This article is from page 67 of the 2011-12-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 67 JPG
CLARE GAA have been called upon to make their new Michael Cusack Archive that’s now housed at its Áras Chiosóg headquarters in Clareabbey available to members of the public to view for research purposes.
In making the call, Br Sean McNamara, who donated the material to Clare GAA earlier in the year, said that granting public access to Michael Cusack papers he had collected over three decades was crucial to keeping the legacy of the GAA’s founding father to the fore.
“As you all know, nobody would be here tonight with Michael Cusack,” said Br McNamara. “During the past 30 years, I have been collecting materials dealing with the life and times of Michael Cusack.
“All the information I collected over the years – and being of an age that I may not be much longer on this planet – I have decided to make it available.
“Des Crowe suggested to me that the proper thing to do with it would be to give it to the county board. During the month of May, we spent many hours putting together the material.
“It consists of 14 folders of material – in other words there is in excess of 200 items. For those of you who may not know, all the material belonging to Michael Cusack is in the university of Galway.
“That is not much use to people, because it is almost impossible to get a look at it. I’m one of few to have seen the material, because last May I gave the university 12 items.
“By giving the material to the county board it means that people wanting to get information relating to Michael Cusack will be readily available. That’s readily available and I hope that this will happen,” added Br McNamara.
The Kilmurry McMahon man used the platform of Thursday’s Convention to launch a volley in the direction of Ennis Town Council, over what he called the local authority’s misrepresentation of Cusack’s proper place in GAA history.
“There are still people who think that the GAA was not the brainchild of Michael Cusack,” said Br McNamara rounding on detractors of the Carron man.
“It was Michael and Michael alone who thought up the founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association,” continued Br McNamara.
“There are a number of information boards in Ennis. It is located on Francis Street, close to where Clare FM was and it says ‘The GAA was the brainchild of PW Nally, 1857-91. He suggested his idea to his friend, Michael Cusack and active Fenian’.
“On both counts it’s wrong. It wasn’t PW Nally’s brainchild. It was Michael Cusack’s brainchild,” added Br McNamara.