066-915 0530 || 
Monday, March 5, 1984.
Sent letters to all schools and artists involved in the Easter art exhibition.
Nice piece by Dick Hogan in The Irish Times today about the Gdansk currach.
Called to see Fr. Kissane at the presbytery in Ballyferriter. He showed me a copy of the Kerry Magazine of 1854-56, given to him by an elderly priest and in which the priest had pasted various articles, sketches etc about Kerry. But among them was a beautiful coloured print of Dingle town and harbour - perhaps 100 years old - showing fishing smacks and men rowing currachs.
Tuesday, March 6.
Got a quotation from The Kerryman of £250/300 to print 1,000 copies of the Nuacht Chorca Dhuibhne which seems reasonable.
Met Joan Maguire who runs the computer school in Ballyferriter and she was asking about entries for the women’s World Currach race in June, She said she’s going to have a go.
Wednesday, March 7.
Called to The Kerryman offices in Clash, Tralee, to discuss the estimate to print the Nuacht Chorca Dhuibhne and the quality of the paper.
Looked for estimates for the trip to Rome from Kingdom Travel and Slattery’s Travel.
Taxed the car for £49.50 - robbery!
Did some research on St Brendan in the library. Met Fr Looney of Ardfert there and some of his committee who are working on plans to celebrate the St Brendan year. They hope to have Mass at Wethers Well on May 16 and at Ardfert on May 20 plus a procession. They talked about floodlights for the Ardfert cathedral.
Down to Cooleen after tea and met Eddie Hutch, John Diony O’Connor and Paudo O’Connor and we rowed out on the tranquil waters of the harbour towards Burnham, then west to Cloosh and back to the pier.
Thursday, March 8.
A beautiful, dry, calm spring day.
Rang Séamus McConville, editor of The Kerryman and he accepted our invitation to open the Teach Siamsa Easter Art exhibition.
Met Jed Bowler of Glór na nGael and he said they would help organise the choir for the special Mass at the foot of Mount Brandon on June 17.
Met Hutch and he said we’ll have an American naomhóg team coming for the festival - great news.
Friday, March 9.
The archaeological survey team had a sad experience yesterday when Scotia, Robáird Ó hEartáin’s dog jumped off a fence and broke her neck. She’s buried under a small cairn at Pedlar’s Lake.
Went to Hillgrove Hotel for a meeting of the currach committees. We decided to commission special medals for the World Currach Championships. Will talk to jeweller Brian de Staic about them.
The hotel is busy preparing for the biggest wedding ever in West Kerry tomorrow when Páidí Ó Sé, the star Kerry footballer marries Máire Fahy. They’re expecting 300 at the reception.
Monday, March 12.
A bright, cold and windy day with a little snow on the hills.
Visited some schools in advance of the Easter Art exhibition including Muirreigh, Feothanagh, Glens, Lispole and Minard. The response was good from the kids, especially in Feothanagh where they asked a lot of questions about who had built all the archaeological monuments in the area.
Contacted Breandán MacGearailt about possible sponsorship from the Údarás for the Brendan festival.
Wednesday, March 14.
Met Judy Cuppage, the archaeological survey director, who had big news from Professor Peter Woodman at UCC who has been excavating at Ferriters Cove. He has the results of the C-14 dates for the site - the oldest samples date back to 3600BC!! This means that all books on the history of the Dingle Peninsula will have a new first chapter.
Phone call from Breda Clifford at Tralee Sailing Club. She said we’re all invited to Washington for the first week of May to promote the St Brendan trans-Atlantic race.
Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein was shot several times in the North today.
Friday, March 16.
Artist Jay Killian has completed the artwork for the Dingle poem. It’s very good and cost £50.
Met Hutch in Cooleen after tea where I got the shock of the month. He showed me a postcard from the Salthill Currach Association in Galway who are holding a big currach regatta in Salthill on June 17, the same day as our World Currach Championships in Dingle!! First prize is £1,000. Is it coincidence or an attempt to torpedo us in Dingle?
Saturday, March 17.
The Dingle Fife and Drum band was out around the town at 6am.
Ireland’s Most Wanted man, Dominick McGlinshey was captured
by gardaí after a raging gun battle at a house near Newmarket- on-
Fergus in Clare. He was shot during the exchange of fire.
He is known as ‘Mad Dog’ for his violent crimes.
Tuesday, March 20.
Rang Fr Clifford, the Bishop’s secretary, to find out if the Pope will be in Rome when we plan to go there in October. Imagine if we arrived in Rome and no Pope! Anyway, Fr Clifford rang Fr. John Magee, the Pope’s private secretary, to confirm that we can travel in October.
Wednesday, March 21.
Wally McGrath of the Cork Examiner gave a talk about the Dingle train in Benners Hotel, Tralee, tonight. The place was packed and many people were turned away. Wally nearly got a heart attack when we presented him with a framed sketch of the train, done by Clodagh Twomey.
We got Johnny Cahalane of Siamsa Carrig to wear a railway porter’s uniform which was on loan from Kevin Lynch, the Tralee stationmaster.
Johnny walked through the crowded room shouting ‘Parcel for Mr McGrath, passenger from Cork!’.