Cathal O Searcaigh
Posted on | March 12, 2008 | 63 Comments
The Irish poet who loves to sleep with young Nepalese men/boys/menboys.
His work won’t be removed from the Leaving Cert syllabus ‘this year’ but Minister for Education Mary Hanafin says ‘questions about the life of the poet “might cause difficulty”.
I can see that, especially if they came up in the oral.
Similar posts
Comments
63 Responses to “Cathal O Searcaigh”
Leave a Reply
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
I never understood what they meant by gaylick poet until now.
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
boom boom!!!
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
Thank the stars there’s not a practical exam, so… might be a pain in the arse…
(I know. It’s crap. I need coffee.)
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
Rename this Post as “insert own shite joke here!”
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
Haha I said “insert”
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:25 pm
He could have just gone to Limerick and bought some hoodies for a few young fellas…..
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
i dont see what the fuss is about. Sure wasnt Kavanagh a herion addict with a fetish for school boys. Everyone knows the Poem ‘Lines Written on a seat across from St Fintans School for littl’uns
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
Conas atá tú?
“Tá pain in my bum orm”
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
FINALLY – you are coming down to earth after the last few ‘Oim gern’ ter be published!”
Good to have the REAL twenty back!
March 12th, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
ta gach poet chomh gay le s-hook.
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
morgor, Ctrl+Alt+A = á
Lesson over.
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:12 pm
Ta fhios agam ach taim ro-leiscuil.
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
Cloisim ar an áir inné,
Agus cad a cuala mé;
“Tá pian i mo thón
Tá mo thón briste,”
-Is mise a rinne é.
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:21 pm
it’s a nepal-ing situation
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
If they remove all the gay (and suspect gay) poets and writers, there won’t be much left. Is Oscar going? And Behan? Poor Colm Toibin.
Will the neo-Puritans go after the singers? You know whio I mean….
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
reminded me of william burroughs on a diet of tea and digestives
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
I watched most of this show last night. Essentially he’s a dirty old bugger with a heart of gold, who heads over to Nepal to go cruising for barely legal teen boys. Then the munter from TG4 (pic in today’s evening herald, she’s a brute from under some fairytale bridge) is a little shocked, as Irish women always are, when the fat, 50-year-old pasty Irish man buys a bit of slap and tickle in Asia.
The way the media has treated this for the last few weeks, you’d swear he had kidnapped Madeleine McCann. I’m not condoning Nepalese gay holidays, I just don’t think he has broken any laws here.
You get the picture, the terrible unfairness of it all etc etc.
Now if it’s comedy you’re after, you could do worse than chortle at the case of the chef who was just recently jaied for 15 years after orally raping two women (weird). The same day a grandfather who raped his 9-year-old grand daughter got three years and will serve nine months, or something like that. I think sex crime sentencing is based on a game of judicial twister that justices play in their chambers.
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
I was wondering about that chef, actually. It did seem a very high sentence compared to others, the case you mention highlights it.
Not that I have a problem with him getting that much time but if he’s going to get 15 years a man that rapes a 9 year old shouldn’t be getting away with 3,
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:52 pm
Twenty you should ban people from commenting in foreign languages
March 12th, 2008 @ 4:57 pm
Peadar o’ Phile. Well said, sir. The heathen cunts.
March 12th, 2008 @ 5:03 pm
Not to mention Gluaisteans comment. What the fuck is he talking about?
March 12th, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Dunno. Sounds like a shemale name.
March 12th, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
It’s an Irish Tradition.
March 12th, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
What is? speaking irish or sleeping with teenage boys
March 12th, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
The latter. Ask any Priest or Historian of 20th century Ireland .”A Mhic Bhig na gCleas” and all that.
As as aside – Will Twenty join Aosdana ?
March 12th, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
Membership of Aosdána, which is by peer nomination and election
That’d be a no then.
March 12th, 2008 @ 5:37 pm
I have contacts. Just say the word Twenty and send me a Bertie.
March 12th, 2008 @ 5:39 pm
Seeing as he was a Chef that might not be rape at all, he might only have been tasting them to see if they were nearly ready.
March 12th, 2008 @ 6:49 pm
So this Cathal is only a gay? I didnt know that as it didnt point it out in the Sun. But what’s the fuss about? And why is there a documentary about the fucker? And why should his stuff be taken off the curriculum?
Ehm am I defending his rights and him gay? Ehhm I meant to say Boo down with that sort of thing.
March 12th, 2008 @ 6:50 pm
Careful now!
March 12th, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
So this Cathal is only a gay?
Only? Ireland still isn’t comfortable with homosexuality.
March 12th, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
At least here my gay friends only got a rugby ball thrown at them, in Tooting they got stones thrown at them(I jest you not)
March 12th, 2008 @ 7:46 pm
He’s a pederast, who happens to be gay. I think pederasty is non-denominational and it is not illegal, per se.
It’s a bit like an American poet coming to Ireland and hanging around the streets near the local convent ’til he meets a teenage girl to whom he can do a charitable turn. Parents wouldn’t mind at all, would they? Especially if he was throwing in some paid overnight tuition in his hotel room.
