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THIS DOCUMENTARY ABOUT the Mayo town of Ballyhaunis was published on the Guardian website last week.
It tells the story of Ireland’s “most diverse” town, and focuses on how the local GAA club has been successful in bringing people together against a backdrop of the crisis in Direct Provision, the system where asylum seekers live while they await a decision.
The video went viral and was one of the most popular articles on the site for days afterwards.
Earlier this week, TheJournal.ie caught up with documentary filmmaker Maurice O’Brien to talk about the film, how it came about, and the overwhelmingly positive reaction to it.
Pitching up
“It’s already one of the most viewed videos ever on the Guardian,” he said. “They look at stats for people who watch it right through to the end, and it’s right up there.”
O’Brien said that he moved back to Ireland recently from abroad, and had wanted to make a film about the GAA in some way.
“I heard about the fact that Ballyhaunis was the most multicultural town in Ireland, and a journalist called Eoin Butler wrote about the GAA club doing an integration day, so I just went along and spent some time there,” he said.
For me it was a positive story. The GAA is the social fabric in a lot of these towns. You can really see how it takes on an even more important role in this film.
The documentary presents a compelling account of the local GAA volunteers who put in the long hard hours for the teams of all age levels, the children of over a dozen nationalities who play on the teams, and some of the parents of the children who have lived in Direct Provision.
O’Brien said that it was a good way to highlight how far Ireland has come.
“Immigration still feels like a new thing in Ireland,” he said. “I’m sure there are schools in Dublin where a large proportion of children speak another language at home, but it’s not as common in towns in the west of Ireland.
I think, overall, Ireland has done pretty well. Ballaghaderreen is just down the road in Roscommon has many Syrian families there. To see the welcome that the local community has afforded these people is heartwarming.
O’Brien said his experience filming in Ballyhaunis was a welcome change from the traditional narratives around immigration, particularly “across the water”.
“I think we should highlight the positive elements of people from different cultures coming together in the same community,” he said. “Look at the Brexit debate over in the UK.”
He said that away from the “endless negativity” about immigrants, a counter-narrative needed to be portrayed.
The nationalities of children playing GAA in the documentary range from Polish and Lithuanian, to Nigerian and Syrian.
“There are always challenges with everything, but there are some inspiring stories, too,” he said.
O’Brien said that this documentary struck a chord with many people, which was reflected in the comments under the original Guardian piece, and the emails he’s received since.
One story that features in the documentary is that of Desmond, a boy who has spent most of his life in Ballyhaunis. A keen GAA player, the small Mayo town feels like home.
His mother, Francisca, came to Ireland from the Ivory Coast and spent over eight years in Direct Provision.
In the documentary, she expresses frustration that she wasn’t able to work during this time, and O’Brien said that is a massive problem for the people he’s come into contact with.
“She was appreciative of the fact that she got a roof over her head, and got food, but it was a big problem that she wasn’t allowed to get a job,” he said.
It’s one thing living in that accommodation, but not allowed to be useful either? People are not allowed to feel like they’re being of some use.
Francisca thought that she would leave Ballyhaunis when her time in Direct Provision came to an end but, with she and her son sowing roots there in the community, that is no longer likely.
“Desmond has been there all his life. All his friends are there. He’s a Ballyhaunis boy,” O’Brien said.
The filmmaker said it was never the intention to “overly sugarcoat” the issues with the documentary, but simply to highlight how hard it is for some people and the way a positive community atmosphere can pull everyone together.
With over half a million views already and counting, O’Brien has certainly helped to get the message about Ballyhaunis out there.
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And yet our insurance premiums continue to rise….
@The Bunk: excellent point.
But we have a government that doesn’t want to interfere in the “free” market.
Free to rip the face off consumers, that is.
@Franklin Roosevelt: this government had no problem fiddling with the market when it came to introducing rent controls.
@The Bunk:
I despair of the stupidity and lack of education of the scribes who pollute these columns. This clown doesn’t seem to understand the level of awards are set by the courts not the insurance companies. The number of accidents are down to the drivers. These two factors determine the level of premiums.
@Donal Hanley: Not all accidents are down to the drivers, poor road conditions ,very poor signage also not nearly enough traffic cops all add to the accident levels.
@Martin Ryan: At an activity rate this equates to 0.0000158%. Such small microscopic statistics (unwonted as they are) are more likely to ebb n flow to the Fibonacci scale of mathematical chance. To think we have some kind of Devine intervention at this level is pure nonsense.
The only reason I was able to drive after losing a loved one was to get a grasp of how unbelievably remote such instances are.. otherwise i’d be a wreck.
@Franklin Roosevelt: What does a car cost to buy and to insure in the socialist paradise of Venezuela? You don’t see many new cars in Cuba, that other favourite of the looney left.
@The Bunk: Doesn’t mean there are less accidents, just less people dying in accidents
GREAT news story to start the year.
158 people to have died on the roads is still WAY TOO HIGH though.
let’s hope @ work towards an even better & safer year on the roads in 2018
@Frank Dubogovik: I doubt it can be reduced much further given the tens of millions of road trips per week. Good news though
@Misanthrope: of course it can,
@Misanthrope: that and the “sure it’ll be grand” attitude of some people after a drink or two.
