Cork Singer Songwriter, Martin Leahy brought the curtain down on the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2023.
Singer-songwriter Martin Leahy.
Martin travelled to Dublin every week for a year, to stand close to the Dáíl and sing his song, “Everyone Should Have a Home”.
Playing before an enormous crowd on John Redmond Street on Saturday evening, Martin sang an emotional Everyone Should Have a Home under the Mother Jones Plaque. Earlier he sang tributes to Sinead O’Connor and Ann Lovett.
Some of the large crowd at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.
This was followed by the traditional whiskey toast to Mother Jones at the plaque.
Members of the Cork Mother Jones Committee.
Earlier we had talks from historians, Luke Dineen and Pat Murphy, who was brought up in Ballyphehane and is now Chairperson of the Nottingham Irish Centre.
Pat MurphyLuke Dineen
It is fair to say that those watching the film Secrets From Putamayo won’t forget it for a long time. It may go a long ways towards ensuring that the work of Roger Casement is appreciated more.
An early start saw historian Peter Foynes take people on a fascinating trip around the historic Shandon district. Maggie O’Neill conducted a large Feminist walking tour around the north side of the City.
Maggie O’NeillPeter Foynes at the Mother Jones plaque.
It has been a wonderful festival.
Mother Jones with Mick Lynch.Mick Lynch at the Cork Butter Market.Crowd at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.
The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival continued in Shandon on Friday, all speakers were excellent. Again, we had some packed attendances and we had great performances from Jimmy Crowley, Eve Telford, Johnny Nyhan, William Hammond, and members of the Chilean community in Cork.
Cork Chilean Community Remember Victor Jara.
William Hammond, Jimmy Crowley, Eve Telford and Richard T. Cooke.
Mary Crilly and Angela Flynn of the Cork Mother Jones Committee.
Niamh Guiry, speaker with John Barimo, Cork Mother Jones Committee.
Eoghan Daltun.
Large Attendances at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.
Sharon and James Goltz, all the way from Mt. Olive, the resting place of Mother Jones.
The Cork Ukrainian Choir yesterday opened the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival with a stunning musical performance. The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Kieran McCarthy accompanied them on “Danny Boy”. It was a wonderful occasion from a fantastic choir.
Historians Liz Gillis and Anne Twomey.Some of the Cork Singers Club at the Maldron Hotel.
The 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Award was presented yesterday to Mick Lynch by James Nolan at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival in Shandon in front of a capacity at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane.
Mick Lynch at the Butter Market in Shandon with the Spirit of Mother Jones Award.
Jim Nolan presenting the award to Mick Lynch.A packed auditorium.
The Cork Mother Jones Committee is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Award.
It has been awarded to UK Trade Union leader Mick Lynch and the RMT.
The award will be presented to Mr. Lynch at a meeting at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane on Thursday 27th July at 4:00 pm as part of the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.
Mick Lynch with strong Cork roots was appointed General Secretary of the National Union of Railway, Transport and Marine workers, (RMT) in 2021 and has led the fight to defend his members’ working conditions and pay as well as trying to protect the public and community services.
Mick Lynch and his wife Mary at the Durham Miners Gala in 2022. Courtesy of Chronicle Live.
James Nolan spokesperson for the Cork Mother Jones Committee stated
“We believe that Mick Lynch by his direct action, solid analysis, straight talking and plain speaking in defence of workers and union rights, has won him widespread support and respect among working people.
His precise fact based arguments and his eloquence in his media performances in the face of Tory Party opposition in the UK in relation to the support for public services such as the Railways, the National Health Service and public services, has ensured admiration and support from among many people as they recognise the validity of his comments.
With Cork roots in the city centre, Mick Lynch continues to represent the fighting rebel spirit and tradition of his fellow Cork emigrant, Mary Harris, known as Mother Jones, who in earlier generations fought for social and trade union justice.
The Cork Mother Jones Committee is proud to honour the Cork diaspora which leads the fight for the living”
This is the eleventh Spirit of Mother Jones award, the last British trade union leader to receive it was the late Dave Hopper of the Durham Miners Association who did so in 2016.
