Tom
Galvin

Tom writes visual, tangible, sensory stories that are adaptable for the screen. He tries to write as if he’s watching a movie, making his scenes incredibly real, raw and drawing them in the reader’s imagination. His work always focuses on the human condition, writ small in the lives of the ordinary man. He draws on the larger biblical themes of good and evil, imperialism, mortality and human frailty, transplanting them onto the more intimate experiences of an individual, trying to make their own sense of the world around them. Tom’s work is informed by that of his literary heros; Jack London, Samuel Beckett, Charles Bukowski, Ryszard Kapuscinski and Albert Camus but is uniquely and refreshingly his own.

• Gabriel's Gate new!, published by Book Republic.
  Read online Chapters 1-4 now! (PDF, 129KB)
• There's an Egg in my Soup
  published by O'Brien Press Ltd.
• The Russian Doll, excerpt (PDF, 36KB)
• White Skin, excerpt (PDF, 40KB)
• Gabriel, excerpt (PDF, 0KB)

Visit Tom’s literary agent here: www.walshcommunications.ie

• pubs
• poland
• polish mass
• gospel

introduction

Once the smoking ban in pubs was approved in Ireland, many people believed it would sound the death knell of the old, smokey traditional pubs. They were right. I had an idea to visit as many bars as I could before they died and to make them the subject of a book. The following are four of the pubs that I found to be the most interesting. Two are now consigned to history and I’m sure the other two are not that far behind.

greenane

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Here are a selection of photos taken, click on a thumbnail below to see the full size image:

oz

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Here are a selection of photos taken, click on a thumbnail below to see the full size image:

quinn ryans

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Here are a selection of photos taken, click on a thumbnail below to see the full size image:

red cross

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Here are a selection of photos taken, click on a thumbnail below to see the full size image:

• pubs
• poland
• polish mass
• gospel

Some of the photos here are from the town where I lived in Poland, Minsk Mazowiecki and a few from Warsaw. I received a few emails from Polish people wondering why I never shot in colour as the mono images are so bleak. I prefer black and white, to be honest. But maybe I can dig up some colour photos later.

I also received a lot of emails from Polish people about my book, There’s an egg in My Soup, which can be purchased on Amazon.

Some of the messages were very positive with many wondering why it hasn’t been translated. Others were not so positive and there have been a few scathing reviews. Can’t win them all.

• pubs
• poland
• polish mass
• gospel

With a pen topped with the image of the Pope, Lech Walesa signed the Gdansk Agreement on 31 August 1980. Only weeks before in the same city, he entered the Lenin shipyards, which were occupied by striking workers, and clambered over gates adorned with icons of 'Matka Boska', the Mother of God.

The Solidarity movement was supported by the Pope, who had worked in the stone quarries and chemical factories in the 1940s and who had written Laboren Exercens (On Human Work) in 1981, in which he said: "Through work man must earn his daily bread".

Dublin

Sunday, 2 pm and outside St Michan's Church in Dublin, crowds of Poles begin to gather. There are cars and vans with Polish registrations. There are new arrivals eating Polish food from backpacks. There is even a man selling Polish newspapers: Gazeta Wyborcza, (literally, the paper of the electorate) which has over 5 million readers, but began as a humble eight-page weekly in May 1989, published by some of those who had previously published an underground paper, Tygodnik Mazowsze (the Weekly Mazowiecki, a region in Poland).

"How much?"
"Two Euro," he says.
"But it says two zloty on the cover."
"A Zloty for a Euro," he smiles.

But it's not. There are four Zloty in a Euro. But he's right to be charging more. The papers had to be hauled all the way overland by bus from Warsaw. A bus that is operated from a Polish office in Store St Dublin, and arrives twice weekly, full of Poles to be met by more Poles. Some to pick up parcels sent by their families back home, others who were unsuccessful at finding a job and are climbing back on board. And for the time being, that bus and the newspapers it brings, is the only source of income for this man, who has been here three weeks, has little money and no English. Work is all he talks about, until his colleague tells him that mass is about to start. Within minutes the crowd outside are jammed inside and you wouldn't fit a mass leaflet between the bodies.

