Skibbereen
September 1844
‘GRAND DAY, FATHER!’ BEAMED TIM MCCARTHY DOWNING.
Father John Fitzpatrick had stopped in front of the large site on North Street where he hoped in time to build a much-needed new school for the town.
‘Like myself, you must be delighted to see Daniel O’Connell released from prison and a free man again,’ the local solicitor ventured.
‘Indeed I am, Mr McCarthy Downing, for his imprisonment was a travesty.’
The priest, along with most people, had been deeply troubled by O’Connell’s arrest the previous year on charges of conspiracy. Following the ban of last autumn’s Monster Repeal Meeting in Clontarf, the great man had been treated like a common criminal. Along with his son, John, and five followers, he’d been sentenced to a year in Richmond Prison.
Father John had written to his former house guest, and his heart had lifted on hearing that O’Connell was in good spirits. He received news that he was being treated fairly, and his family and friends were permitted to visit him. Then, earlier that month, the House of Lords had thankfully deemed the trial unfair and O’Connell was released.
‘By all accounts, he’s had a hero’s welcome in Dublin, with over two hundred thousand supporters coming out to cheer him. It must have been a fine sight to see,’ laughed Tim McCarthy Downing. ‘The Liberator transported through the streets of Dublin in that gilded carriage drawn by six horses!’
‘It is only what the man deserves,’ the priest acknowledged.
‘How are the plans for the new school here going?’ enquired McCarthy Downing.
‘I’m afraid there are still funds to be raised and a great deal of paperwork and planning details to be worked out before we begin,’ Father Fitzpatrick admitted honestly, ‘but we will persist until we get our school.’
‘If there is any assistance I can give, please call on me, Father,’ the solicitor offered.
‘I may well take you up on that, Mr McCarthy Downing.’
The construction of St Fachtna’s School had been a long-cherished hope of Father John’s. In his eyes, the children of Skibbereen deserved a good education and to attend a school where they would learn to read and write. In his mind, it was the only way to a fairer society.
‘Father Fitzpatrick, if you are free on Sunday would you care to join us for lunch?’
‘That is most kind of you,’ he said, accepting the offer, for McCarthy Downing was a generous man and a most considerate host with a beautiful home. ‘I shall look forward to it.’
‘We can celebrate O’Connell’s release,’ the other man said with a smile, and took his leave.
There was indeed much to celebrate, but the priest’s delight at Daniel O’Connell’s freedom was tempered somewhat upon hearing that some considered the Liberator’s health to have deteriorated during his incarceration, and there was the suggestion that he was a changed man. Father John prayed that Ireland’s great leader would be restored in strength of mind and body before long and, with his usual courage and conviction, would soon take up the fight for Repeal once again.