CATHAL Ó SEARCAIGH INTERVIEW (AS GAEILGE)
Mar 27th, 2008 by Sean Baite
[ Cathal Ó Searcaigh c. Book Cover ]
Cathal Ó Searcaigh has given his first interview since the screening of the ‘Fairytale of Kathmandu’ film to Radio na Gaeltachta’s Barrscéalta programme. The interview is about an hour long and is available on Barrscéalta’s page on RnaG’s site here :
Barrscéalta Page, RnaG
Thanks to the inadequacy of my ‘chuid Gaeilge’ I’ll pass no comment on the interview’s content - and leave it to those more competent (Tomaltach, mar shampla).
good link Sean. I saw in the news that Mannix Flynn is pissed off with O Searcaigh, saying that at the very least he should have read the guidelines for working with disadvantaged youth. He just wants O Searcaigh to admit he was wrong and to say sorry. Mannix Flynn on your case. Now THAT’S scary!
M. Flynn makes sense, I suppose - as I think he has some ‘abuse issues’ in his own past - isn’t that what ‘the Christian Brother’ addresses ?
To Ó Searcaigh’s advantage - he should be able to see him coming from a long way off in the wilds of Donegal
When I read Mannix Flynn’s comments, I thought, well there’s a bit of sense.
the quote from today’s Independent.
“And Aosdana member Mannix Flynn labelled the poet a predator and accused him of breaching clear guidelines for working with vulnerable disadvantaged youths.
“He has been given every opportunity to come out and ask for our forgiveness and admit what he was doing was wrong,” he said.
Hi all,
I took a listen to the interview today. I have written up a transcript of the first half of the interview in Irish on my blog. I haven’t yet had time to finish it or to provide a translation. I might get it finished tomorrow or over the weekend.
From what I’ve heard so far, Ó Searcaigh fails to convince me that he didn’t abuse his position in exploiting the boys but he does make a very strong case that the film project was exploitative of him and was devious and unfair in the process. But when I get the transcript translated, judge for yourselves.
Thanks for that Tomaltach - will be keeping an eye on your site for both transcript / translation. My own spirit of perseverance only lasted about 5 mins. into the ‘agallamh’ - I heard him saying he was addressing himself to the Gaeltacht public first as they were the public closest to him (or his heart ?) and the evoking of Oscar Wilde.
Surprised to hear, on a sideline, that Mannix Flynn is a member of our apeing of the ‘Academie Française’ - if it pays him a dacent wage, I suppose… :-
O’Searcaigh is desperate, confused and delusional. As are his defenders. Mannix Flynn cut through all their amoral toxic crap.
Still plugging that morality line Mark?
I have now added another chunk to the transcript in a further post on my blog. There is about 1/4 to be written yet - it is _very_ long!
In the second part O Searcaigh is asked about his spending in Nepal and if he can account for the monies he has been dispensing there over the years, are there receipts, documents. He claims that most of it goes through an account and that there are documents. But he didn’t say he can account for the spending with documentary evidence. Though of course, it might not always be possible to have obtained receipts or he may have simply been careless - though he didn’t say this.
Thanks very much Tomaltach, considering the level of intensity this debate has generated it’s good to get this. Keep plugging away. If he can’t account for his finances with documentary evidence he is in illustrious company
The entire transcipt of the Ó Searcaigh interview is now available on my blog. Translation not yet available.
Great work Tomaltach.
I have been following this whole thing at a distance, and I have seen little of the film other than the pieces posted on YouTube. I have a disclosure to make: I’m a second cousin of Cathal Ó Searcaigh (my mother’s from Cloughaneely, the same parish in Donegal), though I barely know the man, most I know of him I know through friends. From what I understand about the whole thing, his behaviour has been reprehensible and his reaction to it is even more depressing, wallowing in self-pity and playing the homophobia card. That said, I’m with Tomaltach in thinking that the man hardly need be damned more than he has managed to do himself. If it turns out he has committed a crime, let him go to prison; failing that, it might be best to give him a wide berth. As for removing his poems from the Leaving Cert syllabus, this is the sort of nonsense that comes from people getting excited about poetry for the first time in their life. Ezra Pound was still on the Leaving Cert when I was in school and I don’t recall any discomfort among any people at the man’s fascist and anti-semitic sentiments.
On the subject of Neasa Ní Chianáin, my mother (who holds no candle for her beleagured cousin) tells me that Iníon Uí Chianáin’s previous documentary Frank Ned & Busy Lizzie was a dubious fly-on-the-wall portrait of an elderly bachelor neighbour of my grandmother and a late romance he had with an equally unscrupulous woman. From what I heard about it it seemed like Paul Giamatti’s precious documentary in Todd Solondz’s Storytelling. The locals in Falcarragh and Gortahork weren’t too appreciative.
Very interesting Seanachie. Part of the problem as I see is that people are making up their minds about Ó Searcaigh based on what they see in the film (and not what they know of him personally, like your good self, even if it is second hand). Now, even if those who are supposed to be defending him suggest that the film horribly distorts what Ó Searcaigh did in Nepal it seems reasonable, from what we’ve seen, that he remains someone many people would rather give a wide berth too.
However, you can’t separate out this controversy from the film itself and the impact it has had. Most of what people know about the situation comes from the film. Yet people prefer to ignore where and how they got their information in their haste of condemn him (although admittedly, he has condemned himself). Now, it might well be that he should be condemned and indeed, if he has broken a law that it should be dealt with accordingly. But their forgetting Ní Chianáin rather personal agenda. Also, why is it so intense and widespread?
Needless to say neither Ó Searcaigh or Ní Chianáin come out of this very well and its certainly worthwhile finding out how those who were put under Ní Chianáin’s unblinking eye - and are closer to home - thought about how they were depicted.
You’re also completely right about the taking him off the syllabus issue. I was surprised of the support that ludicrously idea got in certain well known blogging quarters.
Tomaltach,
Pull the feckin finger out and get that translation finished. We all want to to rush to judgement on this one as quickly as possible.
Seanachie
an elderly bachelor neighbour of my grandmother and a late romance he had with an equally unscrupulous woman
I saw Frank Ned and Busy Lizzie when it was shown a few years back, and thought it was brutal stuff. But why are you so hard on your granny?
Hugh
Thanks for highlighting my sloppy prose. I was comparing Busy Lizzie to Ní Chianáin, of course, not my granny. Sorry, Mamó. :{
I have now posted a translation of about 3/4 of the interview. It’s alternated with the original Irish and I didn’t really get a chance to go through and proof read cos it is very long and I simply didnt’ have the time. Anyway, I hope to complete the translation today or tomorrow.
Full translation of transcript now available.
Cheers Tomaltach.
Thanks also Tomaltach - anois, cuir Gaeilge ar :
‘Ye’re a bleddy Stakhanovite with a keyboard’ :->