Members of Castleisland District Heritage (CDH) were delighted to welcome prolific Australian novelist, Tom Keneally to Castleisland at the weekend.
Mr. Keneally, whose 1982 written book Schindler’s Ark became the 1993 made and multi Academy Award winning film Schindler’s List, was accompanied by his wife Judy and North Cork relations, Catherine Culloty from Newmarket and her husband the former Cork footballer, Danny Culloty.
While here he met local heritage group Chairman Johnnie Roche and archivist Janet Murphy in the Island Centre, Main Street, where the heritage project is based.
Fact-Finding Tour
He told his hosts that he’s in this part of Ireland on a fact-finding tour for a project to add to his repertoire and is seeking information for a novel which will have, like Du Maurier’s Hungry Hill, a Kerry/Cork background.
“It’s not giving away too much to say that a Castleislander may fall under the pen of the gifted Mr. Keneally,” said Ms. Murphy.
“Refreshments were served in The Country Market and the hours passed quickly and most of them spent in laughter, banter and exchange of cross-continental stories.
He’ll be Back
Tom is one of those people who converses and narrates with great ease and to sit back and listen is pure pleasure,” she said.
Mr. Keneally has agreed to return to Castleisland to do a public question and answer session as a fund-raiser for the CDH on a date to be confirmed.
Meanwhile…..
In other CDH news, the group got word from the Department of Justice in relation to the case of Sylvester Poff and James Barrett, two innocent men who received the death penalty in 1883.
Castleisland District Heritage applied for the posthumous presidential pardons of the two men in 2021 following the broadcast of the BBC1 documentary, Murder Mystery and My Family, which conducted a thorough examination of the case.
Question by Brendan Griffin TD
Now, as a result of a question put down by Brendan Griffin, TD, Castleisland District Heritage has learned that the application has completed an internal review and that the Minister for Justice has approved a proposal to engage an independent expert in trial law to further examine the case.
This is welcome news for the group at the beginning of a new year, the ninth in the history of the archive.
It follows the successful campaign by Castleisland District Heritage for the Posthumous Presidential Pardon of John Twiss of Castleisland, granted by President Michael D Higgins on December 16th 2021.
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