Nicholas McCabe’s colourful book is a wonderful read
SOME time ago, I got my hands on a copy of ‘ To the Man after the Harrow’ - the life and times of former councillor, Nicholas McCabe, and what an amazing read it is.
It’s a memoir of growing up in mid Louth in the 1930s and a recollection of a busy farming and political life.
In his forward, his son, Tomas, thanks Margaret McArdle who spent hours listening to the stories and writing up the words to make the book possible.
Nicholas was born in 1927 in Dromin and ultimately spent 50 years in public life. He was asked to stand for Fianna Fail in the 1955 council elections and Fin Matthews from Cappogue, Padraig Faulkner and Joe Sharkey were the men that persuaded him. They knew their stuff, Nicholas topped the poll!
He joined the council that year with Gerry McKeever from Togher.
Houses were badly needed and Nicholas had his own ideas about that.
His feeling was that smaller estates and more of them were needed. He said bigger estates led to trouble and later people would agree that in some places, people didn’t know their neighbours.
He cited Church View in Dunleer, a relatively small grouping, but a place that had no issues.
Another part of the book relates the story of the recreation centre in Dunleer, behind the GAA pitch.
In 1974, Padraig Faulkner rang him to say if a site could not be found, then Dunleer would lose the funding for the centre.
Off Nicholas went to Dunleer, spotted Pat Byrne’s big shed and went off and got the council and Pat and Kieran and McGee together and the site was secured.
But they ran into money trouble and 10 people had to come up with £5,000 each to get it finished. Nicholas was one of them.
He became chairman of the council for the 8th and last time in 2003 after which he stepped aside from politics.
The book has many more snippets of great info, including one about his father, Thomas McCabe from Mountdoyle, Togher, who went to Australia to work in 1911, a journey that took six weeks.
If you get your hands on the book, it’s well worth a read.