Local Notes: ‘Good Morning America’ writer loves Ballyhaunis
Children from Ballyhaunis and the surrounding area who received their Summer Stars certificate, medals and goodie bags from local councillor Alma Gallagher at Ballyhaunis Library Also in the photograph is Eleanor Freyne, Ballyhaunis Librarian. Picture: Glynn's Photography
Barbara Rick, a recent and frequent visitor to Ballyhaunis, has one of the bigger jobs on American television while also attending reunions of the American arm of the Morley family.
Barbara Rick is the head writer for the third hour of ‘Good Morning America’ on the ABC network.
“I’ve been a journalist and documentary filmmaker all my life... and have written a few screenplays as well,” said Barbara whose late maternal grandparents were both from Ballyhaunis.
“Celia Kedian and John Morley were brave young teenagers in search of a better life when they came to America eons ago and met in New York City at a St Patrick’s Day Dance," she explained. "Allegedly on the subway, on their way home that night... that’s the lore anyway.
“Imagine the shock they got when they realised they were both from the same tiny Mayo town!
"We’ve had a number of Morley reunions over the past 50 plus years, the last one about a decade ago. Our cousin Cele McCauley used to know the family history inside out but unfortunately she passed away a few years ago... [we] really miss her and her wealth of family knowledge.”
The latest family reunion took place September 7th in Hempstead, New York, organised by Barbara’s cousins Carol FitzGerald Walsh, Joan Fitzpatrick and others.
“Their late moms, Rose and Mary, were sisters... their youngest sister Joan, my late mom, was the baby of the Morley family. My mom used to sing to us on our way home from family gatherings in Astoria, Queens and her rendition of was renowned.”
Barbara visited Ballyhaunis this summer. Her work has also taken her to Ireland.
“In the 1980s, while working at WNBC-TV in New York City, we hired my cousin Enda Morley to be our ‘fixer’ on a trip covering John Cardinal O’Connor’s journey to Knock, Belfast, and Dublin for peace. Mayor Ed Koch was there in Knock, too. Enda’s grandfather Michael Morley and my grandfather John Morley were brothers.
“Enda and his wife Mary have been to our home in Throggs Neck in the Bronx a couple of times and we’ve hosted their children, siblings, and other extended relatives over the last few decades.
“Back in the summer of 1993, I took Creative Writing & Irish Literature courses at the University College Galway while going through a divorce and I was carted around the country with care to hear Sharon Shannon, Mary Black, and the Saw Doctors with the Morleys of Mayo and slowly healed my broken heart.
“Enda and his sisters and brothers have taken me many times to the remains of the cottage where our grandfathers lived as children. It’s one of the most gorgeous spots on the planet, rich in birdsong and the shade of ancient trees. Long ago it was known as the ‘Valley of Birdsong’.. and it’s hallowed ground to me.
“My husband and I visited there with the Morleys back in 2016 and Mary and Enda took me there again on this latest visit in July of 2024. I was invited to take a couple of pebbles from the old chimney for my grandnieces in the US, a reed of connection to their great-great grandfather who passed away in the 1960s.”
Barbara got her Irish citizenship a few years back and has a dream to purchase a modest writer’s cabin in the countryside “where I could escape from time to time to do my own creative writing". Her cousin Merrilyn Finn, who moved to Ballyhaunis from New York several years ago, is a popular and active member of several local community groups, including Ballyhaunis Language Café, Tidy Towns and is a board member at the Family Resource Centre.
“My deep and abiding connection to our family and the hills of Mayo, the stories, and the music has been one of the bright joys of my life,” said Barbara.
A Dublin-based company is bringing a new business model by developing several apartment properties in Ballyhaunis.
Keenan Property Management has acquired the former Albertos Nite-club in Ballyhaunis and is in the process of acquiring several other formerly commercial properties in neighbouring towns which it will convert into apartments with a high BER [building energy rating], according to a local builder familiar with the firm. KPM marketing placards have been displayed at one of the Ballyhaunis sites acquired by the company, which didn’t respond to an invitation to talk to this column. KPM has also acquired property in Kilkelly.
Local auctioneer Kevin Kirrane believes developers are looking at older properties rather than sites in towns like Ballyhaunis as it’s cheaper and faster to develop an existing building rather than seek planning and build on new sites.
“You could have the work done and be up and running within six months with rents coming in,” explained Mr Kirrane, adding that buildings with a commercial space inactive for over two years no longer require planning permission for conversion of the space to residential use.
Property prices continue to surge with semi-detached homes now regularly exceeding €200,000 in the villages around Ballyhaunis, Mr Kirrane explained. The prices are “not wrong”, he said, given they are in most cases below the cost of building an equivalent building to the standards required by today’s building regulations.
But that creates a dilemma, given many locals in Ballyhaunis are on industrial and minimum wages which put them outside the level required to secure a mortgage, he added.
“Builders may be able to build when the prices go up but then where is the income in Ballyhaunis to pay €200,000 for a semi-detached house?”
The result is a high demand for rental properties, he added.
“I can confirm that I won't be running in this [general] election,” said Eamon Phelan, who was the Sinn Féin candidate for the Ballyhaunis area in this year’s local elections. “Rose Conway Walsh has been selected as the Sinn Féin candidate to fight the forthcoming general election. The party is considering running a second candidate, no final decision has been made as of now.”
Mr Phelan, who polled 311 votes in the local elections, said the priorities for Mayo Sinn Féin are cost of living, housing, access to healthcare services, agriculture and fisheries.
Cill Tulach ICA is hosting a coffee morning and cake sale in aid of Mayo/Roscommon Hospice on Sunday, October 13th, in Granlahan Community Centre from 11.30am to 2.30pm.
Aghamore GAA Club is organising a Sports Quiz in The Corner House Bar, Kilkelly on October 4th at 9pm. The quiz is being hosted by the Aghamore men's senior team as part of the upcoming LipSync event in the McWilliam Park Hotel on November 16th.
Tables of four are €40 and there will be a raffle and spot prizes on the night. Come along and test your sporting knowledge - all proceeds go towards the Aghamore GAA Club Development Fund.
Congratulations to Gerry Freeley, Hazelhill, winner of €550 in the Ballyhaunis GAA 50/50 draw on an envelope sold in SuperValu.
A note from the editors of the parish magazine states that work is now underway preparing the 2024 edition.
is the annual magazine for, about and by the people of Ballyhaunis and the parish of Annagh, published in the run-up to Christmas every year since 1978. The deadline for submissions to the upcoming issue, the 47th, is October 11th.
“Each year we like to include reports on the many clubs, societies and organisations in our town and parish. We would be delighted if you would submit a report on your club/society/organisation and its activities over the past year, along with photographs if possible...
"Please ensure that any photographs accompanying reports are captioned and fully named.”
Reports can be emailed to info@annaghmag.ie or left with any committee member - Seamus Mulrennan, Edward Mulhern, Nell Rochford, Tommy Caulfield, Noreen Ruane Dalton, Paul Waldron, Mike Griffin, Gabriel Smith and John Kilduff.
