Irish Chiefs updates

Subject:	Irish Chiefs updates
Date:	Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:18:13 +0000

Those who equate heraldry with armory only are excused from reading the
following new year updates on claims to Irish titles of chiefship.

(1) Mac Carthy Mór: It has been drawn to my attention that a MacCarthy
of Srugrena pedigree has recently been registered with the College of
Arms in London (again the Chief Herald of Ireland has long since
abandoned such work). I have been expecting one of the Trant MacCarthys
to announce a claim to the Mac Carthy Mór chiefship and would deal with
this in accordance with the principles established, namely, ask for full
evidence to be produced and subject same to careful examination.

(2) O Carroll of Ely: I have also been informed that Frederick
O'Carroll, the claimant to this chiefship, passed away on 11 January
2010. While expressing sympathy to the family, it is to be hoped that
this questionable claim to chiefship will not be continued, just as the
spurious claim to the title of Maguire of Fermanagh has apparently been
allowed to lapse following the decease of Terence Maguire in 2005.

(3) Mac Sweeney Doe: The 2003 report of professional genealogist Máire
Mac Conghail, which allegedly proves the case of claimant Thomas
Sweeney, has still not been released for examination. Meanwhile, the
claimant's online tirade of abuse against myself is still being
augmented regularly, and has recently been quoted approvingly by Terence
MacCarthy's former bodyguard, the Baron of Castleshort, who as noted
here before is now himself apparently claiming chiefly status.

(4) O Long of Garranelongy: The reports prepared circa or post-2003 by
professional genealogist Paul Gorry and the respected academic Kenneth
Nicholls, which again allegedly prove the case of claimant Denis C Long,
have also still not been released for examination. Mr Gorry's allegation
of plagiarism against myself in relation to my Mac Carthy Mór work has
still not been withdrawn, and while gleefully promulgated by Mr Sweeney,
it has never been substantiated and is of course utterly false. That
said, if the work of either Mr Gorry or Mr Nicholls genuinely shows my
sceptical O Long report to be incorrect, I would have no difficulty
acknowledging this.

(5) Akins of That Ilk: While he no longer apparently emphasises his
claim to chiefship as much as before, Steven Akins's Lebor Feasa Runda,
which we have discussed briefly here and have good reason to believe to
be a forgery, underlines the hybrid Hiberno-Scottish nature of his
enterprise. I have not yet had time to update my piece on Akins to take
account of the literary hoax.

Sean Murphy
Irish Chiefswatch
http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Eseanjmurphy/chiefs/chiefswatch.htm