interesting place during the War of Independence. After the Easter Rising he joined his brother at the Abbey and

befriended a playwright by the name of Seán O’Casey. While Arthur, tall and lean, was the romantic star of the theatre,

Barry Fitzgerald—he took the pseudonym because he was still working in the civil service while moonlighting as an

actor—was short and quiet, but had a comic magic that today would be simply translated as “star power.”

Barry’s relationship with O’Casey would soon have Ireland’s foremost playwright writing parts for him, including

Captain Boyle in Juno and the Paycock and Fluther Good in The Plough and the Stars. In fact when that play premiered at

the Abbey, riots broke out and little Barry was seen boxing outraged theatre-goers who attempted to take the stage.In his

wonderful book, Hollywood Irish, Adrian Frazier makes a very salient point about the two kinds of people—Catholic and

Protestant—working at the Abbey. O’Casey, also a Protestant, burst on the scene after the Irish civil war with The

Shadow of the Gunman and became the most prominent Irish playwright since John Millington Synge (also a Protestant).

Shadow was followed by Juno and the Paycock and then by The Plough and the Stars. Plough proved to be an incendiary

play in the Dublin of its day. It questioned much of the nationalistic dogma of the time and brought earthliness—it

contained whores, drinkers and looters—that upset much of the hierarchy in both government and Church.

It also created a chasm at the Abbey. The Catholics actors were very dubious and nervous about some of O’Casey’s tenets

as expressed in Plough, while the two Shields brothers sided with their friend O’Casey. This chasm turned into an open

wound when the Abbey, under Yeats and Lady Gregory, rejected O’Casey’s The Silver Tassie.

The Shields brothers and O’Casey started to look for greener pastures. Fitzgerald and O’Casey found them in London,

while Shields, for the moment, remained at the Abbey. But the (barely) state-subsidized Abbey was in terrible financial

shape and it was decided that the Abbey Players would go on the road to America to keep the theatre afloat.

After the repressive, smothering atmosphere of Catholic Dublin in the new Irish Free State—Arthur Shields famously said

that he didn’t want to “say your prayers in Gaelic”—the United States seemed wonderful and invigorating. It also gave

the Shields brothers a chance to make real money for the first time, something almost impossible in their itinerant trade

back in Dublin. America also contained something called “Hollywood” and the lure would take several years, but finally

seduced, first Barry, then Arthur.

Both worked in John Ford’s film version of The Plough and the Stars. While Arthur continued with the Abbey Players in

many capacities, Barry stayed in Hollywood where after appearing in Bringing up Baby with Cary Grant and Katherine

Hepburn, he became a familiar face. The brothers would be reunited for Ford’s How Green Was My Valley and The Long

Voyage Home. With the advent of World War II they were stuck in America and continued to work, mostly as reliable

character actors.

Fitzgerald’s big break came when he was cast as the ancient Father Fitzgibbons (although he was only 56 at the time) in

Going My Way. To put it mildly, he stole the picture from Bing Crosby and was nominated for two Academy Awards, as

Best Supporting Actor (which he won) and Best Actor (which Crosby won).

(It’s interesting to note the disparity in salary: Crosby was paid $150,000, while Fitzgerald only pulled down $8,750.)

Fitzgerald’s dual nominations forced the Academy to change the rules in that no one actor could be nominated in two

categories for the same role.

The Oscar made Fitzgerald a star and he went on to receive top billing in movies, including the seminal Naked City

(1947). In this innovative Mark Hellinger production, filmed on the streets of New York in documentary style, Fitzgerald

plays a tough New York homicide detective out to solve the murder of a model. For its time the film is full of forensic

science. The movie led to the television series Naked City and without it there would be no Law and Order and CSI. In

fact, Jerry Orbach’s Law and Order detective Lennie Briscoe owes a lot to Fitzgerald’s Lieutenant Dan Muldoon.

Fitzgerald made a lot of films—some pretty good like And Then There Were None and Union Station and some awful

like Top o’ the Morning—between Going My Way and The Quiet Man. Shields meanwhile found steady character work

in over thirty films and TV work during the same period. But John Ford’s The Quiet Man was to be the apex of both their

careers.

