Life Story Part 2

Gaeltacht field officer to Jurist Linguist

Krunchie joined the Gaeltacht Department in 1969, and headed out west to live in Spiddal, County Galway for a year, then in Gweedore, County Donegal, for a year, and finally for an aborted year in Banna Bay, County Kerry, aborted when he was head-hunted by the Department of Foreign Affairs to become a Jurist-Linguist with the team, working, in Brussels, under the Council of Ministers of the EEC, on the translation of the European Treaties into Irish. (A public advertisement had failed to attract suitable legal candidates).

His duties in the Gaeltacht Department (as "Stiúrthóir Cúnta" which translates as "Assistant Director" but really meant "Assistant Field Officer") were to supervise and implement various government schemes and stimulate community development. He was not shy, however, at voicing criticisms of some schemes, e.g.,

• Scéim na Muc ("The Pig Scheme"): This scheme was supposed to nurture a pig industry in the Gaeltacht, but, due to restrictive regulations, (controlled by the Department of Agriculture), did no such thing.
• Glass House Scheme: Again, theoretically designed to nurture a tomato industry, but stymied by officials of the Department of Agriculture who thought the tomato industry should be confined to North County Dublin, the size of glass house provided to Gaeltacht applicants was large enough only for hobby and not business use; and they had no running water or electricity.
• Ferry Service to the Aran Islands. When Krunchie was a student at Irish College some years previously, the college pupils were taken on a day-trip to the islands on a chartered turf boat, because the grand ferry service run by CIE (the state-owned transport company) just was not able to offer such a service. Coming back as Gaeltacht official, Krunchie's opinion of the service was confirmed, and he wrote to his superiors recommending that a derogation from the Transport Act be made and island entrepreneurs empowered to set up a privately-run scheduled service. This was done (not necessarily as a result of Krunchie's memo, of course), and the economic growth of the islands started from the day the new ferry (from Rossaveal, Connemara) was introduced.
• Land Titles: although not a Gaeltacht scheme, would-be entrepreneurs in Gaeltacht areas were often brought to their knees by difficulties with land titles. The Land Commission had settled the title issues in the wealthier regions, but left Connemara titles in a quagmire.

Another proposal by Krunchie was to contact emigrants from the Gaeltacht areas who had set up businesses abroad, inviting them back. This proposal was cynically referred to as "The Come Back Paddy Reilly Scheme," however, it was introduced, and did lead to the development of some small industries in the west.

Coming back from Brussels when the Accession Treaty was signed, January 1972, Krunchie found that the Gaeltacht services he had been involved with were to be taken over by a new body, Údarás na Gaeltachta, so he applied to return to the Land Registry, where he resumed duties.

Land Registry, 1972 to 2003

Krunchie came back to the Land Registry, in 1972, as Legal Assistant/ Group Leader. He became Senior Legal Assistant in 1975, but soon rose to Examiner of Titles and then Chief Examiner of Titles.

In 1975, a Study Group was set up to consider the re-organisation of the Land Registry, (from a horizontal structure to a vertical structure) to make it more efficient. Krunchie suggested that the Study Group consider "The Use of Computers," but was informed that the Department of Finance representative said that "Computers are not ready for the Land Registry and the Land Registry is not ready for Computers." Krunchie suggested that Word Processing could be of immediate benefit and lead to considerable efficiency, and that the Indexes (Land Index and Names Index), the underlying structure of the Land Register, could easily be automated almost immediately.

Bill Moran, the head of the office said, "We will not see computers in the Land Registry during my time, so we are not going to waste time discussing them now."

So, instead of Word Processors, we got Golf-Ball Typewriters, which were a waste of money, and, instead of using computers to introduce efficiencies, we headed forward towards the "Computerisation of the Land Registry," i.e., to implement a computerised version which would be the same as the manual system. In Krunchie's view, computers should change the way business is done. An example of that time is the various companies in the Insurance Industry which raced each other to computerise the existing procedures, only to be caught on the hop when new companies offered Direct Insurance. Previously, application forms had to be filled up in one department and passed to an assessor in another department, before a quotation was given. With Direct Insurance, all the relevant criteria are obtained by a set of questions, and, by ticking boxes, the front-line person is able to issue a quotation over the phone (or a few years later, online) and take payment via credit card. Land Registration need not be much different.

