6 minute read
A Sit Down With Seamus; A Look Back At Kanturk Mart
By TADHG CURTIN
Snow is falling, Walking in a Winter Wonderland. Lyrics from songs surrounding snow at Christmas time. We have had an interesting start to 2025. I don’t know. I personally feel that while it can be magical for some of us, unlike the title of Dean Martin’s classic song, Let It Snow, we were all saying let it stop. As a result, my planned interview with retired Kanturk Co Operative Mart manager, Seamus O’Keeffe had to be conducted over the phone. I rang him on what should have been the first mart of 2025; Tuesday, January 7th but that was cancelled to save everyone travelling in treacherous conditions. In fact, he was by the fire.
I have known Seamus since 2015 when I first joined the Glen Theatre Banteer Drama group. Since then, we have often shared the stage together. I even worked in the mart for a few months in 2016. They had just introduced a new system of scanning the cards for calves being brought in. I was brought in to work this new technology but got to explore the many other aspects that make up the mart. We touched on Seamus’ retirement in our last issue but I wanted to get more in depth with the man and someone I proudly call a friend. He didn’t disappoint.
“I got a call from Dermot McCarthy in December 1999. We were shareholders and he told me the mart was closing and we should try and keep it open. I went to the committee that was there to see how we would keep it open but they refused to entertain us. A few days later, we met with the shareholders. There were 170 at the time and we got 70 signatures which led to a special AGM being held. In January 2000, there was a meeting held at the now closed Isle of Skye Hotel, which saw a big crowd attend and to put it mildly, the meeting was… interesting. There were two more lively meetings held subsequently. The meetings finally led to a vote of no confidence in the old committee. A new committee was formed which consisted of 16, including myself. Our job then was to give it a go.
My first job was to try and get livestock for the mart. The number of animals going through the mart had diminished up to that point; 7000 had gone through in 1999 which was not
sustainable. We got to work. We had a great team; some worked voluntary for a long time, myself included. I was never officially appointed manager, it just fell that way. Thanks to the support of customers, farmers, hauliers, dealers etc, we went from strength to strength. The Mart reached approx 30.000 animals leading into 2024. We also purchased land, a new car park was made and is available to the townspeople of Kanturk. A car wash operates on ground owned by the mart. And of course, we have a tremendous staff operating.
The biggest obstacle we faced or are facing is the change in farming. Many changes have occurred in my time. You had a lot more farmers before - time has caught up with many of them, both dairy and suckler. There are obviously many customers for cattle but not enough people, small farmers, farmers doing it as a pastime. It seems many see it more viable to rent out their land rather than farm it themselves. This is an issue that needs to be addressed What was rewarding about my time as manager? Well, I enjoyed every day there. Working with great people. This includes my
colleague and the person taking over from me, Colette O’Connell. The mart was so lucky to get her. She is a fantastic human being, great at dealing with people. She is fair with everyone, likes to help everyone. I have no doubt she will do a great job as the new manager.
I guess what was and is rewarding in my opinion is that you can’t give 100% to a job you don’t
like, and I loved my job. I loved dealing with and helping people. There is a lot of annoying red tape caught up with farming now and some find it hard. We have often been in a great position to help those with an issue. Since my stepping down as manager, the correspondence from those we helped as well as patrons from over the years has been overwhelming.”
Seamus is still on the committee so he will still be connected with the mart. Jokingly, he says that while he is still around to lend a hand, Colette is the boss and for the first time, he will have to do what HE is told!
We ended our conversation with Seamus sending lovely compliments from his 96 year old uncle in Dublin. His uncle had just received our Christmas edition of Discover Duhallow that Seamus had sent him. It featured a family picture of Seamus and his family from the 2024 Fat Stock show. Seems fitting but as I talked with him, a man that helped revitalise an institution that is now retired, is not sitting idly by. To paraphrase the Danny Aiello television show from the 90s, Dellaventura, if you need him, he’ll be around.
