The Kettle's Boyled: Great people make good things happen
Boyle Arts Festival Committee members with Mary Coughlan at the launch of the Boyle Arts Festival. Pic: Noreen Gaffney
If I remember my history lessons, the Irish rebellion of 1641 backfired when the English Parliament introduced the Act for the Settling of Ireland in 1652. The Act imposed penalties including death and land confiscation on people who took part in the rebellion and indeed on anyone even vaguely involved with it. The forced expulsion of people from their lands under the Act was the largest example at that time in Europe of what we nowadays call ‘ethnic cleansing.’
Empowered by the new laws, Cromwell took action against the rebels and in particular the people who had attacked the families relocated to Ireland in the Ulster Plantation. He is reputed to have said that people evicted from their lands could go ‘to Hell or to Connaught.’
The phrase might be something of a myth, although it still strikes a chord. In reality, many rebels were sent to the West Indies as slaves on English-owned plantations, and many others remained on land they had previously owned, but as tenants.
I often think about these refugees when I cross the Shannon, heading west. There is a definite change in land quality as you move into Connaught, and you would have to wonder how people lived on these tiny plots in the days before mechanised farming and agricultural subsidies. My generation can remember some of the grinding misery of rural life in the mid twentieth century, but it was nothing compared to the 1600s.
They survived of course because they looked out for one another. Food and labour were shared, with no payment given or expected, and the harsh conditions and poverty did leave a legacy of solid neighbourliness and concern for others. Even today, we can see this culture of support for others, and the volunteer-centred communities that have turned our poorest province into something of a paradise.
Towns are tidy, not because of local government but from the work of volunteers. Sports facilities are everywhere, and culture and traditions are kept alive because of unpaid effort. Almost anything good that happens in rural Ireland has a team of volunteers behind it, making it happen with their freely-given labour and skills.
On the pinnacle of this legacy of volunteering, of time freely given, sits Boyle Arts Festival. Entirely created and organised by an army of volunteers, this ten-day festival is among the best in Ireland and indeed beyond. World-class entertainment and cultural events draw together talent from far away and just down the road. It is truly an extraordinary effort by all concerned.
I won’t single out any one event from the 2026 festival, but the standout impression I took away from it all was the extraordinary efforts of the committee and the helpers who made the whole thing happen. It was truly an experience to remember, but better still, we can look forward to more of the same in 2027. Help them out, if you can.
