Council to examine funding options for headstone on first chairman’s grave in Sligo town
AN undertaking to look at providing funding support to support the provision of a headstone on the grave of Sligo County Council’s first ever chairman, PA McHugh has been made by the Chief Executive of the Council.
At the council’s monthly meeting, two members, Cllrs Declan Bree and Tom MacSharry, had tabled motions asking the council to financially support a project to have the headstone erected.
When it emerged from a Council reply to the motions that none of the Council’s existing funding streams were suitable to meet this request the council chief executive Martin Lydon indicated he would look at the request and report back to them.
After Cllrs Bree and MacSharry had detailed Mr McHugh’s contribution to Sligo, a report from the council indicated that while Sligo County Council acknowledges and supports this initiative to acknowledge the significant contribution of Mr Patrick Aloysious McHugh to Sligo, it should be noted, however, that there are no funds currently available to provide a contribution towards the cost of providing a headstone and restoration works in Sligo Old Cemetery. In most instances, funding for memorials is specifically excluded from the various grant schemes operated by Sligo County Council.” Cllr Bree, commenting on the reply, said he noted the reply and that in most cases funding for memorials is excluded in the grant schemes operated by Sligo County Council. However, he said he understood the management of the Council did arrange some funding for memorials, adding: “If it can be done for one, I expect some mechanism can be looked at to allow for some contribution to be made in this instance, given the fact we are talking about the first chairman of Sligo County Council.”
He asked the council management team to look at the request sympathetically. “I am sure the executive will come up with some sort of formula to allow some funding to be provided,” he said.
Cllr MacSharry said he had great faith in the executive. “Given the significance, it will also possibly be a once-off, I’m sure the executive will source the funding to mark this
PA McHugh.
outstanding man’s contribution. Failing that, perhaps as a once off where we could collectively use our councillors’ proposals for funding.
“I hope someone from the executive would liaise with me and Cllr Bree and I am sure we can facilitate this once-off proposal,” he added.
The Cathaoirleach, Cllr Michael Clarke, said all councillors were supporting the proposal and he had been given an undertaking from the chief executive that he would look at this proposal and report back. Cllr Bree said he welcomed that response from the CE.
Earlier, Cllr Thomas Walsh, supporting the idea for funding, thanked Mary Lehane from Ballymote, who had instigated the project and some 90% of the work on it. The total cost of the project is €3,000 of which they have just over €2,000 gathered. He said he hoped they could find some avenue, some scheme to get the project “over the line”. Cllr Joe Queenan, supporting the motion, said Sligo GAA should also be asked to make a donation. Proposing the motion, Cllr Declan Bree said it had recently been brought to public attention that there is no headstone on the grave of PA McHugh whose remains are buried in Sligo Cemetery.
A small number of people interested in local history are now in the process of raising some funds to rectify the situation and have a headstone placed on the grave.
He said PA McHugh was a significant figure in the political and social life of Sligo and the north-west at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century
On April 22, 1899, at its inaugural meeting, he was unanimously elected as the first Chairman of this County Council.
He was also a member of Sligo Corporation, serving as Mayor of Sligo on a number of occasions. A supporter of the Parliamentary Party, in 1892 he was first elected to the Westminster parliament and served as MP from then until his death in 1909.
He was a teacher in Summerhill College in his early years and went on to work in loval press while also serving as president of the Sligo County Board of the GAA in 1888.
He was imprisoned on a number of occasions in Sligo, Derry, Tullamore and Kilmainham jails, under the British Coercion Act because he consistently dared to support the Land League and the boycott campaign.
Indeed, he was honoured by Dublin Corporation and was conferred with the Freedom of Dublin City when he was released from Kilmainham jail in 1901. Ide Ni Liathain’s short biography of PA McHugh, published by the Irish Academic Press in 1999, is a volume that everyone with an interest in local history values.
Cllr Bree said: “All of us are familiar with the impressive statue to his memory which was unveiled in 1916. It was originally located at the junction of O’Connell Street and Wine Street. In the 1970s it was re-located to its present position outside Sligo Town Hall. “There is no explanation as to why a headstone was not placed on his grave in Sligo cemetery following his untimely death. “However there are now people anxious to have that situation rectified.
“They are hopeful that Sligo County Council will make a financial contribution towards the headstone particularly given the fact that PA McHugh was the first ever chairman of the council,” he said.
Cllr MacSharry, who had an identical motion making the same call, seconded Cllr Bree’s motion, adding that Cllr Bree’s reprise of Mr McHugh’s life was typically comprehensive in support of both motions.
“Mr McHugh was a really outstanding public representative who made the ultimate sacrifice of his liberty on several occasions.
“Mayor of Sligo six times, he was an outstanding representative, and it is only fitting that Sligo County Council would support others who are trying to mark this great man by providing a proper headstone at his grave in Sligo cemetery,” he said.