Previous recipients include Gareth Peirce, Ken Fleming, Mary Manning, Fr Peter Mc Verry, Louise O’Keeffe, Antoinette Keegan, Catherine Coffey O’Brien, Ann O’Gorman, Maureen Considine and Don O’Leary.
Mick Lynch is the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (RMT) since May 2021.
Among his predecessors at the RMT were Bob Crow, who was a regular visitor to Ireland and Mick Cash who had Irish roots.
Mick and the RMT have been to the forefront of the defence of workers’ pay and conditions in the UK privatised rail sector. The union has also organised the opposition to the closure of tickets offices at railway stations justifiably arguing that this discriminates against the older, weaker and non tech savvy people.
Over the past few years Mick’s appearances on television have guaranteed enormous media interest as he systematically and forensically destroyed the arguments of political commentators, the right wing press and Tory MPs who argued against workers’ pay increases.
The YouTube clips of these debates are widely viewed by many.
Mick Lynch with his wife Mary enjoying the Durham Gala in 2022. Courtesy of Chronicle Live.
All the while he exposes the large payments to company directors and investors of dividends/profits from the privatised railroads instead of these monies being invested in modernising the rail infrastructure. He talks of the poor treatment of workers, bad working conditions and safety issues and the poor quality service endured by the travelling public.
His straight talking approach and his grasp of the relevant facts has gained him huge support.
Mick argues that there should be no divisions in the working class and attempts to pitch groups of workers against each other must not be tolerated.
He argues that it is “this broader umbrella of class politics inclusive of workers of all kinds, that best deprives the political right the opportunity to pit working class people against one another”. In this Mick echoes the views of Mother Jones who stated that “We must stand together; if we don’t there will be no victory for any of us.”
James Connolly is his political hero. US Senator, Bernie Sanders came to London recently to support the RMT.
At the Durham Miners Gala in July 2022 where Mick was a key speaker at the Big Meeting, he announced to the large gathering,
“We’re back. The working class is back. We refuse to be meek, we refuse to be humble and we refuse to be poor anymore”
Durham Miners Gala Parade.
Gathering at the Big Meeting in Durham.
Jackie Lynch, Mick’s dad was born in Cork city centre in 1922, and the Lynch family lived on Cork’s Bandon Road near Warrens Lane. He emigrated to London in 1941. His mother, Ellen Morris was from Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh. Mick, one of five children, was born in 1962 in Paddington, London and trained as an electrician. When back in Cork, he calls to Turners Cross, to support Cork City.
Mick Lynch is scheduled to speak on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 pm at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane.
Please note in view of capacity issues, it is first come, first seated.
Peter Foynes of the Cork Butter Museum will conduct a walk through the historic birthplace of Mary Harris on Saturday morning 29th July 2023 beginning at 9.30 am at the Maldron Hotel. All are welcome.
Peter Foynes.
Shandon was at the heart of the city food trade in the 18th and 19th Century. Cattle were bought and sold and slaughtered around the area for export. The Committee of Merchants (1769-1925) conducted the butter trade here and Cork butter was exported from here all over the world. The wealth of the city was largely derived from these exports.
While the existing portico in the Butter Exchange building dates from 1849, the building and those nearby were extremely busy places when Mary Harris was a young girl.
Cork Butter Museum.
It was a period of Church building and renovation. The Cathedral of St. Mary and St Anne (North Cathedral) where Mary Harris was baptised was reconstructed in the 1830s after a fire. St. Mary’s Dominican Church on Pope’s Quay was built in the late 1830s. The Church of St Anne, home of the Shandon Bells dates from the early 1700s and was by the 1840s a local landmark, indeed the bells were added in 1847. Other local landmarks familiar to Mary Harris include the Civil Trust Building (1730s) Skiddys Home (1719) and the North Infirmary (1710) site of the present day Maldron Hotel where many of the Spirit of Mother Jones events are held each year.
Shandon Bells.
The Shandon Historic Quarter contains some of the network of streets familiar to Mary Harris and while in 1750, 23 streets and passageways were connected to Shandon Street itself, some still remain as they were in the 1840s.
The area is ideal for walking, so join Peter on Saturday 29th to learn of the home of Mother Jones and a present day local vibrant community.
Then later that day at approx. 4:30 p.m., Maggie O’Neill will conduct a Feminist Walking Tour of Cork City. Meeting point at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
