The Long And the Short Of It
The Mayor of Limerick, Jim Long, has been embroiled in a number of controversies recently. So who is he? What does he represent? And is he really a racist, as his accusers claim?
Olaf Tyaransen, 18 Apr 2012
Did you have a happy childhood?
Very happy. I came from a family of nine. My father worked part-time so I came out of primary school at a very young age to help my mother. I used to go to school, for the first year, up to three o’clock, and then I’d go to work from five o’clock until midnight. I did that for a year.
What kind of work?
I worked in a restaurant, in the kitchen, and then I went on to become a commis chef, then a fully qualified one. But this was all in my own time. And then I gave up the school and I went working full-time because I needed something out of it as well. I wasn’t being selfish. But if I was on ten bob a week, it was going to my mother. If I could go full-time and get 15 bob a week, now I had five bob for my labours. And that helped me then to buy books, about the Easter Rising and that kind of thing. I concentrated on politics, but I was fascinated with the Famine as well. Maybe it was in my upkeep or my rearing, but I developed a trait that I still apply. I never look up to any man, but equally I don’t look down on any man.
Did you ever feel looked down on because of the area you came from?
Not at all. Ballinacurra was one of the nicest, best neighbourhoods – and still is. We didn’t have a lot. We had a big open field, we had a handball alley. Once a year we would play for a silver cup that was made out of silver paper – hundreds of people would come around and it was like a soccer festival that would last for a week. There was always unity and community and we always helped each other. You’d give respect and equally it would be put back. That’s still there today.
Was it a religious upbringing?
Well look, being a 12-year-old boy we were obliged to go to confession every Saturday – which I would dodge three out of four. I often dodged the Sunday mass. I was never overly religious. When I visited my grandparents, the Angelus was sacrosanct. You had to get down on your knees every evening at six o’clock. That didn’t apply in my house because I was never there to do it. So not a religious upbringing, but we always respected the church. I’m never far from religion, but I wouldn’t be a fully-fledged practicing Catholic.
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