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on the 7th of October with the passing away of Tom Moriarty, or “Big Tom” as he was often called . Tom was born in Ballycaneen, Glens, Dingle, he was the second of a large family of nine, having 3 brothers and 5 sisters. His mother Eileen passed away a few months ago and his father Jack Moriarty passed away in 1983 .
Tom attended Glens National School like his father and grandfather before him and at the young age of 16 he took over the family farm at Ballycaneen and quietly set about developing all that needed to be done, expanding the dairy herd and sheep flock , he then progressed to pig farming with great success. Tom in his youth was never afraid of hard work and toiled away late into the evening on his mixed farm, he was a great judge of animals and great to give advice to other young farmers on how to size up cattle, horses, sheep and especially rams, he was also a great sheepdog trainer.
Tom was a founding member and shareholder of the Dingle Mart in the early seventies and was elected Chairman, a position he held for many years with great success.
Tom retained his interest and shareholding in the mart down the years and when attempts were made in recent years to relocate the Dingle Mart Tom came to the forefront to prevent such a move and with the backing and support of other members they stood foursquare against the proposed move.
Tom was a man of great integrity and above all a decent honest man who never suffered fools gladly.
He believed in high standards and crystal clear transparency at all times, he loved horse racing, the GAA and politics and remained a blue shirt all his life. Tom liked nothing more after a good morning’s work on the farm than cruising into Dingle, pick up the newspaper and settle into his favourite hostelry for a few of the best pints of Guinness with his farming friends. He always enjoyed the pub culture and the craic and banter, that great sense of fun and mental freedom that the pub culture gave you. Tom was charming company, very witty and had some great one liners, he could burst into song his favourite being The Boys of Barr na Sraide.
The high esteem which Tom was held in was so evident with more than a thousand people paying their respects over 3 hours at the funeral home and Dingle Mart Members holding a guard of honour at the removal.
The funeral mass was as Tom would have wanted it , a beautiful celebration of his life with Fr Tom Looney and Fr Joe Begley who travelled from Killcummin Killarney delivering a wonderful service and great singing from Bill, Peter, Alice and Tom’s niece Emily O’ Brien singing How Great thou Art, again a minutes silence was held in Dingle Mart last week in respect of Tom’s Passing.
A months mind mass in memory of Tom Moriarty will be held in St Marys Church on the 7th of November at 10am .
