The story of a Co Clare school principal who resisted attempts by his parish priest to make him marry a fellow teacher instead of his fiancee was remembered yesterday when the Irish National Teachers' Organisation presented his daughters, now in their 70s, with a painting.
Mr Micheal O Se was the principal of St Patrick's National School, Co Clare, in September 1914 when his parish priest, Father Patrick Keran, requested he marry an assistant teacher because he believed it would keep the isolated position filled.
Mr Michael O'Connor, secretary of the north Clare INTO branch, said in those days it was normal for the parish priest to manage the local national school.
Mr O Se was forced to leave the area because of the incident and eventually moved to Cork, where his two surviving daughters, Kay and Breda, still live.
His defiance of what the INTO calls "a gross act of bullying" was remembered last night when Kay and Breda were presented with a painting of the old school house in Fanore. The painting is by a local artist, Ms Leueen Hill.
The incident, 86 years ago, was reported in the INTO magazine of the time, Irish School Weekly, and has gone down in its history, A Hundred Years of Progress. It is also recounted in Brendan O hEithir's book, A Begrudger's Guide to Irish Politics.
Mr O'Connor, principal at the primary school in Moy, near Miltown Malbay, said Mr O Se had "other ideas" when the matchmaking proposal was made to him. He wrote to Father Keran, requesting permission to travel to Galway to marry his fiancee. Instead, he received a three-month notice of dismissal which he appealed to the Bishop of Galway, Dr Thomas O'Dea.
The bishop attempted to discredit Mr O Se, accusing him of being an ineffective teacher and, later, of being overly fond of alcohol. Mr O Se was asked, but refused, to take a pledge against drinking.
When the three months' notice expired, he continued teaching, retaining 60 of the 80 pupils and moving the classes to his home, a building which came with the job but from which he was later evicted. Parents and the union, however, continued to support him and another building was found, but he was forced to move away when the bishop refused to confirm the children. "He left and took up a job with the Gaelic League as a teacher of Irish," said Mr O'Connor.
A spokesman at the Catholic Press Office said the Galway diocese had agreed to examine its archives and pass on any material of relevance to Mr O Se's descendants.
History does not recall what became of the assistant teacher.