Death of Paddy Flannery breaks a link with Dingle’s fishing heritage
A LINK with Dingle’s rich maritime heritage was broken last week with the death of Paddy Flannery who was one of the most respected and progressive fishermen ever to come out of the town.
In his day Paddy, along with his brother Michael RIP, was one of the elite of the Irish fishing industry and the respect earned throughout his lifetime was reflected in the large numbers of fishermen from all around the coast who travelled to attend the funeral following his death on Monday, July 25.
Paddy’s fishing career started in the 1940s on his father Mickie’s boat, the Kerry, and later the Rosarcan, where he worked alongside his brother Michael and uncle Paul. After a few years on board he emigrated to England, working to raise the money for his own boat. He married his wife, Martina, in Westminister Cathedral in 1953 and they returned home in the mid 1960s when Paddy bought his first trawler, the 56-ft Guiding Star.
During Paddy’s time in England, Michael had bought his own trawler and and so the two brothers moved into ‘pair-fishing’. They were among the first in Ireland to adopt this trawling technique and they were massively successful, fishing the rich waters from Killybegs to Dunmore East in the days before restrictive EU quotas.
In 1970 Paddy took delivery of the 75-ft Star Immaculate which, at the time, was one of the biggest trawlers in the country. Also in the 1970s he and Martina bought and developed the very popular Star Inn bar in The Quay. By the time Paddy finally retired in the late 1980s he had given many people their first start in fishing and was well known as a very fair and decent skipper.
After he retired he didn’t leave fishing. He was a member of Dingle Harbour Board at a key time in the development of the harbour and he was involved, to the seaward side, through his sons, Michael, Hughie and Paul, both as shareholder and in keeping a close involvement in the design and construction of their trawlers.
Paddy is survived by his wife Martina, daughter Colette, sons Michael, Hughie, Paul and Patrick, sister Elsie, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, relatives and a very wide circle of friends in West Kerry and among the broader fishing community in Ireland.