The Quiet Man remains one of the most beloved films of all time, but it is interesting culturally as well. Fitzgerald plays

the roguish matchmaker Michaleen Oge Flynn while Shields plays the kindly Protestant minister, The Reverend Mister

Cyril Playfair. Another Abbey player of renown, Eileen Crowe, plays Rev. Playfair’s wife, while an Abbey up-and-comer

by the name of Jack MacGowran made his movie debut, playing the fawning little squint, Ignatius Feeney.

The Quiet Man, ironically, represents a changing-of-the-acting-guard for the works of both Seán O’Casey and Samuel

Beckett. O’Casey wrote parts for Fitzgerald, which, in the years ahead, would be played by MacGowran. (MacGowran

was on Broadway playing Fluther Good in The Plough and the Stars when he passed away from pneumonia in New York

in 1973 at the age of 54; his last movie part was in The Exorcist.)

And in the years ahead MacGowran would become Samuel Beckett’s favorite actor and Beckett would write parts

specifically tailored to MacGowran’s talents. “Author and actor are so commonly rooted in spirit,” wrote Mel Gussow in

the New York Times in 1970 about MacGowran’s one man show, Jack MacGowran in the Works of Samuel Beckett,

“that if Beckett were an actor he would be MacGowran, and if MacGowran were a writer he would be Beckett.”

After The Quiet Man Fitzgerald’s career tapered down and he made only four more films and a few television

appearances. He died in Dublin in 1961. Shields continued to work steadily, especially in television. His last film

appearance was with Charlton Heston in The Pigeon That Took Rome in 1962. Unsurprisingly, he played a Vatican

priest, Monsignor O’Toole. He died in 1970 in California. The Shields brothers are buried side-by-side in Deansgrange

Cemetery, Blackrock, Dublin. Barry Fitzgerald headstone lists only his birth name, William J. Shields. Both, home at last.

"Rock of Cashel in Tipperary." "Dublin Market."

Cities & Towns of Ireland

Buncrana, County Donegal

Buncrana (/ˈbʌn.krænə/; Irish: Bun Cranncha, meaning "foot of the (River) Crana") is a town in County Donegal,

Ireland. It is beside Lough Swilly on the Inishowen peninsula, 23 kilometres (14 mi) northwest of Derry and 43

kilometres (27 mi) north of Letterkenny. In the 2011 census, the population was 6,839 making it the second most

populous town in County Donegal, after Letterkenny, and the largest in Inishowen.

Buncrana is the historic home of the O'Doherty clan and originally developed around the defensive tower known as

O'Doherty's Keep at the mouth of the River Crana. The town moved to its present location just south of the River Crana

when George Vaughan built the main street in 1718.

The town was a major centre for the textile industry in County Donegal from the 19th century until the mid-2000s

(decade). On the northern bank of the River Crana as it enters Lough Swilly sits the three-story O'Doherty's Keep, which

is the only surviving part of an original 14th century Norman castle. The first two levels of the keep were built after 1333.

In 1601 the O'Doherty's Keep was described as being a small, two-story castle, inhabited by Conor McGarret O'Doherty.

In 1602 the third level was added and it was upgraded by Hugh Boy O'Doherty as an intended base for Spanish military

aid that hoped to land at Inch.

The keep was burned by the English in 1608 in reprisal for the rebellion of Cahir O'Doherty who sacked and razed the

city of Derry. After Cahir O'Doherty was killed and his land seized, the keep was granted to Sir Arthur Chichester, who

then leased it to Englishman Henry Vaughan, were it was repaired and lived in by the Vaughan family until 1718.

In 1718, Buncrana Castle was built by George Vaughan, it was one of the first big manor houses built in Inishowen, and

stone was taken from the bawn, or defensive wall, surrounding O'Doherty's Keep to build it. It was erected on the original

site of Buncrana, which had grown up in the shadow of the keep. Vaughan moved the town to its present location, where

he founded the current main street and built the Castle Bridge (a six-arched stone single lane bridge) across the River

Crana leading to his Castle.

