Saluting legends of Mayfield community down the decades

Having spent more than 35 years in An Garda Síochána, I’ve learned that there are two kinds of people in most communities.

The first type consists of those who only think of themselves, and selfishly guard their right to be obstructive, awkward and unhelpful. No shortage of those.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have people who go out of their way to help create a better environment for themselves, their neighbours, and the community in general. They give their time and energy freely as volunteers to various groups because they enjoy it and because they are givers.

Thankfully, there’s no shortage of those either.

I met up with my buddy, John O’Connor, for a coffee recently and we were discussing some of the characters we encountered during our time in uniform. He reminded me of an incident that occurred in the early nineties when we were both operating out of Mayfield Garda Station.

We were in the patrol car together this particular day, and as we drove up a road in the city, we came across a hold-up in the traffic. We soon discovered the cause. There was a car double-parked at the top of a hill and the driver was unloading goods from his car into a house.

John got out of the patrol car, approached the man, and suggested he should park the car properly as he was causing a problem for other drivers, and traffic was grinding to a halt.

The guy replied that he was only delivering household goods for his daughter and didn’t see what the problem was. A common response from selfish motorists.

John once again explained that not only was he badly parked, but he was also at a junction and causing a build-up of traffic. He advised the driver to park the car properly, from where he could carry on with his business to his heart’s content.

Once again, though, the driver decided that he was doing nothing wrong and refused to move. At that stage, John’s patience had run out and he took out his notebook and pen. He demanded the driver’s name and address, at which point our friendly driver realised that he was in a spot of bother.

He shouted in a panicked voice to his wife who was sitting in the passenger seat, “He’s booking me darling; he’s booking me.”

That made me laugh because those of a certain vintage will remember the 1970s TV series Hawaii Five-0 featuring Jack Lord as Detective Steve McGarrett and his trusty sidekick Danno, played by James McArthur.

McGarrett always got his man, and at the end of each episode, when the culprit was finally arrested, he would issue the same instruction to his partner, “Book ’em Danno.”

Maybe our bad driver friend had grown up on a diet of Hawaii Five-0.

We dealt with characters like that regularly, but the decent people far outnumbered them.

The ten years I spent in Mayfield were memorable ones, even though I had a different impression of the place when I was first posted there in 1990. I thought I had landed in the Bronx!

Mayfield had a tough reputation in those days, and not without justification. There were a lot of social problems, a high rate of unemployment, and incidents of anti-social behaviour and criminality were common.

There were some remarkable people in Mayfield too, though, working hard to make a difference.

I was searching the Irish Newspaper Archives recently and came across a report in the Evening Echo from 1979 which covered the sixth annual general meeting of the Mayfield Community Association held at the Mayfield Youth Centre.

It would have meant very little to me back then if I had seen it, but it mentioned people like Cllrs. Ted Tynan, Frank Nash, and Máirín Quill, Rev. Fr Donal Lenihan and the chairman, Joe Mullane, Una Sheehan, Con Quirke, Mary Watt, and Avril Daly.

The AGM received reports from Community Games, a Festival Committee, Summer Recreation Scheme, Youth Club, Glen Action, Information Centre Turf Scheme, Building Committee, Senior Citizen and Fund-Raising Committees. There was a lot going on.

There were others beavering away in the area too, like Brid Houlihan, Dan Sexton, Noel Sheahan, Tom Walshe, Mary Connolly and many more. Some, sadly, are no longer with us, but they made a difference, and their legacy lives on. Little did I realise how much that Echo piece would relate to me in later years.

Community policing was in its infancy in the early 1990s when I got involved and I was immediately impressed with the enthusiasm of the volunteers involved in the various community groups.

I worked with many of those mentioned in The Echo piece and we proved that, with the local authority, gardaí, and the community working together, much could be achieved.

Unfortunately, the economic downturn in the late noughties undid a lot of the success. There was a reduction in the resources available to community gardaí and to the City Council and the wheels came off that particular wagon, which was a huge mistake in my opinion, but we’ve been over that ground before.

I still remember fondly the good times we had and the families I met. People like Mary Connolly, who lived in Boyne Crescent. We remained friends for nearly 30 years and long after I had left the area.

Mary was involved in the Community Games, Brian Dillons Hurling and Football Club, St Joseph’s Community Association, the local residents’ group and Neighbourhood Watch. She was the essence of community spirit.

Activists like Mary will always be remembered by their community, whereas characters like the guy who refused to move his car are soon forgotten.