Are we all losing the plot in cloud cuckoo land?

THERE is talk of making Europe Day a new bank holiday, though Green Party leader Eamon Ryan proposed St Brigid’s Day a few years ago. As he pragmatically noted, it would break up the longest period of the year — adding that Ireland has the fewest public holidays in Europe, and the fourth fewest in the world.

Which brings to mind Frances Walter Doheny, who was born in 1879 and achieved the highest marks in the United Kingdom in his final exam when he qualified as a solicitor. For he used his position in London to secure an extra day’s leave for employees when a public holiday fell on a Sunday — which then became known as ‘The Doheny Holiday’.

The title of Peter McQuillan’s talk on KCLR radio was An Interesting Man. It would certainly be interesting to know, given what happened to Doheny, the nature of the ill-health which prompted him to return home to Kilkenny.

What is clear is that he intended to continue his legal practice. Other interests included phonetics and penning frequent letters to newspapers.

He also became a member of Kilkenny Corporation, reflecting his passion for politics. Significantly, he was particularly concerned with the rights of the individual. For the eccentric legal eagle was famed for making colourful addresses to the public on any and every subject from the window of his flat on the High Street.

But then events veered from funny into going too far. Though if actions speak louder than words, perhaps Doheny thought he was guilty of no more than those whose deeds had forced change on this country. For, apparently unimpressed with the new State set up by the Treaty, Doheny declared a ‘one-man republic’ in 1926. He decided to mark the occasion and assert his independence by throwing a stone through the window of the Post Office for good measure. Living up to his reputation as a courteous gentleman, he then surrendered to a lone (and presumably perplexed) policeman.

The solicitor duly appeared in court, expecting a prison sentence. Instead, he was adjudged to be insane and sentenced to a period in a mental hospital.

Predictably, his legal practice was destroyed and he was eventually forced to retire to the County Home.

Not everyone agreed with this madness; the playwright Denis Johnston was so indignant at what he considered a cruel miscarriage of justice that he wrote a play called The Golden Cuckoo based on the incident.

Making it ironic that Doheny died in February 1962; the same month and year that a novel paying tribute to the individual and rebelling against the status quo was published. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is more famously known as a multi-Oscar winning film starring Jack Nicholson as McMurphy.

Maybe in honour of tortured geniuses, famous or forgotten, friends or family, we should bring back ‘The Doheny Holiday’ — and give us all a break.