Fr Andrew Pyka, who says mass at St Michan’s, arrived here two years ago as Parish Priest of Sallynoggin, having worked in Australia for 20 years and England for five. Before Poland acceded to the EU, a Polish mass was an occasional feature in the calendar of the Polish-Irish Society in Fitzwilliam Square, celebrated if there happened to be a Polish priest here for study leave or even just for a visit. May 2004 changed all that. And by November of that year 50,000 immigrants from the 10 new EU states arrived in Ireland, almost 25,000 of them Poles. And these are only figures collated from the PPSN data (Personal Public Service Numbers), which only counts workers.

"Fitzwilliam was just inadequate," says Fr Andrew. "There were more services needed. People were standing all over the place and even to have a cup of tea it was impossible. I was hearing confessions in the toilets because there was no room."

Confession? There was really such a demand for confession?

"Poles won't go to communion without going to confession. And there are marriage preparation courses to do too. Okay we've got the equivalent here, but some of them couldn't cope with the language barrier. Generally, 95 per cent are Polish people marrying Polish people. And there is going to be more and more. In January I finished courses for some 50 couples. And there will be another one in April.

"But that's only one part of it. There are constant requests from people from places like Belfast. Some come to Sallynoggin on the bus just for confessions. I'm going to New Ross and Wexford area to hear mass. On Easter Monday I'm going to Limerick because there is no one there. There is no one in Cork. I'm getting requests from there. Plus I have my own parish here with 2,500 families. I can't let them down.”

Apart from one other temporary Polish priest, Fr Andrew is the sole representative of the Polish Catholic Church in Ireland. He managed to get the use of St Michan’s after discussions with Archbishop X. But now even this church is becoming inadequate. He’ll need another mass come April and the social area upstairs where the congregation are invited to meet after mass is too small for socialising.

“So if they want to go and socialise they go to the pub,” he says. “And they drink like hell and they get drunk. And then they fight.”

This worries him. He has told Archbishop X that he was sitting on a “pastoral bomb” that might explode. And there are other ethnic groups in the city – Lithuanians, Russians, Ukranians – who “were not such good pals when we were in Poland and they were behind the border because they were part of Russia.” If frustration, financial difficulties, and all the problems that go with emmigration are not channeled through him, the only familiar voice in a foreign country, then how might thousands vent their dissatisfaction?

There are plenty of Polish people in Ireland who have professional careers. There are plenty of students who will come over, assimilate and vanish into the crowds. Fr Pyka’s problem is that most Polish people here are “working within the 1000 word group”.

“Remember the reason they are coming here is to send some bacon home. And it's so sad when some of them get lost completely. And that worries me. In Poland - I don't want to say simple people – but ordinary people in towns and villages, everybody goes to the church. You remove them from that environment and they can't find their feet. They get lost.

“Faith was what helped us to survive for so long. And if you take the faith from the Polish people they haven't got much. Faith is very closely linked with our nationality. You wouldn't expect to meet a Polish person who is not a Catholic. Because of our faith we were able to stay together and fight back. Even the Pope adds to it.”

Jan Kaminski of Concorde Travel, who in 1954 was a Trinity student and president of the Irish/Polish student body which became the Irish/Polish Society, says that the biggest problem is "trying to find a way to smooth the integration for Polish people when they arrive here". There is no co-ordination. They arrive in their droves on buses and planes. Twenty-eight coaches alone came in over the Christmas period, he tells me.

But why Ireland?

He sees the Poles as being sympathetic to the Irish people. A lot of Poles say it's because, out of the two countries granting full working rights, Ireland was simply “less full”. Others, Fr Pyka among them, blame the media in Poland, who last year proclaimed the streets here were paved with gold.

Rafal K, producer of the English language programmes for Radio Polonia in Warsaw agreed. “I think the Polish media have contributed to this wave of immigration by portraying Ireland as the Celtic Tiger that just can't stop growing and is very good at accommodating changes. There was also a lot of coverage of how Britain is an unwelcoming country, where Polish job seekers have to sleep rough at Victoria Coach station in London. No such horror stories from Ireland. Simple Poles also tend to think, Ireland, Catholic, good place to be.”

Lech Walesa, during his visit to Limerick last year said: "When I look at you, I see that you connect values with good times and I like that". Jan Kaminski was in the hotel when Walesa was there. And 35 out of the 45 staff were Polish. And that was before they joined the EU.

Limerick incidentally, has a Polish music night in a city pub. The night is called 'Rock 'n' Pole and was announced in the Limerick Leader, the first paper here to carry a section in both Polish and English languages.

