Sir, – We refer to Rosita Boland’s article (Weekend Review, August 20th) regarding our late father’s historical archive in Ballina, Co Mayo. May we start by complimenting the fact she reported that our father was indeed born in 1927, and not in 1928 as has been consistently reported by Mayo County Council.
However, the 1916 Proclamation referenced in the article never actually hung in our house. It was stored in a locked room and for obvious reasons.
The interview with Sinéad McCoole, the curator of the archive, was interesting yet incorrect in several respects. Moreover, we resent any inference that our family home had been perceived as “full of junk”.
We were privileged to have grown up with a strong sense of Republican heritage, of Ireland’s history and struggle for freedom. This upbringing had its finger on the “junk” so to speak and helped provide a unique insight into Irish contemporary history. In 1996 a committee was set up by Ballina Town council to investigate the potential for a Ballina museum. Our late father offered to provide some items of local interest to this project. However, the unstructured nature of the committee meant that it never got off the ground, with our father withdrawing his offer. Indeed, such was the extent of his supposed generosity it made page 37 of the Western People! Hardly a donation of great magnitude, with no reference to securing a building for such a project! In 1997 he turned down the opportunity of making his collection available for the benefit of the people of Ballina at the request of a local solicitor. This was after close consideration with his family and financial adviser. In April 2000 our father made his last will and testament. There was no specific reference to any commitment to Mayo County Council regarding his collection. He passed away in October of that year.
We do know that he started to list it in July 2000 and he said he wished “to put some organisation on it”. He often discussed his collection with his family and in later years he referred to it as “a pension for himself and Anne”. The latter is perhaps a more plausible explanation given the prudent manner in which he managed his business and family affairs.
The agreement with Mayo County Council was signed in April 2007 many months before the council entered into negotiations with the Ruane family regarding the sale of the Provincial bank.
What is clear is that the story of the Jackie Clarke collection is not of our father’s interest in Irish republicanism history but of how Mayo County Council acquired Ireland’s newest national treasure. – Yours, etc,