Film revives boycott memories in Fethard

Everyone you meet in Fethard-on-Sea agrees on one thing: if they haven't seen the film already, they have made plans to do so.

In this quiet village on the Hook peninsula in Co Wexford, ask about "the film" and no elaboration is required - you must be talking about A Love Divided, which opened in cinemas last Friday and recounts the boycott of Fethard's Protestant community in 1957.

Even after 42 years, the subject is a highly sensitive one and most locals, if they talk about it at all, will do so only off the record. "I don't mean to be rude," said one man when contacted by The Irish Times, "but it's like this: I was born here, I lived through it and I'm not talking about it."

"Look," says a neighbour who is more forthcoming, "the people of Fethard are very concerned about the hurt that was caused 42 years ago, but they have apologised for it, they have said it shouldn't have happened and they have said it won't happen again. Surely to God you can't go any further than that."

Despite the tone of exasperation, neither he nor others who spoke about the film have any quarrel with those who made it, only with some commentators who they believe have seized upon the opportunity to pass judgement on the people of the village yet again.

The essential element which made the boycott possible, namely the control over their parishioners exercised by the local clergy, was present in every town in Ireland in the 1950s, they point out.

However, there were conditions particular to Fethard which made the effect of the boycott much worse than might have been the case elsewhere. The area was unusual in that its sizeable Church of Ireland community straddled all the social classes.

"If the boycott had happened somewhere else, the Protestants might not have taken a blind bit of notice because they moved in their own circles anyway," said one woman. "In Fethard it was different."

Mr Billy Colfer, a historian living in Slade, about six miles from Fethard, said the boycott might have had the long-term effect of making the two communities closer.

"In one way the events of that period have forced people in Fethard to think about their situation and the need to bring the two communities together."

Likewise, it is hoped the film will help to heal the wounds which are still there. Ms Eileen Kehoe, whose parents, Sean and Sheila Cloney, are the film's central characters, believes it will have a positive effect.

"People didn't talk about it until now, but this film has enabled them to do so. Young people had no idea what happened, but now they're able to go and see the film and learn about it and I think that's mightily important. People today want things to be up front, then they can deal with it and carry on," she said.

The boycott began when Mrs Cloney left the area with her two children after a local curate told her they would have to attend the local Catholic school. Mrs Cloney is a Protestant and her husband a Catholic, and the family still live just outside the village.

Ms Kehoe acknowledged that some of the historical inaccuracies in the film - over which the Cloney family had no control - might upset some people. "We accept there has to be some artistic licence and those of us in the family who have seen it consider it a good film, but there are some things in it that didn't happen."

Locals who spoke to The Irish Times expressed particular concern about two fictitious scenes which gave the impression, said one man, that the boycott was more violent and malevolent than it actually was.

People had simply gone along with what they believed they were required to do. "Even the Protestant community had sympathy for the position we were in," said another.