The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Foley still dreams of ‘LÉ Crean’
‘SMALL SETBACK’ FOR CAMPAIGN TO NAME NAVY VESSEL AFTER TOM CREAN
TOM Crean enthusiast Tim Foley, who is spearheading a campaign for an Irish Naval Vessel to be named after the Annascaul explorer, has referred to the decision by the Irish Naval Service to name its fourth Offshore Patrol Vessel after George Bernard Shaw as ‘a small setback’.
Minister Paul Kehoe TD confirmed the naming of the ship last week, and it followed a pattern of naming such vessels after Irish literary greats.
The LÉ George Bernard Shaw is currently being built in Devon, but Taoiseach Enda Kenny has previously spoken of his desire to commission a naval vessel with a fully functional hospital, equipped to respond to humanitarian emergencies.
For Mr Foley – who is based in Manchester but whose father was born in Keel – such a ship would represent ‘a more fitting recognition for Crean’, and he has called for more people to get behind his campaign.
His ‘Name an Irish Naval Ship in honour of Tom Crean’ Change.org page has attracted over 3,400 signatories since its inception in late 2016.
He also called for political backing, adding ‘it would be extremely useful for us to garner the support of a politician to take up this cause in the corridors of power.’
Mr Foley’s efforts to promote the Antarctic explorer on social media sites have garnered tens of thousands of followers worldwide. One of these ventures, the ‘Ireland Should Honour Tom Crean’ Facebook page has 23,000 followers alone.
“Crean exemplified humanitarianism, saving the lives of 28 men over three separate Antarctic expeditions in the early 1900s,” he said.
“Ireland has not officially recognised Crean since he passed in 1938, and naming a ship after him is an opportunity to change that.
“It’s clearly what people across Ireland and the rest of the world want to happen yet that feeling isn’t being reflected where it matters among the decision makers in government,” he told The Kerryman.