This article is from page 84 of the 2008-10-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 84 JPG
INAGH man Flan Garvey will this week become the first person ever to obtain a degree from a college that he is also in charge of. Besides being a member of Clare County Council, Garvey is chairman of the govern- ing body of Tralee IT and will this week be conferred with a degree for his research work on the Inagh and Kilnamona parish.
Flan has just completed a 400 page thesis which is the culmination of 3 years research into the long and proud history of the area.
‘“‘T have huge a whole host of sources in compiling this information. I have trawled through the national archives in Dublin and have also been through the records left by the six schools which used to operate in the parish,” said the Fianna Fail councillor.
“We had two creameries in the parish long ago which are now both gone. Those creameries tell the story of the parish in a very interesting way. There used to be 300 farmers in Inagh creamery alone in the 1940s, now the creamery is gone and there are only three farmers left in the area who are producing milk.”
As well as utilising a myriad histor- ical and biographical records on the locality, Flan also conducted a series of interviews with elderly people liv- bOTcaB DOO atomOr-DuLIOE
“The research goes back very far. I studied a soil analysis taken in the parish which traces how the geogra- phy of the area has developed over the centuries. So, unless you go back and talk to God you can’t go back any farther than that,” he continued.
“I tracked the history of the vari- ous invaders who came into this part of Clare and the history of the monks who came to Inagh back in
the 1640’s. I have interview old peo- ple and young people about different things which have gone on in the par- ish. I interviewed an 98 years old man last week to get his memories of the area.” Once he graduates, Flan hopes to publish the book as the definitive history of the parish of Inagh.
“Once I finish up the thesis I think I will take a break for it for awhile but after that I do intend to publish it,’ he Leyslw pel eterem
“I don’t have any exact time frame or even a name in mind yet but it would be great to publish it in due course.”