LGBT activist Tonie Walsh talks about the issues facing Clonmel and other regional towns
After many years DJ-ing and being at the forefront of gay rights activism in Dublin, Tonie Walsh is back doing his bit for cultural life in Clonmel, writes .
Tonie Walsh has been marking quite a few milestones recently. The weekend before we speak, he attended a State reception at Dublin Castle to celebrate the 25th anniversary of decriminalisation of homosexuality, which he helped fight for. He has also been curating an exhibition to mark the 30th birthday of one of the oldest free papers in the world, the Gay Community News, which he co-founded.
“I feel a sense of wonder at the place we find ourselves in right now,” says the prominent LGBT rights activist. “As a 19-year-old on my first Gay Pride demo in June 1980, I would never have imagined that my relationships would be recognised by the State or that there would be anything like a formal apology to men who were convicted for consensual sex. That we would also have a head of state who was gay would simply have been unthinkable.”
While the achievement of marriage equality was even more momentous, Walsh says there are still plenty of issues that remain to be resolved for all citizens.
“You could argue that we are finally getting on top of business that we started in 1916. We envisaged a socialist republic back in 1916 and we still have business to do there. I’d like to think we could imagine all of this as part of the process of building a new Republic. But as a 57-year-old gay man who lost huge number of my friends to the Aids crisis in the ’80s and ’90s, it is a fabulous time to be alive. I do think we have a lot left to do. We have to deal with a greying LGBT dynamic — we have to deal with older people in general across the board.”
Walsh, who was born in Dublin, moved to Clonmel when he was young, returning to the Tipperary town to live a decade ago. For many years, he was a DJ and club promoter. Music has played an important part in his life, something he attributes to his parents.
“My dad was a celebrated jazz musician, he played clarinet and tenor sax. He moved down here to Clonmel, when he got a job with Mick Delahunty and his big band back in the ’60s. My mother had been a dancer. My father was a tutor to Clonmel Youth Band, which me and some of my siblings were members of. It kept us off the streets in the ’70s and was one of the few things that really emboldened us culturally.”
The promotion of cultural activities in regional towns such as Clonmel is a subject close to Walsh’s heart. He will be participating in the Clonmel Junction Arts Festival as one of its ‘Home Grown Heroes’ — a new feature which celebrates artists who are from Clonmel or who have a strong connection to the town. He is now bringing his advocacy to bear in the festival’s efforts to expand the range of cultural and artistic activities on offer in the town.
“I rail against Dublin-centricity — and I’m speaking as a Dublin man based in Clonmel. I see at first hand the disconnect here. The regions aren’t being given the attention and services they need. We are depopulating our small towns and villages because of migration to Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick and Waterford.
“That is having an outrageous effect culturally, socially and economically on the people who are left behind, in terms of alienation, loneliness, a lack of culture. These are huge issues we need to start dealing with. We need to find a way to make it meaningful for people to grow older in the towns and villages of their choice. That then becomes an even bigger problem for LGBT people who have a specific set of cultural and social needs that are rarely met.”
Unsurprisingly, given his track record in activism, Walsh speaks with real passion about the issues facing Clonmel and other regional towns. He believes some county councils are “bereft of imagination” and that the way to breathe new life into these towns is to build culture, not more shops.
“I worry we will make the same mistakes again regarding suburbanisation. Building shopping malls, retails parks and housing estates way out from the town centre on virgin farms and parkland is not good for ecology, sustainability or for connecting people. The redevelopment of the old Clonmel Barracks is great in terms of having a new cultural space but we need to hurry up the process. We need a whole load of interconnected things happening in Clonmel. We need to take our concept of urban planning by the scruff of the neck and make some brave decisions. We need to pedestrianise our streets, which will facilitate socialisation, and make space for kids and teenagers to hang out. A lot of these things don’t require huge capital outlays. They are small things but put them all together and they will have an enormous impact on the spiritual, emotional and creating wellbeing in the town.”
Walsh says events such as the Clonmel Junction Festival, and the “remarkable” work of the volunteers that drives them, are a vital element in getting people to engage with the public realm.
“A festival like this one puts value on our humanity, the urban landscape, and helps us reconnect with the town’s old heritage. There are loads of benefits that flow from the cultural engagement that is enabled by the Junction festival. Culture will save us when nothing else will,” he says.
As part of Clonmel Junction Festival Tonie Walsh will DJ the Festival Club, at Bakers bar; and the resident’s bar at Hearns, from 11pm, July 2-8.
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