Turas Siar 356 - Tomás Mac Sheáin as Acaill faoi agallamh ag Máirtín Mac Donnchadha: Misean Nangle agus stair eile.

Sea

Yes.

So fuair siad léann fuair siad

So they got learning they got.

D'fhoghlaim siad scileanna, chuir siad fostaíocht ar fáil.

They learned skills, they provided employment.

Fostaíocht ar fáil agus ní amháin seo thóg siad séipéal agus ba thuig na chuig na Proinsiasaigh a théadh, cuir i gcás, na daoine i gcomhair Aifreann baisteadh pósadh 'chuile shórt go dtí naoi déag ceathracha nuair a tógadh an séipéal nua i mbun an ghoraí agus sin nuair a d'fhág na Proinsiasaigh i naoi déag seachtó haon agus bhí mise i mo chomharba orthu ó thaobh na hoideachais dó.

Employment was available and not only that, they built a chapel and it was there that the Franciscans used to go, for example, the people for Mass, baptism, marriage, every sort of thing until 1940 when the new chapel was built in Bun an Ghiorraí and that’s when the Franciscans left in 1971 and I was their successor in terms of education...

Céard a tharla le gur imigh siad, tá siad, tá siad imithe le deich mbliana fichead anois.

What happened that they left, they are, they have been gone for thirty years now..

Le deich mbliana fichead anois, bhoil, ní raibh, ní ní raibh daoine ag dul isteach, ní raibh dóthain, ní raibh dóthain iontu, ní dóigh liom go bhfuil, sílim go bhfuil duine nó beirt sa tír anois ag múineadh, b'fhéidir nach bhfuil.

For twenty years now, well, there wasn't, no there weren't people going in, there weren't enough, there weren't enough of them, I don't think there are, I think there is one or two people in the country now teaching, maybe there aren't...

Ní raibh dóthain Proinsias.

There wasn't enough Francis..

Nach bhfuil?

Isn't it?

Ach dhún siad na mainistreacha uilig i Maigh Eo, an ceann amuigh taobh amuigh de Chaisleán an Bharraigh anseo in Oiriú agus áiteacha eile dúnadh iad agus tá an príomháit acu thíos thuas sa Chreagán i nGaillimh.

But they closed all the monasteries in Mayo, the one outside Castlebar here in Oiry and other places were closed, and their main place is now up down in Creggan in Galway.

acu nuair a bhí siad ag imeacht as Acaill céard a bhí fanta go fisiciúil, mar a déarfá.

with them when they were leaving Achill what was left physically, as you’d say...

Rud a bhí fanta ná thit an an thit an mhainistir i léig now i naoi déag tháinig mise go haca naoi déag seasca agus ní raibh agam ach seachtain anseo nuair a chuaigh mé síos go bunaitheoirí ag déanamh maoirseoireacht ar an scrúdú bunteistiméireachta shéideadh na múinteoirí thart agus agus ag am lóin thug siad cuireadh dom teacht aníos agus bhí an bráthair ansin sílim gur an Bráthair Anthony bhí sí sin a bhí sí ina ghasúr eisean a bhí sa chistin agus ní théid sé ní théid sé taobh amuigh den den chistin ach bhí a gcuid aráin féin acu a gcuid ime féin.

One thing that remained was that the monastery fell into decline now in nineteen—I came to the dock in nineteen sixty and I had only been here a week when I went down to the founders supervising the primary certificate exam, the teachers were blowing around and at lunchtime they invited me to come up and the brother was there—I think it was Brother Anthony—that was it, he was a boy, he was in the kitchen and he wouldn’t go, he wouldn’t go outside the kitchen but they had their own bread, their own butter…

Sea

Yes.

A gcuid meala féin agus bainne 'chuile shórt féin acu agus ach bin naoi déag deich mbliana sular fhág siad ach bhí sé ag titim i léig an dtuigeann tú ní raibh na ní raibh an oiread sin ar siúl is a bhíodh na blianta ó shin. Ní raibh fir óga ag dul isteach san ord is cosúil. Ní raibh dóthain acu agus b'éigean cuir i gcás i mbunaitheoirí mná a fhostú mar mhúinteoirí rud nár tharla you know ní raibh sé mar mar nós ag na ag na Proinsiasaigh go mbíodh mná ag múineadh agus bin an chaoi a raibh sé so shocraigh siad ar imeacht i naoi déag seachtó is a haon agus de bhrí go raibh an oiread sin tionchar acu ar an áit agus ba chuid den áit iad shíl muintir Áfa gur mhór an trua dá gceannófaí go príobháideach é.

Their own honey and milk, every kind of thing themselves, and only since nineteen ten years before they left, but it was declining, you understand, there wasn’t as much going on as there used to be years ago. Young men weren’t joining the order, it seems. They didn’t have enough, and it was necessary, for example, to employ women founders as teachers, which hadn’t happened—you know—it wasn’t the custom among the Franciscans for women to be teaching, and that’s how it was, so they decided to leave in nineteen seventy-one, and because they had so much influence on the place and were part of the place, the people of Atha thought it would be a great pity if it were bought privately.

A gcuid meala!

Their honey!

Bhí

Was.