In Dublin, on Burgh Quay, the Beanery Café has opened a Polish restaurant which is open Thursday to Sunday. The proprietor, Ciaran Byron, says that his Polish chef "walked in off the street, just off the boat". He employs other Polish people in other businesses and says they are "excellent, have a strong moral code and are good, honest workers."

******

A week later I return to the same church at the same time. A man gives me a slip of paper with a number on it and asks if I need a lift to Poland. He works as a refrigeration technician for an Irish company who have given him a company car. His own car, he doesn't need. So he'll drive it back home to his family. But why travel in an empty car? He can fill the seats with people and make some money.

Another man, early fifties, a tiler from Bydgoscszc. He has no English whatsover and is struggling to find a job. He borrowed from a bank to get here and his family is waiting at home for money. He asks about me, my wife and whether I have children. When I tell him I've no children because they're too expensive and I needed a house, he's shocked. Rent a house, he says. Family is more important than houses.

The man with the newspapers is there again. Only they are the same newspapers that he was selling last week. He shrugs and blames the bus, which had no room for newspapers this week. It was too full of people. Just like the mass.

• pubs
• poland
• polish mass
• gospel

“Prayer is a battle and we fight to win! If you don’t want to pray that is your own business. But you are not here by accident!” the Brother says, each sentence punctuated by a pause that is filled with chants from the congregation. Suddenly a slip of paper is handed up to the podium. “Will the owner of a red Honda, registration number 98 D **** please go to the front door, your attention is needed. Praise the Lord.”

The sudden mundane break to address a badly parked car momentarily severs the bond the Brother has spent the last few minutes forging. But within seconds the praying re-commences. Some stand still and murmur quietly with eyes shut. Most dance, sing, chant and hold Bibles, babies and hands aloft reciting prayers that are lost in the din. It is both a spectacle and an experience that is unlike anything in an Irish church. The fact that it takes place in the rather bleak environment of The Dartmouth Industrial Estate in Dublin 10 makes it all the more fantastic.

In the right hand corner next to an altar which is quite sparingly adorned, a band provide the music for a full gospel choir who take up the left side. The podium in between will host up to five people this morning -- sisters, brothers, ministers and the pastor -- over the course of the service, a service that could go on for up to three hours. On the whole, it is very loud, very uplifting and very, very long.

“But when you are in the presence of God, where else do you want to go?” says Pastor John Fasan, the head of the Gospel Faith Mission International Church, established in Ireland five years ago, with branches in Carlow, Kells and the main one in Dublin. "There is joy in the presence of God," he adds.

OH MERCY!

We are discussing the fact that the mass on Sunday went on for over two and a half hours. I counted at least three handkerchiefs being used to wipe his brow during his sermon, which dwelt for considerable time on the subject of “mercy”.

“Mercy! Are you with me?” he shouted throughout his preaching. He quoted from several sources in the Bible. Mathew, James and the Book of Proverbs. And to cap it all he instructed the congregation to “Tell your neighbour to obtain mercy!”

At this, the woman next to me turned and pointed a finger in my direction. “Obtain mercy! Obtain mercy! Obtain mercy!” she shouted.

I nodded but had little to offer by way of a response. Such outbursts are not normal in the Catholic tradition. And it brought me back to philosophy lectures in Maynooth, where many students were from various countries in Africa. A lecturer had pointed out on one occasion that the Africans, despite the abject state of much of the continent, had a far healthier outlook on life than westerners, whose rational tradition stifles the spirit. Our way of interacting is to extend a limp hand at our neighbour in mass and utter “Peace bizzy wizzz.” That’s it.

The system of belief in the Gospel Faith is a relatively straightforward one and becomes rather obvious at a service. The Bible is taken literally as the word of God and is taught directly, with the bulk of the doctrine coming from the New Testament. The presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or transubstantiation - a concept which was actually only introduced in the 13th century, despite it being the central tenet of the Catholic mass - is not adhered to. Communion - given maybe once, twice a month – is merely symbolic. But there is nothing figurative about the Bible.

“We go to the Bible,” says Pastor Fasan. “We teach a different message every week. Mercy last week. We will teach forgiveness next week. Holiness. Relationships. I just finished a seminar three weeks ago with single people, telling them how to know the will of God before you go into marriage. We taught them that they must be spiritually compatible. You must be compatible in life purpose. You don’t just get married. There are certain things you must know. The Christian cannot get married to a Muslim. It’s wrong.”

