Crean petition hits 10,000

A PETITION calling for an Irish Naval Ship to be named in honour of Annascaul’s Antarctic explorer Tom Crean has attracted more than 10,000 signatures in just over a year – and the petition will now be downloaded, arranged, and delivered to Minister Paul Kehoe and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Manchester-based Tim Foley – who has Kerry roots and is an admirer of Crean’s and an administrator of sites such as the internationally popular ‘Ireland Should Honour Tom Crean’ Facebook page – set up the Change.org petition in late 2016. Angered at hearing that Doncaster Airport was renamed after the mythical Robin Hood (it has since been renamed again), Mr Foley has long-campaigned for the heroic explorer to be honoured, and he hopes to see the Irish Naval Fleet’s planned new flagship named after Crean.

“Thanks to the great teamwork of all his fans the world over, we’ve reached a great milestone,” Mr Foley said of making it to 10,000 signatures.

“He held all the attributes that defined a true hero yet here we are over century later and only a privately funded statue in his Annascaul birthplace commemorates his greatness,” he said. “I was left angered that a mythical figure [Robin Hood] could have such an honour bestowed upon him when a man who did exist and whose heroism, on three, separately documented occasions, had led to saving the lives of 28 men and many thousands of their descendants thereafter, was destined never to receive rightful recognition.

“The naming of the planned Irish Naval flagship presents us with a perfect match to meet this ambition in honour of Ireland’s greatest mariner. After a century of his story being kept in the shadows because the time-line of his career conspired against him, we have fans from right across the political spectrum so I believe it would win all party support if a case were to be put forward for honouring Crean.”