Cormac MacConnell: How John McGivern wooed all of Leitrim

There was a lively traditional music festival in Killaloe and Ballina last weekend.

Inevitably, between the jigs and the reels and the balladry, there was a deal of talk about the current politicking, and the impact of recent events on the future of rural Ireland.

It was because I met a lively fiddler, named McGivern, towards the close of the craic, that I recalled meeting a magnificent character of the same surname, years ago, who quite literally saved the soul and spirit of his native county with a song and a dream.