Canadian ambassador guest of honour at Galway hooker festival

Canadian ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers has had a very different life since he foiled a gunman's attack in the Canadian parliament last October, but he never

anticipated that crewing a Connemara turf boat would be one of his new tasks.

“And I’ve never been with a hooker before,” the former policeman laughed as he prepared to swap blazer for life-jacket before sailing into south Galway’s Kinvara to open the 37th Cruinniú na mBád.

Up to a dozen of the traditional craft – bád mór, leath bhád, gleoiteog and púcán – gathered at Parkmore pier on Saturday afternoon, preparing to catch the westerly for the short run into the harbour.

Among the fleet was bád mór An Tonaí, loaded with turf, and An Mhaighdean Mara, while members of Bádóirí an Chladaigh boatbuilding project had brought Croí an Cladaig, the first hooker in its class to be built in Galway city since 1922.

The Carraroe leath-bhád Norah transported an unusual cargo across the bay – a headstone for Beachla Ó Fátharta, also known as "Iascaire Pheigín", who died on Inis Méain in 1893. Ó Fátharta was an 18-year-old fisherman who was swept to sea off Inis Méain 122 years ago.

The Norah's owner Sean MacDonncha agreed to sail it over-tracking the currents that once carried the young teenager's body to the inner shores of south Galway bay.

The Ó Fátharta family will gather to erect the headstone this week.

Also remembered at Parkmore was Tony Moylan, who had done so much to revive the traditional boat festival in Kinvara, decades after the "workhorses of the sea", as the hookers were known, had been replaced as a form of transport.

Mr Moylan passed away last June, and his sister Roisín scattered his ashes from the deck of the Mac Duach, owned by fellow festival organiser Dr Michael Brogan.

The close contact between Canada and the Irish west coast was recalled by Mr Vickers when he unveiled a plaque at Parkmore, carved by master craftsman and sculptor Tom Glendon.

Research undertaken by Prof Noel Wilkins of NUI Galway, biographer of 19th century pier and road engineer Alexander Nimmo, documents how Canada contributed to the cost of west coast piers as a form of assistance after the Famine.

"The Canadian government covered 25 per cent of the funding and about 40 piers were completed from Donegal to Baltimore, Co Cork as a result," Dr Brogan said.

Mr Vickers professed to being very proud of his Irish roots, with his father having Cork and Portlaoise connections, and his mother being a Kingston from Bantry Bay.