Dingle bids a sad farewell to Tadhg Lynch
TADHG Lynch, who died on Sunday after a brief illness, was a master of the particular kind of Dingle humour that could sum up a situation with a witty one-liner of Shakespearean brevity and precision.
Tadhg worked as a butcher in Dingle for what he himself described as 36 “bloody” years, and in that trade he became very well known and well liked in the town.
Originally from Dún Síon, his working life began at the age of just 14 years. His father had fallen ill, and his family needed the income, so Tadhg lied about his age to get a job working on the roads with the county council.
He later opened a butcher’s shop in Dingle with Bobby Hickson, but the venture didn’t work out very well, and he abandoned it in favour of a better-paying job as a butcher in Patty Atty’s where he worked for many years before moving on to Muiris Dan’s. Before EU regulations closed small local abattoirs, work as a butcher was a more hands-on job that it is now, so Tadhg’s job involved everything from slaughtering cattle and sheep ‘out the back’ to serving the meat in neatly wrapped brown paper parcels. It was busy work, but there was always time to stop and chat with customers and to share his wisdom on events of the day.
At the funeral mass in St Mary’s church on Monday his Ballintaggart neighbour Fr Jim Sheehy, who concelebrated the mass, recalled long-passed days swimming at The Banks and wren ball nights, where Tadhg brought with him a great sense of fun and a unique turn of phrase that would always raise a smile.
He married his wife, Kay, 50 years ago and the couple moved into a house they bought from Danny ‘ The Barber’ on Main Street. Kay opened a hairdressing salon there, and it operated for so long, and so successfully, that the words ‘Kay’s’ and ‘ hairdresser’ were entirely interchangeable to anybody living in Dingle.
Tadhg served for over 30 years with Dingle Fire Brigade, and at his funeral on Monday members of the fire service provided a guard of honour behind the hearse as it moved slowly down Green Street, and again at Milltown cemetery.
Tadhg, who was aged 79, is survived by his wife Kay, sisters Maureen and Peggy, sons Joe and Michael, and daughters Cora and Mary.