Conaty praises ‘spirit’ in the community
Sinn Féin councillor Stiofán Conaty says Cootehill is a town brimming with “community and entrepreneurial spirit”, with an “energetic appreciation” for culture and a keen awareness of history.
“There is a great sense of togetherness in the area and it is clear that community is at the centre of everything,” says the local elected representative. “For the most part, people look out for each other, they take an interest in their neighbours, they get involved in voluntary groups for the betterment of the area and they work hard.”
A very recent example of this, he says, was the “magnificent effort” to fundraise for better facilities at St Aiden’s Comprehensive School.
“The amount of work put into the Jungle Fundraiser was unbelievable and the attendance on the night in the Errigal Hotel was above and beyond anything expected. I was a participant myself and I want to thank everyone who contributed and to the Parent’s Association who pulled it off.”
He also wanted to welcome the emergence of several new local businesses to the town in recent months, including The Burnt Pig, The Stables, Connect Pilates and Engine 1 Fitness. “They are among a number of exciting additions to the town and I wish them, along with longer established businesses, the very best of luck.”
It is the mark of a “thriving town”, Cllr Conaty states, adding that Cootehill is a “great place to do business and a great place to socialise. Whether it be watching a football match at the weekend in one of the pubs, enjoying an intimate gig in O’Leary’s Vista Social Club, heading out for a meal, or meeting up for a coffee or a stroll in nature, Cootehill has a vibrant and lively social scene.”
These are “exciting times” for Cootehill in general, continues Cllr Conaty. Off the back of last year marking 300 years since the founding of the town, he believes it is fitting to remember what went before us. “While, of course, we have no choice but to remember and evaluate our colonial past, warts and all, the story of this part of the world is not limited to the period after plantation.
“Folk in Cootehill have a growing sense of the importance of celebrating the Gaelic origins of the area. To a lot of people, however, more relevant than Coote or Cromwell is the story of the displaced Gaels of the lands of ‘Muinchille’.”
Muinchille, he explains, is derived from Naomh Fincheall, an early Christian saint in the area and a contemporary of Tiernach of Cluain Eois. “So much of our story as a nation and as local communities can be garnered by digging into the meaning of our Gaelic placenames. As Uachtarán Catherine Connolly said on her recent visit to England for Lá Fhéile Pádraig, decolonisation is a personal as well as a political process. It is a social project of reclaiming what was taken.”
Reclaiming heritage and “reinstating the language of the Irish as the spoken language of the people of Ireland” is a project that local group, Gaeil Mhuinchille, are eager to push forward. “I have been a proud member of this Irish language community group in Cootehill for many years. We have big plans in the area, as more and more people of all ages are getting interested in using Irish.
“The language is experiencing a major revival in all of our 32 counties, and Cootehill is at the forefront of this, not only in the context of Cavan, but nationally.”