It is not easy to articulate your vision of a complex system when you are up to your neck in your own daily (legal) duties, nor to influence the decision-makers when you are a mere lawyer (whose opinions would by definition be irrelevant) and not considered qualified to comment on Information Technology, a realm of other experts.

When his own family (one girl and three boys) were sufficiently advanced in years, Krunchie went back to evening school (Distance Learning), and took a degree in "Information Technology," with First Class Honours, from DCU in 1996. He followed this, in 1998, with a Master's in Trinity College on the Thesis of "A Model for Land Registration in the Information Age."

When he retired from the Land Registry in 2003, to become a Land Registration Consultant, he thought he would have time to articulate his vision of a reformed land-titling system, but found, after seven years, that, to do this, he would have to give up the consultation in order to gain sufficient time for the project. Subsequently, he described his vision in the book "Simplified Land Titling."

Krunchie's Books on Amazon.co.uk

Chancery Societies

While the Land Registry had offices in various locations in Dublin, the headquarters were in Chancery Street. So the Land Registry Drama Group was called The Chancery Players. Krunchie participated in this society and set up some new Chancery societies:  The Chancery Artists, obviously an art society, and The Chancers a musical group that held sessions in pubs.

He also set up Gaeleagras Chlárlann na Talún to facilitate the speaking of Irish. This group was allowed to use rooms after office hours to hold Irish classes, and also held bi-lingual musical evenings and Irish debates in various hostelries.

The Chancery Artists held exhibitions of the works of its members, originally in the Ormond Hotel, and subsequently in the Law Society's premises on Blackhall Place.

Krunchie was also a founding member of Peoples Art Dublin which organises an annual exhibition on  the railings of St Stephen's Green and a founding member (though not a regular participant) of the weekly Art Exhibition on the railings of Merrion Square.

Residents Association

On the home front, Krunchie was chairman of the Residents Association for two years, during both of which the Association won the Dublin Tidy Areas Competition, and was the first Dublin estate to win a prize in the National Tidy Towns competition.

The Tidy Towns judges commented on the need for improvement, outside Claremont estate, in the surrounding area, and Krunchie called upon the other Resident Associations of Glasnevin/ Phibsborough, to join  together in the Finglas Road Action Group.

He set up the Claremont Artists and the Claremont Chess Club and his committee organised an annual Festival, with a large marquee on the principal play area (as well as event in other venues, e.g., Claude Hall, the Royal Oak pub and the Brian Boru pub). (At that time the PMPA was providing reasonably-priced insurance; but later committees found it impossible to continue such an elaborate festival).

The Finglas Road Action Group negotiated with Dublin City Council over the development of the fourteen acre site that now houses the Clareville Park and Clareville Housing Estate. This includes sheltered accommodation for the  elderly and infirm and a Day Care Centre, where Krunchie provides a weekly music session with other members of the Invincibles music group.

Other projects that the Action Group lobbied for, were, of course, the improvement of local facilities such as Glasnevin Cemetery, the Botanic Gardens and the Royal Canal, all of which have now been magnificently improved due to government funding.

While for years, officialdom refused to budge on the opening of a linking gate between the Cemetery and the Botanic Gardens, our lobbying was eventually successful. The gate is now universally praised, and besides allowing  the elderly of Clareville Court a walkway to the Gardens, has made the combined Cemetery and Gardens one of Ireland's leading tourist attractions.

The Invincibles

The Chancers (musical group) became defunct around the time Krunchie retired from the Land Registry, but Alan Creanor, one of the leading members co-operated with Krunchie to run a weekly musical evening and sing-song in Clareville Day Centre.

Alan Creanor (extreme left) with the Monday Club in Clareville Day Centre

At around the same time the Invincibles musical group was formed in Glasnevin, of mainly retired, or nearly retired members.

The Invincibles, Christmas Day 2014

Bertie Ahern at the Launch of the Invincibles CD in 2008

Invincibles carol singing, 21 December 2008

After a while, it became apparent that the elderly preferred lunchtime concerts, as they did not want the trouble of coming back in the evening. All the members of the Invincibles are not available on a regular lunch-hour weekly basis, so a sub-group, The Clareville Tigers provide the sing-song.