Mícheál Ó Geallabháin: Family, Community, Social Class, Sport, Music, Emigration.
Life History: Social Class, Emigration, Education, Music
An in-depth, evocative interview about growing up in The Middle Parish highlighting poverty and the power of education in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Mícheál Ó Geallabháin gives intimate and warm detail about family life, community spirit, class, sport, music and emigration.
Mícheál was born on 15th of October, 1945 in the South Terrace but grew up in Kyrl Street in The Middle Parish. He was the eldest of a family of seven. He has four brothers and two sisters. They moved out to Ballyphehane in the late 1950s. His father worked for Beamish Brewery.
Note; This interview was conducted as part of the Cork 2005 Project
Interview duration: 55m 34s
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Cork Folklore Project
20 October 2004
Interviewee: Mícheál Ó Geallabháin
Interviewer: John Mehegan
<strong>Cork 2005 Collection Catalogue Numbers:<br /></strong><br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/5">CFP_SR00329_mccarthy_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/18">CFP_SR00330_odriscoll_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/19">CFP_SR00331_claffey_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/20">CFP_SR00332_hanover_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/21">CFP_SR00333_desplanques_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/22">CFP_SR00334_bale_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/23">CFP_SR00335_sheridan_1996</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/24">CFP_SR00336_steiner-scott_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/25">CFP_SR00337_rot_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/26">CFP_SR00338_stafford_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/27">CFP_SR00339_odonoghue_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/28">CFP_SR00340_hawkins_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/29">CFP_SR00341_ocarroll_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/30">CFP_SR00342_ikebuasi_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/31">CFP_SR00344_geaney_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/32">CFP_SR00345_wulff_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/33">CFP_SR00346_abdoulbaneeva_2004</a>;<br />CFP_SR00347_gunes_2004;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/35">CFP_SR00348_fourie_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/36">CFP_SR00349_henderson_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/37">CFP_SR00350_valdman_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/38">CFP_SR00351_carmody_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/39">CFP_SR00352_osullivan_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/40">CFP_SR00353_mahknanov_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/41">CFP_SR00354_oflynn_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/42">CFP_SR00355_akhter_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/43">CFP_SR00356_walker_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/44">CFP_SR00357_kelleher_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/45">CFP_SR00358_manresa_2004</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/46">CFP_SR00359_wimpenny_2005</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/47">CFP_SR00360_skotarczak_2005</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/48">CFP_SR00361_vermeulen_2005</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/49">CFP_SR00362_owen_2005</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/50">CFP_SR00363_dsouza_2005</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/51">CFP_SR00364_setter_2005</a>;<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/52">CFP_SR00365_obrien_2005</a>;
<br /><strong>Published Material;</strong> <br />‘How’s it Goin’, Boy? radio series <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/radio-series/">(six thirty-minute episodes, broadcast 2005 and available on the Cork Folklore Project website)</a>
O'Carroll, Clíona for the Cork Northside Folklore Project (2006) How's it goin', boy? Dublin: Nonsuch Publishing.
1.wav File
English
Sound
CFP_SR00343_ogeallabhain_2004
Cork; Ireland; 1950s-2000s;
"Mary": Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
<span>Ireland; Cork; Limerick; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Grattan Street; Occupational Lore;</span>
<p><span>‘Mary’ grew up on a farm in county Limerick, part of which was rented to a mental hospital to be worked by patients. By interacting with these patients she quickly learned who you could trust and who you couldn’t. </span></p>
<p><span>Mentions her brother’s physical and mental disability.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses how the smell of tripe and drisheen reminds of father who died when she was young</span></p>
<p><span>Recounts her surprise and confusion as a child learning that her mother had remarried and her new husband was to live in the family home.</span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the routine on farm including looking after the cows, feeding hens, making bread, and how their dinner changed with seasonal availability of produce.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about her commute to school on a bicycle with sister and standing up to boys who hassled them. Learned some subjects through Irish. Recalls her sister disliking being singled out by teacher because of her attractive eyes and hair.</span></p>
<p><span>Remembers seeing a young JP McManus cycling.</span></p>
<p><span>Explains how she always considered becoming a nurse. Discusses training and hospital experiences including with nuns. Believes that nurses who had worked abroad had a broader perspective on life. </span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the role of the Public Health Nurse which required entering patients’ houses and assisting them with births and deaths. Other features included the need to be able to read emotions and build trust with others and managing your work largely independently. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes some memorable cases as a PHN. A family singing Boney M to a baby with a severely lif-limiting condition. Waiting for an ambulance for a man struggling to breathe who lived without electricity. Trying to find help for an older woman struggling with dementia who was being passed from one agency to another without resolution. Fumigating a woman’s accommodation to rid it of fleas, the poor living conditions she found there and the ambivalent reaction of the woman to this health intervention.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses vaccines, their role in eliminating polio and the varying attitudes to vaccination.</span></p>
<p><span>Recounts the story of social welfare officers in Grattan Street providing a bed to a woman who promptly sold it on the Coal Quay.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on the mutually beneficial mix of medical disciplines in Grattan Street and the positive relations between the staff. </span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the problems, changes and tensions relating to the car parking situation for Grattan Street staff and others in the surrounding community.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about a child welfare issue where she had to attend court as a PHN.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of the deficiencies of the Grattan Street building including plaster falling off walls, the waste of paperwork, dry rot, bars on windows and a very out-of-date photocopier. Suggests future uses for the building. </span></p>
<p><span>Tells the story of the 2010 floods when the vaccines had to transferred with difficulty to St Finbarr’s Hospital for safety.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses the desirable feature of the new building in Gurranbraher including it having a central meeting area and parking as well as being of a manageable size, accessible and approachable.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on how she found her career of helping others rewarding. </span></p>
Cork Folklore Project
14 March 2019
Cork Folklore Project
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>;<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
1 .wav file
English
Sound
CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019
Cork, Limerick, Ireland, 1960s-2010s