When I think of Aodán Mac Póilin, who died on December 29th, two images come immediately to mind. The first is when we first met, back in the mid-sixties, on the steps of Belfast Central Library in Royal Avenue. I was one of a number hanging out on those steps. Aodán was not the kind of bloke who “hung out” though. He was dressed in the iconic tweed jacket by which he was known throughout the highways and byways of this and every other country he graced.
Slightly aloof, maybe, or shy, he seemed just that little bit older but assuredly much wiser than the rest of us. As our paths crossed again a few years later, it was obvious that Aodán was merely keeping an eye on our mischief. We became buddies.
Which brings to mind my enduring image of Aodán – head tilted upwards, eyes closed, singing to his heart’s content, and the adoration of his assembled audience, a song of many verses, interpreted with his characteristically artful flourish. It was his very own sean-nós. And this is what made him so special.
Aodán was a singular man. There is no other version available. He was, and will always remain, a one-off. He brought those who may have been hostile, or uncertain, or simply ignorant, into contact with the living soul of the Irish language and culture. When it came to verifying or musing upon the meaning of the name of a townland, a street, a river, a surname, Aodán was the “go-to” man. The etymology of our landscape was at his fingertips as well as his powerful but discreet ability to convey the availability, value and pertinence of Gaelic culture to all our identities. This secular, agnostic belief lay at the core of Aodán’s one-man Enlightenment. He lit up all he touched with his wit, passion, decency and civic goodwill.
There was a steeliness too and those who blocked him – out of irrational prejudice, partisan power-play or bureaucratic complacency – felt not the lash of his tongue but the chastening realisation that they were wrong and needed to take a good hard look at themselves. It was the moral force of his good nature that carried the day and every argument.
In an interview for the “Northern Visions Archive”, Aodán, in typically modest fashion, remarked: “I was very good at writing letters to the government”.
Indeed he was – along with the extensive committee work for many different cultural institutions that Aodán contributed to over several decades – as director of the Ultach Trust, and all the various roles in developing Irish-medium schooling in Northern Ireland, in the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages, the Broadcasting Council for Northern Ireland, Cultural Traditions Group, Community Relations Council, the Seamus Heaney Centre and other boards and cross-Border initiatives of one kind or another.
He was selfless and committed, as Mark Adair (BBC Northern Ireland) remarked: “Aodán was someone of great integrity, insight and fun. He made the world a better place in so many different ways. Knowing him was a privilege, a pleasure and an education. And his passing leaves us without one of life’s enhancers. Aodán has been a hero of mine since I first met him . . . His example will remain one to follow and admire.”
Aodán's remarkable scholarship shouldn't be overlooked, such as his contributions to The Cities of Belfast, his editing of The Irish Language in Northern Ireland, his role as custodian of Gaelic cultures outside Ireland, his unswerving editorial and translation work on behalf of a number of Irish poets, in both languages, completing only last year a powerful authoritative reading of Aogán Ó Rathaille for a forthcoming book of essays on Irish poets.
Aodán’s great love of all kinds of literature – indeed all walks of life – but also of all the poetry we had spent half-a-century reading and talking about, reminds us that he was an inspired teacher too and made the exchanging of knowledge in whatever setting he found himself, something to be enjoyed, not endured. Being with Aodán was fun. His close family and wide circle of friends and colleagues has lost a loving and guiding light. Our culture had lost one of its indomitable spirits. Aodán’s legacy will live on though and will retain the self-same magical value for all who were lucky enough to know him.
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