Wrong or just not practical, I ask.
“Wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because the Bible says so. If you are a Christian and you want to marry a Muslim the Muslim in their faith can believe they can have other wives. It’s not against their faith. But it is against our faith. There is only one man and one wife. It can cause problems in the future. You have to consider are you spiritually compatible. If you are spiritually compatible, are you compatible in life purpose? What is your vision? If you don’t have the same vision, there will be a problem in the future. Only God can change the heart of man.”

The majority of this church’s congregation are Nigerian, the largest group of Africans in Ireland, making up approximately 20,000. Some are also from countries such as Ghana, Angola and Uganda, even a few from Cameroon.

EVANGELIST

A study by the Irish Council of Churches into 'Black Minority Churches' (BMCs) has found that there could be up to 10,000 people attending churches in traditions that embrace the Pentecostal, Evangelical, Apostolic and independent churches which are loosely termed 'Gospel'. Some are better organised than others, such as the Redeemed Church of God with about 17 branches under two Pastors. Others are based in rented rooms, hostels and other buildings. But with religion connected closely to one's culture, a church of some sort is obviously a natural draw for immigrants. However, many pursue an active policy of expansion in keeping with the words of the Bible:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19, 20).

“We do evangelism. We go on evangelism," says Pastor Fasan. "Two weeks ago we went to the houses here in Ballyfermot. We have the evangelism team. We go out on the streets and visit people’s houses and invite people with our hand bills [pamphlets]. We invite them to church. Everybody.”

“But only a few Irish have turned up. I counted three last week,” I say.

“Yes. When we go out on the streets they just smile. If they don’t want to listen to you they just smile. But we have not had any experiences where people have been rude to us or said any bad words to us. We had only one bad experience when we were new in this place. Someone came and burned the sheds and took two of our buses.”

He says he doesn’t know what became of the buses, of which one remains from three, used to transport the faithful around the city and emblazoned with the logos of the Gospel Church. I don’t mention the joyriding tradition in the city, even if he would find solace in the fact they chose a Gospel bus to joyride in.

Not all members of the Nigerian community view the churches in a glowing light. Wole Arisekola, editor of the Dublin Street Journal, a magazine for the Nigerian and African communities, believes it is mammon and not God that the Pastors worship, taking advantage of helpless refugees.

“They [the congregation] have no government to cater for them, no social welfare, nobody to turn to in case of need. The only option they have is their faith and that is what all these designer pastors are using to dupe them,” he says, mentioning that there are “up to a thousand” churches in Dublin alone.

Chinedu Onyejelem, editor of Metro Eireann, says that "If anybody has the ambition to become a pastor, they can link up with a church in Nigeria and do so". Some have training, others have none at all and he believes the biggest problem for the churches is getting accommodation. So naturally they will use backrooms, hotels and warehouses, which give the shady impression.

White envelopes were produced at the service on Sunday and money was collected, as they are at masses across the country. "If you don’t have anything to give, that has nothing to do with your faith," said the Pastor, whose church he says donated money to Crumlin Hospital and regularly gives to the people who were queuing outside his door when I visited on a mid-week afternoon. "If you force people to give money, well they will leave that church. So it is counterproductive."

Afterwards he will visit the sick in St James Hospital and he will also go to Kells and Carlow, seeing himself as a pastor in the strict sense of the word.

The last word in the mass was "to go and find work. If you have the right to work, go and work. If you can’t find a job, go and get training. If you are faithful to the authority of the country you are faithful of God."

Is this important I ask him - apart from being the word of God.

"It’s very important. We are trying to do our best to encourage the people and encourage the government. If you have been given a right to stay in the country and a right to work, and you are staying at home and getting support, then you are discouraging the government. If the government sees that the foreigners are contributing to the economy, then you are encouraging them.

"And there is dignity in labour," he adds. "The Bible teaches us to work."

On a second visit to the mass to I had to leave early. Out in the car park with the one bus and an assortment of second hand vehicles my car was jammed in behind an old Mitsubishi.

Wait for the service to end in two hours or ask them to move the car? I asked them to move the car. Praise the Lord.

Gospel Faith Mission International - The Overcomers, Unit 4, Dartmouth House Industrial Estate, Kylemore Rd, Dublin 10. Services every Sunday 12 noon.