Cathal Ó Searcaigh

Cathal Ó Searcaigh

Cathal Ó Searcaigh (IPA: [ˈkahəɫ ɔ ˈʃaɾˠki]) is an Irish poet who writes in the Irish language (specifically the Ulster dialect).

Ó Searcaigh was born in Gortahork, a town in the Gaeltacht region of Donegal, in 1956 and lives at the foot of Mount Errigal. He is openly gay.

Poetry works

His collections of poetry include Homecoming/An Bealach 'na Bhaile (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 1993); Na Buachaillí Bána (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 1995); Out in the Open (translations by Frank Sewell, Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 1997); Ag Tnúth leis an tSolas (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2001) - for which he received The Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for the Irish language, in 2001; Gúrú i gClúidíní ('Guru in Nappies') (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2006).

The poems Níl Aon Ní and Maigdiléana have featured on the Leaving Certificate examination of Irish, though they may be removed pending an investigation following public furor over his sexual relationships with young men in Nepal".

Plays include Mairimid leis na Mistéirí; Tá an Tóin ag Titim as an tSaol; Ghealaí, based on the story of Salomé (Letterkenny, An Grianán, 2001).

Connections to Nepal

His first prose work, Seal i Neipeal, an account of his time in Nepal, was published by Cló Iar-Chonnachta in 2004.

Ó Searcaigh sponsors the education of many boys in Nepal and has an adopted son from this country. In 1998, an entry visa was granted by the Irish government to Prem Timalsina, a Nepali friend of Ó Searcaigh. Timalsina's age at the time has been reported variously at "15 or 16", 19 and 20, and Ó Searcaigh obtained help from Mary Hanafin, a friend from university who is now Minister for Education. Subsequently Timalsina was adopted by the poet. Ó Searcaigh calls Timalsina his 'adopted son,' though no formal adoption has taken place. The young man is again living in Nepal, where he has a son of his own whom Ó Searcaigh views as his grandson, and to whom he has addressed several poems.

Fairytale of Kathmandu controversy

In 2008, Fairytale of Kathmandu, a documentary that focussed on his charitable work in Nepal, included footage of Ó Searcaigh talking about having sex with local youths above the age of consent. Although sixteen is the legal age of consent in Nepal, in Ireland it is seventeen, and the law in Ireland provides for prosecution of sex tourists who engage in sexual relationships with locals, applying the Irish age of consent as the standard.

The producer, Neasa Ní Chianaín, documented that some of the teenage boys that he had helped financially had spent time with him in his hotel room, reporting that he had bribed them with gifts beforehand to do so. Part of the documentary is filmed in a hotel in Nepal which includes a scene with a hotel manager complaining about Ó Searcaigh's behaviour with the boys and saying he had been asked to stop as such. Ní Chianaín claimed the issue at hand here was not one of Ó Searcaigh's homosexuality, but a "power disparity between a poor Nepali boy and a relatively wealthy westerner", and interviewed some boys with whom Ó Searcaigh had had sex. This created a huge controversy across Ireland, with some calling for the removal of his work from the Leaving Certificate syllabus , while others claimed the issue was one of homophobia. The Irish Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin later said "there are 'difficulties' with the inclusion of poems by Cathal Ó Searcaigh on the Leaving Certificate curriculum."

Following complaints by Fiona Neary of the Rape Crisis Network the Irish police force are investigating Ó Searcaigh . He has been defended by Senator David Norris who condemned the documentary and framed the issue as one of a film-maker sensationalising an event for purposes of publicity and homophobia, again commenting on Ó Searcaigh's homosexuality in a letter to the Irish Times on February 8, 2008. Eamon Delaney, editor of Magill, accused Neary of an anti-male agenda.

Ó Searcaigh was strongly defended also by Eoghan Harris and the poet Maire Mhac an tSaoi. Senator Harris wrote that Nepal is a notoriously homophobic society, and that local accusers may have their own agendas. He also pointed out that the age of consent is sixteen and that no crime has been committed in Nepal, although under Irish law that may not be the case.

Awards

Ó Searcaigh was awarded the Seán Ó Riordáin Prize for Poetry in 1993 and the Duais Bhord na Gaeilge in 1995. He is a member of Aosdána and in 2006 won The American Ireland Fund Literary Award.