Burren visionary, entrepreneur and sportsman, Michael Greene, died while playing a football game for his native Ballyvaughan on July 15th. He was 44.
Born on April 21st 1957, Michael Patrick Greene was educated at Ballyvaughan NS and Summerhill College, Co Sligo (1969-75). Excelling at many sports at underage level, he captained Summerhill in the 1975 All-Ireland Colleges' football final at Croke Park. At schoolboy soccer he was capped five times for Ireland and won a bronze medal in the European Championships. As a rugby player he played at senior level for both Garryowen and Corinthians before injury forced him to concentrate solely on Gaelic football, which he did with great passion, both as a player and administrator. He played at all levels with his club, various North Clare amalgamations and with his county.
In recent years he spearheaded the underage successes of the Ballyvaughan and St Fachnan's teams, and the Clare under-16 footballers whom he managed; he had planned a long-term strategy to develop All-Ireland potential for Co Clare by working with the younger teams.
This was but one aspect of his total community involvement with his native place. From the time of his return to Ballyvaughan as a young man to work full-time in the generations-old, family-run business of Hyland's Hotel, he promoted the best in Irish hospitality, food, culture and entertainment: weekends and week-long sessions of traditional music, dance and folklore, along with various Merriman Summer Schools.
Conscious, too, of the richness of the heritaged landscape around him, he founded what has since continued as the annual Burren archaeological conference. The first gathering in 1991 provided the initial heated debate on what became the Mullaghmore controversy. Features of these conferences were the dawn walks - he led this year's along his new pet project, the seashore walk from the village to the Whitethorn Centre - field trips and long afternoon excursions over the high Burren, all courtesy of Michael Greene's rapport with the local farming community.
In 1984 he married Mary Hawkes and soon afterwards purchased Newtown House and the adjoining roofless, 16th century cylindrical O'Loughlin towerhouse. During the early 1990s, prompted by its setting and the desire to do something different but profitable for a region plagued by the lack of employment, Michael Greene and Mary, helped by her brother Martin Hawkes - no strangers to educational initiatives as their parents had, many years previously, founded and managed a private secondary school in Askeaton - built Ireland's first private art college.
Over the years the Burren College of Art has established itself as a vibrant, global artistic educational centre with international affiliations and accreditations. It now caters for almost 200 US students, and varying numbers of Irish, European and others, annually. Final discussions are currently taking place with NUI Galway to establish a joint Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) programme, beginning in 2002.
In April 1994, Michael Greene decided to restore Newtown Castle and have it ready for that summer opening of the college by President Mary Robinson. In 11 weeks the Newtown ruin was roofed and restored to the highest possible standards, a medieval and modern testament to Burren skill. A nature trail exploring the multi-faceted landscape of the Burren was developed under the escarpment of Cappanawalla.
Today, the award-winning restoration functions as a visitor attraction, doubling when needed as a gallery for the college. One of Michael Greene's unfinished projects is that it would house all the O'Loughlin genealogies, and facsimiles and collections of the writers of Clare.
Newtown towerhouse also provides an historical focal point for the Burren Law School which, influenced by the nearby site of the O'Davoren Brehon Law School at Cahermacnaghten, he founded in 1994. It is now an important annual meeting for all interested in exploring associations between the Brehon lawyers and modern legal systems.
At the time of his death he was working on plans to expand the college to three times its present size, thus ensuring its future viability. To allow for continued broader community involvement in the college he created a Burren Trust. Among its ambitious plans is the Burren Drawbridge - a centre for contemporary art - a £2.6 million project that is awaiting a decision under the Access Programme. A Burren library, a resource containing all Burren writings, is another project which awaits fulfilment.
In recent years, as chairman of Ballyvaughan Community Council and more lately its development association, he played a major role in steering this sensitive area away from inappropriate development. To avoid any further conflict, the community under his leadership pioneered its own 25-five year, proactive, professional plan which has been not only accepted by the planning authorities but praised as a model for other communities.
A generous, big-hearted man, Michael Greene had a passion for life and all things Irish, particularly traditional music and set dancing: hundreds of his American students were introduced to the Clare set at the weekly sessions in Kilfenora. As a communicator and facilitator he had unique skills that he utilised to the full on the global stage from his parish of Ballyvaughan.
He is survived by wife, Mary, son, Diarmaid, daughters, R≤is∅n and Caoimhe and mother, Marie.
Michael Greene: born 1957; died, July 2001