Cormac MacConnell: Uncrowned king of Burren Paddy eile
This Patrick has no warning at all that I am penning this piece, and will threaten to kill me stone dead over the phone before the day is over, but I will take my chances and fire ahead anyway.
Ye may have read that the magically mysterious Burren of Co Clare came first in the world last week in a prestigious National Geographic contest for the most beautiful destination of all.
Well, the Patrick I am hailing, always better known as Paddy, of course, is the uncrowned King of the Burren, and has been for many years, and his full name and address is Paddy Hynes from the village of Carron, which perches atop the Burren, over a silvery turlough which comes and goes away through its limestone base any time it feels like it. Again, the pure truth.
Paddy Hynes was born and bred here, farmed the Burren’s unique acres all his life, and, though he is now well down his 80s, he is still as sprightly and lively as a mountain bee.
Would ye believe, to my certain knowledge, he has been out and about through the entire region all winter at least three nights a week, often more, entertaining his neighbours and friends, often in the company of another gifted friend of mine, the golden-voiced singer-songwriter Kate Purcell, and often too with such musical legends of the Burren as Chris Droney.
Since this long wet winter sprawled itself down on us, Paddy and his friends have brightened the evenings for thousands. The man is a real entertainer.
Of all his arts and crafts, I most enjoy his monologuery, often featuring the fabled lines of Robert Service about characters like Dangerous Dan McGrew, and Sam McGee from Plumtree in Tennessee, and that sultry lady known to us all as Lou.
Nobody delivers Service with more style and craic, for sure. And if that were not enough, the bold Hynes also composes his own songs and monologues; knows a host of others from all sources both national and international; and beats the bodhran with great gusto, if given half a chance. A mighty folk entertainer, who spreads craic in his wake, everywhere he goes.
I first met Paddy on home ground about 20 years ago, when I strayed of an evening into his favoured pub, called Croi Na Boirne, in the village.
It is in keeping with the differences between the Burren and anywhere else in Ireland that this pub, run by the Cassidy family for generations, is a former RIC police station which still possesses a cell, which can be locked.
The pure truth, yet again. We had a great night, which warmed my heart to the right auricle.
At the time, I was hosting a night show on Clare FM called Cormacology.
There was one Monday night when that show was dying on its feet, and entirely on a whim, no organisation whatever, I said on air: “Paddy Hynes of Carron, for God’s sake, if you happen to be listening, will you give me a call and rescue me from my misery!”
He called in a matter of minutes, delivered Dangerous Dan McGrew and much more, told a couple of yarns, the switchboard at the radio station blazed brightly with callers, and that was the beginning of it.
Many times in the years that followed, I would ask him to rescue a show that was flagging, and he never failed me.
Since I crossed the county to Killaloe, I have not met Paddy Hynes as often as the days leading up the radio station eventually and quite properly issuing me with my walking papers, three or four years ago.
But we will meet up again soon, God willing, unless he is so angry at this unsolicited testimonial that he never speaks to me again.
That, in fairness, is unlikely to happen, and one or other of us is likely to be threatened with imprisonment in that cell in Robert Cassidy’s pub unless we behave ourselves at the bar some night soon. It has happened in the past!
Accordingly, it is the sprightly octogenarian from the Burren that is more strongly in my thoughts today than the formidable saint who left us with a legacy which includes a purgatory above in Donegal and a Mayo mountain that pilgrims will be climbing in their thousands in their bare and bleeding feet, in just a few months.