@Misanthrope: 14 cyclists were killed last year, a huge increase on the previous year. These deaths were mostly preventable. I do think it’s possible to get the numbers down even more.
@Dermot Lane: should always be aiming for zero deaths for sure.
@Dave O Keeffe: You’re making it sound like drink driving is the sole excuse for car crashes, have you seen drivers even fail to indicate properly on a roundabout? Driving up someones arse, that’s another one. Speeding like a complete phucking lunatic, that’s another one. People driving big engined cars that they can barely control, that’s another one. The driving is shite in this country, you only have to look at the parking for Christ’s sake.
A victory for rules and regulations.
And well done to all the careful drivers out there, keep it up!
@Hey There Lovely!: ok, let’s return to 1950′s regulations.
Drink driving is cool, no seatbelts – that’ll be a fun experiment.
The guards will be busy with late night house calls.
@Franklin Roosevelt: let’s not forget to thank the men and women of AGS, obviously doing a lot more work in the area of Road Safety then the media would like to admit.
Still too many?Drove around cork from limerick to bantry and couldnt believe the quality of the roads a bloody disgrace we need to upgrade our roads but we also need to maintain them this government doing all this advertising about the great atlantic drive!they may want to drive it at some stage your taking your life in your hands.
Yet the number of cyclist deaths increased
@Kal Ipers: yes, and by just over 50% increase compared to 2016.
Better quality of roads helped too
@Kevin Moylan:
Are these the “true” figures?
Recent government agency stats have made me sceptical.
Driving standards are going through the floor. It’s dog eat dog out there and getting worse. So much hate on the roads these days.
No word fromt the self appointed Conor Faughnan… Thats odd…
@James O’Brien: he who just states the bleedin obvious and makes a living from it
@mcgoo: Missed my point ..
And highest cyclists deaths..
And yet the highest number of cyclist deaths
7 deaths in Kerry in 2016, 8 in 2017. Didn’t fall here.
@An Observer: hardly surprising considering the Healy-Rae driving “laws” in place there…
@Vic’s Burd: and the fact that it’s easier in Kerry to escape penalty points or a conviction if you make a donation to the court poor box
Statistical variance is probably a large part of why it went up in 2016, and down so much in 2017.
@Lionel Nashe: True, this is just Reversion to the Mean – statistical figures like this vary over time, and if you keep slicing them up every 365 days or so, some groupings of figures will be higher/lower than others. When they go up, we are told it is our fault, and when they go down, we are told that the RSA/Gardai are doing a great job, but the bigger picture is that most accidents are due to lack of attention at the wrong moment – if you’ve had these experiences like these regularly:
-ended up in the wrong lane
-forgot to indicate
-had to suddenly correct your steering trajectory
-got beeped at/given out to, by another road user
-realised your lights weren’t on
- Then sort out your driving, because it might be you who causes an accident in 2018, and the Authorities are not interested in changing overall driving standards, only in speed-measurements and statistics, because they are the things that are easy to measure, but it doesn’t mean that they’re the most important things…
The changes made in 2011 are working with great effect. No need for new legislation. Sir Rossalots persecution of L drivers alcohol bill and no limits must be stopped.
That is good news for all of us One road death is one to many. On the front of Insurance claims the quotes should fall by a lot the investigations into insurance cartel in beefing up premiums are now watching I hope hikes is a thing of the past.
Now sort out the antiquated drink driving legislation and we might finally get somewhere with road safety.
Numbers could be reduced further if some of our hard earned tax went to gritting more roads.
@Gerry McNally: Resurfacing, even.
Yet still drink driving is seen as a bigger problem than mental health and the homeless
It’s a long way from 1972 with 640 deaths but still too high !
One death is one death too many.
With the highest number of cars ever on the road, this is surprising news. Like to know what the ratio of cars on the road to deaths year on year since 1959…
The gardai are hardly taking credit for this are they?
Yes… another victory for oppressively expensive road tax, insurance, the likelihood of n.c.t. failure, fuel tax and endless bloody regulations continually moving (and lowering) the goal posts/windows of opportunity closer together. Of course people are dropping like flies due to hospital waiting lists, substance abuse, poor physical and mental health – suicide even. But a civilised society couldn’t be admitting to any of that could it? So we’ll wave the reduction in road deaths banner for all we’re worth.
All these statements are shite.. road deaths are inevitable.. however terrible it sounds.. nobody cares really.. I drove from Belfast to cork recently using my speed limiter in the car.. just to keep on the right side of the speed limit.. cars were passing me like I was stopped.. I’m surprised there are not more casualties.
@OCallaghan TP: Stop worrying about numbers – exceeding an arbitrary (and usually poorly-chosen) speed limit doesn’t instantly make things totally dangerous any more than driving just under it keeps you totally safe. Inappropriate speed (which can often occur when under the speed limit) and lack of attention/a road plan are the real killers.
@Tom Burke:
Ireland currently allows abortions,Tom. Stop kidding yourself!
As a liberal first world country, why shouldn’t those services be provided in our own country, and what is the rationale for continuing to deny such fundamental human right to the women of Ireland, who in law, should have total jurisdiction over their own bodies?
Repealing the Eight Amendment, combined with more effective sex education will greatly assist the social development of this country.
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