Old Head of Kinsale - "Tree huggers & Pansies make O'Connor's life a misery"

cork | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Wednesday August 18, 2004 13:11 by Free the Old Head kinsalefree at hotmail dot com

People's Picnic this Sunday to Free the Old Head of Kinsale

As "right to roam" campaigners prepare for another People's Picnic at the Old Head of Kinsale this Sunday a US golfing magazine gives us a rare insight into the mentality of the golf club's ultra-rich owners, the O'Connor Brothers.

This Sunday (22nd August), a People's Picnic will be held at the Old Head of Kinsale, one of Ireland's premier beauty spots. Some years ago an exclusive golflinks was built on the Co. Cork headland and since then the owners have turned it into a fortress to keep locals and visitors out.

For generations Cork people and indeed people from all over the world have enjoyed hillwalking, fishing and sightseeing from the Old Head of Kinsale. It has archaeological remains up to 5,000 years old and is an important location for flora and fauna - including Ireland's only true reptile - the vivaporous lizard and a recognised whalewatching location.

A recent article in a US golfing magazine, TL Golf, gave an interesting insight into the mentality of the golf-club co-owner Patrick O'Connor (his brother John is the other half-owner)

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Here is an interesting section from the article by US golf writer Robert Sullivan

"The Old Head -- the name of a peninsula and, now, a golf course -- is spectacular. It is impossibly beautiful as a piece of land and all but inconceivable as a resort. The first thing that comes to an American's mind is, How'd they pull this off? It wasn't easy. The contrarian story is that the O'Connor brothers -- developers, entrepreneurs, sharpies--got ahold of the Old Head for twenty-six dollars and a handful of beads, never fessing up that they intended to turn 220 acres of the national monument and ancient royal site into 7,127 yards of sensational golf. The O'Connors see things differently. Patrick will tell me over drinks that everything was on the square and that the local castle huggers are a bunch of pansies who made his life a misery during years of legal battling. "I won," O'Connor says, sipping his cocktail with a dram of satisfaction."

How are relations with the locals?

"Don't need 'em. They don't play Old Head -- can't afford it. It wasn't built for them anyway. It's for the international market. We have an annual day for Kinsale's police and fire -- keeps 'em sweet. That's about it."

The Irish are honest, you've got to love 'em for that. Ronan, our caddie, a tall, shy young man, is as honest as his boss. "The first isn't much," he offers as we limber up. It isn't -- an uphill, middle-distance par four that's very pretty but ...

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Apart from the writers quirky style, the comments from O'Connor show the utter contempt he feels for the rights of local people and those who cannot afford to play at his exclusive, elitest club.

So if you're near to Cork and Kinsale this weekend why not join our People's Picnic at the Old Head and defend the generations old right to walk and enjoy the Old Head of Kinsale.

The Free the Old Head Campaign are running a bus from outside Cork Opera House, departing at 1.00pm sharp.

See also events section for more details of transport.