The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Killarney salutes an icon
FR MICHAEL Murphy was ‘root and branch of all things Tidy Towns in Kerry’ and central to the county’s enviable record in the competition.
Acting as spokesperson for Killarney Tidy Towns, Johnny McGuire told The Kerryman that he knew Fr Murphy for almost 50 years, and he described it as a privilege to have worked alongside him as Killarney made a great name for itself in the Tidy Towns competitions and other local and national rankings.
“He was our founding father, and a committee member throughout his time in Killarney,” Mr McGuire explained. “He inspired people to come together for the betterment of their communities for all of his life – in Sneem, Kenmare, and Killarney.
“My first contact with Fr Murphy was 45 years ago, when he was a priest here in Killarney, and he lived on Countess Road, making him a neighbour of mine. He always walked about the town, keeping an eye on things and encouraging people.
“He went off to Sneem and Kenmare, and by the time he came back to Killarney, I’d become involved with Tidy Towns myself.”
Mr McGuire said Fr Murphy had a gift for bringing relevant local bodies and people of all ages and backgrounds together, and then harnessing their energy to improve their communities. Of the four Kerry participants that have claimed national Tidy Towns glory, three – Sneem, Kenmare, and Killarney – benefitted from Fr Murphy’s direct involvement, which Mr McGuire feels is no coincidence.
“He’s top and bottom of everything that’s happened in the county,” Mr McGuire said. “It’s my contention that no other county in Ireland ranks as highly as Kerry.
“We have four towns that have won All-Ireland titles. Fr Murphy was in charge of three of them, and he gave plenty advice and encouragement in Listowel [the fourth winning town] as well.
“We wouldn’t have a county as clean as we have, we wouldn’t have Tidy Towns groups as committed as we have, and we wouldn’t have the County Clean-up Day, another one of his brainstorms.”
He was also instrumental in setting up Killarney’s ‘Meitheals’, which brought neighbours together to get behind the Tidy Towns efforts.
Mr McGuire said Fr Murphy’s passion for keeping communities tidy took root at a very young age. But while Fr Murphy himself took inspiration from others, the example he set for everyone else will live far beyond his nearly 95 years.
“Around 91 years ago, at four years of age, he was helping his father at home and carrying a gabhall of hay under his arm across the farmyard. His father said to him, ‘be tidy with that bit of hay’. It was the first time he’d heard the word ‘tidy’, and it stayed in his mind.
“In 1930 in Raheen National School, there was a national government initiative to plant trees. He took great inspiration from that, and then of course he went on to Maynooth, where he joined the garden society.
“He led by example and never asked anyone to do what he wouldn’t do himself. Now that he’s gone from us, he’ll be inspiring us from heaven. He was 95, he had a great life, he left a tremendous legacy, and a legacy that will be carried on long after him.”