Councillor Michael Connolly spotted something stirring in Moylough; he had good sources too - the dogs in the street! Michael said the "dogs in the streets around here" knew that the feathers in Camilla Parker-Bowles' wedding hat came from the bogs of Moylough. Off course, the man who shaped Camilla's wedding hat, Philip Treacy comes from nearby Ahascragh. But Michael would not be relying on circumstansial evidence alone. You couldn't beat a Fianna Fáil public representative when it comes to interpreting life close to the ground. Didn't Albert Reynolds even make a laughing stock of the be-wigged barristers at some tribunal or other when they tried "the dogs on the street" line with him. "Oh I have great respect for the dogs on the street," Albert retorted. He had made a couple of million feeding them!

Michael Connolly feeds his own dogs and sheep well and he is also a good man to spot movement in the undergrowth. If Councillor Michael Connolly says that the feathers in Camilla's hat came from a grouse that lived in the bogs of Cor na gCapall in Moylough you can take it for gospel that it's true. There is no better grouse than the grouse of Cor na gCapall Bog or is there?

Well another Fianna Fáil public representative who has put a feather in his cap (political) rather than in his hat, in the last week, has heard a lot of grousing too - this time from Connemara. Some of the Gaeilge grousers are saying that Val went out and canvassed everything down to the dogs on the street to put a feather in his cap in the Údarás na Gaeltachta election...and he stole the feathers even though his Gaeilge would not qualify him for a grant!

Val is a former mayor of Galway city and he lives in Knocknacarra in the official Gaeltacht, but not in the real heartland. Val's feathers were ruffled a bit and he retorted by telling them that they were like peacocks with their plumage of Irish ‹ proud and untouchable. Val said he was 60 per cent as good as any of them with his Irish and that he would be learning more. But that might not be the end of it. A man in the far west of Connemara used to say once when some bit of "aggro" or other was stirring up: "Cuirfear clúmhach in aer!" Now that's a more sinister situation because the "clúmhach" would mean that the feathers would be broken up and fluffy - something like you might find in a feather bed. If "clúmhach" goes up in the air, the situation will be serious.

Having said that, there is a proper place for "clúmhach"- and that is in a feather bed. We all know that Michael Connolly knows more than what he is letting on. Michael knows well that bags of feathers have been transported from Moylough to Buckingham Palace and they are not for hats either. Camilla and Charles are already well ensconsed in their feather bed and there is no use in grousing about that in Moylough. If Michael goes too far with this story about Camilla's feathers he might bring the wrath of Charles down on top of him. Did you hear what Charles muttered under his breath about the reporter who ruffled his feathers a few weeks ago. "I can't stand that man!" However, such a line of criticism probably wouldn't ruffle a feather on Michael Connolly's back Šespecially after having gone through election campaigns where the language would take the feathers of a grouse in north Galway.

Val has the feathers in the cap

As for Val Hanley, he has made his bed in the Gaeltacht and he may have to listen to the grouse. But when the political feather is in your cap, possession is nine points of the law. They cannot put you out of your feathered political bed.

But what about Councillor Séamus Walsh who has gone back into bed with Fianna Fáil and won more feathers for the party in the Údarás na Gaeltachta election? The dogs on the street knew that Séamus and Fianna Fáil were always birds of a feather, but he was outside the flock. It was suggested to him on Raidio na Gaeltachta that it did him no harm to go back into bed with Fianna Fáil in this election. Walsh, fast as a magpie after a robin, retorted: "Ah well I was always in bed with Fianna Fáil but I wasn't married. Now I am married to them- that's the difference." Come to think of it, it's much like the pair in the feathered bed in Buckingham Palace!

So now Séamus Walsh has his Fianna Fáil feathers in his cap and his bed in the party and Charles and Camilla have their feather bed in Buckingham Palace. So everything is settled down in that regard. However "clúmhach" could still be put in the air around Val Hanley's political bed in the Gaeltacht. There are some scuts out there who could keep the craic going Éand even introduce it (if that is the proper word) prior to the General Election campaign. These grousers could even ruffle the feathers of ministers Éamon Ó Cuív and Frank Fahey - the dogs in the streets of the Gaeltacht know that.

Maybe its time to go to the Far East for advice. Lately Japanese businessmen who were surveyed about their philosophy of life said they would like to return in the next life as birds! That would be great freedom compared to being caught up in the rat race in Japan. But if they are to come back as birds they should try not to have feathers, because there would surely be some growser to ruffle them. And as Val may find out, there is nothing worse to ruffle feathers than a Gaeilge (as opposed to Gaeltacht) growse!

Galway Advertiser - 14/4/2005