Congratulations to Athea U-13s seen here celebrating winning the
Div 3 County title

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí   Éireann

The A.G.M. of the Athea branch will take place on Monday October 16th at 8pm in Batt’s Bar. All members arte asked to attend.

Music and singing classes are up and running every Thursday night and future sessions are being arranged.

Free community group classes

West Limerick Resources will be holding a free 3-night master-class series in October on community group policies, procedures, marketing, volunteer recruitment and more.

This will be taking place on the 4^th, 11^th, and 18^th of October, from 7 – 9 PM, in the Desmond complex, Newcastle West.. Spaces are limited I would ask each interested community group to nominate 2 committee members to attend.

Text Amber at 085 279 6993 with your name and group

Congratulations to Kathleen Flaherty who won Best Dressed Lady on Ladies Day at Listowel Races.

The Way I See It

By Domhnall de Barra

This time of year brings to mind an era when many men from our area went to England “on the beet”.  This is going back to the last century when labour was in short supply after the 2nd world war and agents came from the sugar factories in the UK to offer jobs to men who were on the dole at the time.  Employment was very scarce in Ireland at then and taking a job for the winter was a godsend for those who were depending on the dole and a day here and there with farmers. Many of these men were married and had to leave wives and families for the length of the campaign. It must have been very lonely for them being away from loved ones and those at home looked forward to the day when their men returned. Sometimes they were finished for Christmas but, more often than not, it was well into January before they got home. The work was tough, sometimes having to lug big heavy sacks, but they were used to hard work in those days and it didn’t bother them and the pay was very good in comparison to wages at home.  Some of them went back to the same place every year and formed lasting friendships with men from other parts of the country. When they left on the train to go over there was great sadness but when they arrived back it was like a carnival with children waiting for a glimpse of their father and wives delighted to have their men home again. A few jars might be taken before they went home. It is no coincidence that there were many children born in the fall of the year in those days!  Some of those who went on the beet fished for salmon from the 1st of March onwards. Salmon were very plentiful in the Feale at the time and they were guaranteed a few catches every week.. Between that and the beet money they were able to look after their families during tough times. We now have full employment here and there is a shortage of labour in many industries. We are now depending on people coming from abroad to fill the many vacancies that exist so the wheel has come full circle.

The mayhem that occurred outside the Dáil the other day is to be condemned by any right-minded person.  The right to protest is a part of our constitution and it gives groups an opportunity  to highlight their grievances in a public manner. It is a reminder to politicians that they should act in the interest of all the people and keeps them on their toes. What happened last week had nothing to do with legitimate protest. It seemed to be a rabble who were intent on name calling and both verbal and physical abuse. There seemed to be no coherent message except for shouts like “traitors” and “Ireland for the Irish”. I have no doubt that those who originally organised the protest had the best of intentions but there are far right professional agitators who latch on to any protest to further there own ends. We see it all over the world, particularly in France when, lately, there was a lot of protest about the raising of the retirement age. Most of these protests descended into attacks on the police, burning of cars and looting of shops. This is not protest, it is thuggery and criminality. Why burn somebody’s car, somebody not even known to you or damages a premises whose owner may even be sympathetic to your cause.?  The hardcore far right are anarchists who have a very different view of things from most people and the sad thing is that they are growing all over the world. It is very obvious in America where it led to an attack on the houses of parliament. The cause is not helped by people like Donald Trump with his slogans like “America first” and his opposition to immigration. The people who say “Ireland for the Irish” should have a long think. Yes, we have full employment now but, as always happens, boom is followed by bust and there will come a time when, like a few short years ago, Irish workers may have to emigrate to make a living. When that time comes how will they feel if other countries had policies like America for Americans, Canada for Canadians, England for the English and Australia for Australians. They say what goes around, comes around but I hope there are enough people in power with the good sense to crack down on those who flagrantly break the laws of the land. It has to be handled carefully because these rioters would like nothing better than a pitched battle with the Gardaí but at the same time action has to be taken. There is too much hate in the world and we seem to have learned nothing from the likes of Hitler, Joe Stalin and others who almost destroyed the human race. This should not deter people from staging legitimate protests but they need to be careful to exclude those who will only do harm to their cause. Politicians have to make decisions that are sometimes unpalatable but may be necessary for the ongoing welfare of the economy. There is however a tendency, coming up to budget day, to do a “Santa Clause” act and be seen to give gifts to certain people and organisations. This is in spite of the fact that it goes against all professional advice and will put the future at risk but the priorities for our lawmakers is to get re-elected. That is number one, their party is number two and the country comes a poor third. That is just the way the system works but I do hope that prudence will prevail and handouts will not be given, especially to those who are well off and don’t need any assistance.

Church Notices

Ide Naofe Pastoral Area (Athea, Abbeyfeale, Mountcollins, Templeglantine and Tournafulla).

Canon Tony Mullins 087 2600414, Fr. Willie Russell 087 2272825, Fr. Denis Mullane 087 2621911

and Fr Dan Lane 087 2533030 (retired). Sunday Duty Oct. 1 st Rev. Fr J Keating 087-6322212

Weekday masses on Tuesday morning at 9.30am and Thursday evening at 7pm.

Eucharistic Adoration & The Devine Mercy Chaplet on Tuesday morning after mass.

Baptisms on the 4 th Saturday of the month at 2.30pm – next date Saturday Oct 21 st 2023.

Next baptism course on Tues Oct 10 th at 8pm, contact Theresa for further details 087-1513565.

Parish Administration: Tues-Fri 11am-1pm. call Siobhan on 087-3331459, outside these hours

text or email [email protected]

Intentions (All masses are streamed live on https://www.churchservices.tv/athea)

Paddy Dalton, Nathan & Tony Ambrose, Martin Dalton after the County Final