October (Deireadh Fomhair) 29th  

 

1835 - Michael William Balfe's opera Siege of Rochelle is first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre in London

 

1885 - Confederate Civil War Gen.Joseph Finegan, from Co. Monaghan, dies in Rutledge, Florida

 

1892 - Death of Clonakilty artist, William Hartnett

 

1900 - Keeper Hugh McGovern (NY) was killed during an escape attempt at the 7th District Prison attached to the old Police/Magistrates Court on West 54th Street in Manhattan.

 

1922 - Birth of Neil Blaney, politician, in Rosnakill, Co. Donegal

 

1933 - Constable Andrew Sullivan (TN) was shot and killed while attempting to serve civil court papers on a father and son.

 

1942 - Patrolman Stanley Monahan (NY) was killed in an automobile accident while returning to Oneonta from Sidney Center, New York, after an attempt to serve an arrest warrant.

 

1953 - The Health Act provides for a free mother-and-child healthcare scheme in the Republic

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1953/en/act/pub/0026/index.html

 

1958 - The Dááil announces a bill to introduce a system of proportional representation into the Republic

 

1972 - Gilbert O’’Sullivan reaches no. 1 in the British charts with Clair

 

1998 - The tax on tourists row flares up again when members of the Dááil Committee on Tourism clash over a proposed ££1 levy on visitors to the Aran Islands

 

1998 - In tribute to emigrants who sailed to the New World on coffin ships, Coillte announces plans for the establishment of the Forest of Dunbrody on the outskirts of New Ross, Co Wexford. The public, and particularly Irish-Americans, will be invited to buy a tree in the name of their loved ones

http://www.dunbrody.com/level2.php?level=2&L1id=2&id=38

 

1998 - In Ireland the deadline for the creation of a new North-South Ministerial Council faced delay due to a despite over disarmament. An estimated 100 ton arsenal including several tons of Semtex was still hidden on both sides of the border.

 

2001 - Hardline unionists seek to block David Trimble's re-election as Northern Ireland First Minister

 

2001 - Over ££3.5m will be spent converting Limerick's city centre into a pedestrian area. Within five years, only buses, taxis and delivery vehicles will be able to travel up O'Connell Street

 

2002 - Continuous heavy rain brings severe flooding to many parts of the country

 

2002 - Thousands of homes and businesses face massive disruption to Christmas mail delivery following a vote by postmasters in favour of industrial action

 

Missing in Action

 

1972 JAMES E. SULLIVAN - HULL, MA "DEAD, HANOI RADIO REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85"

 

Feast Day:

St. Colman of Kilmacduagh, Bishop

 


Born at Corker, Kiltartan, Galway, Ireland, c. 550; died 632; cultus approved in 1903. Son of the Irish chieftain Duac, Colman was educatedat Saint Enda's (f.d. March 21) monastery in Aran. Thereafter he was a recluse, living in prayer and prolonged fastings, at Arranmore and thenat Burren in County Clare. With King Guaire of Connaught he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh, i.e., the church of the son of Duac, andgoverned it as abbot-bishop. The "leaning tower of Kilmacduagh," 112 feet high, is almost twice as old as the famous town in Pisa. The Irishround tower was restored in 1880.

There is a legend that angels brought King Guaire to him by causing his festive Easter dinner to disappear from his table. The king and hiscourt followed the angels to the place where Colman had kept the Lenten fast and now was without food. The path of this legendary journey iscalled the "road of the dishes."

As with many relics, Saint Colman's abbatial crozier has been used through the centuries for the swearing of oaths. Although it was in thecustodianship of the O'Heynes of Kiltartan (descendants of King Guaire) and their relatives, the O'Shaughnessys, it can now be seen in theNational Museum in Dublin (Attwater, Benedictines, Carty, D'Arcy, Farmer, MacLysaght, Montague, Stokes).