Coillte and Christmas trees may be synonymous at this time of year, but the forestry board doesn't have a direct line to Santa Claus. Now it seems it could have, after all, for its ruin at Moorehall, Co Mayo, may be handed to the local authority for restoration.
"We are prepared to transfer it, and have been in contact with Mayo County Council," a Coillte spokesman said. The forestry board would be prepared to make a "major contribution" towards the project, if the plans were well structured and funded, the spokesman said. In other words, if the Government sees fit to finance a scheme which could run to £4 million.
For a Carnacon community group campaigning to return the former Moore family home near Castlebar to its former glory, the timing of the announcement was auspicious. At a wreath-laying ceremony at Moorehall yesterday, John Moore's contribution was recalled by Minister of State Mr Eamon O Cuiv.
Now buried at the Mall, Castlebar, John Moore was crowned the first "King of Connacht" by Gen Humbert in 1798. His reign was brief, however. Captured by British forces in Castlebar he was sentenced to death for his part in the '98 rebellion.
This was commuted to transportation, but due to the poor state of prisons his health failed and he died on December 12th of that year. He was laid to rest at Ballygunner, Co Waterford. In 1961 his burial place was discovered and his body brought to Castlebar under military escort.
It was fitting then that Aine Ryan, representing Amnesty International, should speak at yesterday's ceremony on prisoners' rights 200 years ago. Also attending the anniversary was Mr Al McDonnell, chairman of both Mayo County Council and the Moorehall Restoration Foundation, who is confident of Government support for the Moorehall initiative, along with representatives from Carlow and Wexford, where there have been strong ties with John Moore.
Hosted by Carnacon Development Association, it was part of the 1998 Moore Convention, of which the wreath-laying was just a part. Art O Suilleabhain, chair of the Moore Convention, also runs a poetry and short story competition with first prize of £150 and a gold medallion of Moorehall in relief; the winners were announced yesterday. Hugo Kelly of Phibsboro, Dublin, who is originally from Westport, won the short story section, while second place went to Joe Ducke of Summerhill, Athlone, Co Westmeath, and third to Helen Fallon of Whitehall, Dublin. The poetry section was won by Eileen Casey of Old Bawn, Tallaght, Dublin, with second place to Geraldine Mills of Roscahill, Galway. The building itself was torched in 1923 - ironically, at the bequest of Minister O Cuiv's grandfather, Eamon de Valera, who did not want it to be used as a Free State army barracks. George Henry Moore was a politician and racing enthusiast, who liked to have a little flutter. In 1846, he raked in £17,000 after his horse, Coranna, won the Chester Gold Cup. Much of the money is said to have been spent on grain and a cow for his tenants, as famine relief.
Best known, perhaps, was George Augustus Moore, who was born in the house in 1852. He was sent to Paris to become a painter but turned his hand to writing. Associated with Yeats, Martyn and Lady Gregory, he made his name with Esther Waters, published in 1894. His autobiography Hail and Farewell has been described as a "mordant account" of his 10 years in Dublin, written with a "candour and directness new to his time".
There were more: the writer's son, Senator Maurice Moore, was a colonel in the Connaught Rangers in the Boer War. He is credited with founding the Irish Volunteers. The first Dail appointed him as envoy to South Africa, and he was a staunch defender of human rights.
The Carnacon Development Association and Lake District Enterprise Ltd have ambitious plans for Moorehall, once it is formally passed to the county council. Plans and costings have been drawn up, and a submission has been passed to the Department of Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, which is being considered by Duchas, its heritage division.
The Coillte deal will be welcomed with particular enthusiasm in Mayo, given that it has been involved in controversy a little further east. The proposed sale of 86 acres of land at Lisloughery peninsula, Cong, to a Wicklow businessman for potential development as a tourism centre has been opposed by An Taisce and local anglers.
The separate George Moore Society in Claremorris supports the plan. Established in 1989 to promote the writings of George Moore, the society recently won a £2,500 Cothu/Ernst and Young Arts Award for its "effective and imaginative use of sponsorship".