During the 1798 Rebellion, Theobald Wolfe Tone was held in Buncrana Castle when he was captured after the

British/French naval battle off the coast of Donegal, before being taken to Derry and then subsequently to Dublin. On 18

May 1812, Isaac Todd bought the entire town of Buncrana, also the townlands of Tullydish, Adaravan and Ballymacarry,

at the Court of Chancery on behalf of the trustees of the Marquess of Donegall. His nephews inherited the castles, and

they later became known as the Thornton-Todds. The castle remains as a private home today. In the forecourt there is a

memorial rock in honor of Sir Cahir O'Doherty, and a plaque dedicated to Wolfe Tone.

When John Newton and his shipmates on The Greyhound found a haven in Lough Swilly on 8 April 1748 after a

devastating Atlantic storm, he saw his survival as divine intervention, the answer to prayer. The refuge of the Swilly and

Buncrana area laid a spiritual foundation for a reformed later life. In 1764 he became a Church of England clergyman and

subsequently, as curate at Olney in Buckinghamshire, an anti-slavery activist and renowned hymnist famous for writing

“Amazing Grace”.

One of the oldest remaining inhabited residences in Buncrana is a Georgian property called Westbrook House, situated at

the entrance to Swan Park just north of the town center of Buncrana. The house was built in 1807 by Judge Wilson, who

also built the single-arch stone bridge (referred to as Wilson's Bridge) leading to the house and the entrance to Swan Park.

In October 1905, Buncrana was the first town in County Donegal to receive electricity. It was generated at Swan Mill

which continued to provide electricity for the town until September 1954 when Buncrana was brought under the ESB

Rural Electrification Scheme.

On 30 July 1922, during the Irish Civil War, Buncrana was captured by the Free State forces from Republican forces

without the loss of life. The Free State forces held the railway station, telephone and telegraph offices and all the roads

entering the town. At 4:00am a sentry stopped a car on the outskirts of the town and on discovering it contained the

Republican commander, with five armed volunteers, arrested them. At around 7:00am the Republican forces' position was

surrounded and was given fifteen minutes to surrender. They complied, were arrested and their weapons and ammunition

seized. Later that day, 100 Free State troops commandeered a train at Buncrana station and proceeded to take Clonmany,

Carndonagh and other locations on the peninsula.

Buncrana was the object of public attention in 1972, when after Operation Motorman it became the place of refuge for

many Provisional Irish Republican Army members from Derry. In 1991, a local Sinn Féin councilor, Eddie Fullerton, was

murdered by loyalists from Northern Ireland. Buncrana Town Council is the Local Authority for the town and provides an

extensive range of services in the area. These services range from planning control, to the provision of social housing, to

the upkeep and improvement of roads, maintenance of parks, beaches and public open spaces. According to the Council's

website, it "plays a proactive role in the development of the town.". In partnership with Donegal County Council, the

Council assists in assuring economic growth in the town. Buncrana Town Council is made up of 9 elected members.

Members are elected according to the system of proportional representation, usually for a period of five years. The Mayor

of the Council is elected from the membership at the Annual General Meeting of the Council. The mayor, as of 2014, is

councilor Peter McLaughlin. Buncrana is part of the Donegal North–East constituency of Dáil Éireann. At the 2011

general election, three TDs (Teachtaí Dála) were elected in the constituency; Pádraig Mac Lochlainn of Sinn Féin

obtained 24.5% first preference votes, Joe McHugh of Fine Gael got 19.3% first preferences and Fianna Fáil candidate

Charlie McConalogue received 17.4%

MARK YOUR CALENDARS Saturday, March 28th at 6:00 PM the First of Four IRISH

FILM NIGHTS at St Mark’s Catholic Church’s Kerin Center hall. Admission is FREE.

Refreshments will be available for purchase. This first film

will be a FAMILY film, Darby O’Gill and the Little People. So bring the children and the grandchildren.