March 12th, 2008 @ 8:55 pm
No no, this isn’t a homophobic issue, although Cathal’s clannish mates and fans are trying to turn it into one. What I saw on TV last night angered me because it was all about EXPLOITATION. The way he used his power as a white, rich, westerner to get the “affection” of these naive, poor, disadvantaged boys was quite sickening. From watching it, it became fairly obvious that the only reason that he visits Nepal was that there is no way a fat, pasty-faced, devoid-of-personality, condescending literati arsehole like him would ever get a boyfriend in this country. Also, his poetry is crap, the only reason it gets any attention is that its in GAELIC (pardon the pun) and it actually OFFENDS me to hear of him being compared to Wilde.
AGGH. Really angry about this. And I’m not homophobic, I have been to G.A.Y. I bet Cathal wouldn’t be let in G.A.Y. for being so fucking ugly and slimy
March 12th, 2008 @ 9:19 pm
Well said!!
March 12th, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Good man Mr Knacker.
Gay or straight, Gaelic zealots are cunts.
March 12th, 2008 @ 10:50 pm
i DUNNOE ABOUT THAT SLIGO KNACKER – I BET PEADER GETS HIS SHARE DOWN AT THE DOCKS.
March 12th, 2008 @ 11:20 pm
I do think it’s telling that an issue about paedophelia gets turned into a supposedly gay issue so fast here.
The question that interests me is the censorship one. Should we censor the work of someone who’s personal life may be morally reprehensible – but presumably the poems aren’t about the joys of exploiting pre-teen boys?
I suppose the issue is, should the leaving cert continue to help fund his little holidays away. Persumably being on the LC boosts sales somehow.
In the bad old days of censorship in Ireland, apparently anyone could just underline a passage in a book that they deemed offensive, present it to the censor and have it banned. The thought of book burning is frightening. Is fecking him off the LC a similar act?
When I heard about it, I decided to be knee jerk, and say fuck it, ban him. I think I’m sticking with that one. I like your articulate rant, Sligo Knacker.
March 12th, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
I suppose the issue is, should the leaving cert continue to help fund his little holidays away. Persumably being on the LC boosts sales somehow.
I can’t imagine being a poet is very lucrative, even if you are on the Leaving Cert syllabus.
Did I read somewhere that all his arty friends held collections and fundraisers for him?
March 12th, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
A mhic bhig na gcleas?
But that’s Sacred Poetry, not the crap O Searcaigh pens.
Anyway, Pearse wouldn’t be stupid enough to make a film about St Enda’s.
++++
Little lad of the tricks,
Full well I know
That you have been in mischief:
Confess your fault truly.
I forgive you, child
Of the soft red mouth:
I will not condemn anyone
For a sin not understood.
Raise your comely head
Till I kiss your mouth:
If either of us is the better of that
I am the better of it.
There is a fragrance in your kiss
That I have not found yet
In the kisses of women
Or in the honey of their bodies.
Lad of the grey eyes,
That flush in thy cheek
Would be white with dread of me
Could you read my secrets.
He who has my secrets
Is not fit to touch you
Is not that a pitiful thing,
Little lad of the tricks?
March 12th, 2008 @ 11:48 pm
If his poems are good then whatever keep them on the cert, I doubt any of the questions on the papers were about the way his poems reflected carnal desires to bugger third world boys. If they were, I retract this opinion.
March 12th, 2008 @ 11:56 pm
ACTUALLY even if they were about buggering boys who cares, it’ll be good for the kids to think about, parents might be worried they’ll catch the “paedo gay” from his work though, hmm.
March 13th, 2008 @ 12:25 am
fucker has been abusing kids here for years by inflicting poetry on young impressionable minds. poetry, like jazz and modern art, is random bullshit created by lazy cunts for pretentious cunts. all poets should be censored, preferrably using nuclear weapons or a big hammer.
following link is for anyone thinking of going to nepal:
http://languageisavirus.com/automatic_poetry_generator.html
March 13th, 2008 @ 3:45 am
Its all a load of Subh millis smeared on the
door KNOB or sumfink { anyway I said KNOB which
is always good for a Laff }
March 13th, 2008 @ 3:54 am
Don’t give him the glamour of being banned. I wouldn’t have him on the curriculum though because it’s not about being gay, it’s about being a pederast. This guy is no different from Gary Glitter only Gary Glitter happened to go more for young girls and more importantly was in a country that prosecutes that sort of thing.
Just because it’s not a crime in Nepal to sleep with these boys does not mean that what he did isn;t an act that we in Western society agree is heinous and legislate accordingly, the exploitation of children. I reckon we need to reject that or at least not send our children the tacit idea that because you have a talent you can get away with that sort of thing.
I repeat, it’s not about being gay, who still gives a shit about that? It’s about being a predator on unformed minds. Whether or not he is a poetic predator is beside the point. He should be rejected as surely as he would be if he were a plumber or a priest, and that means taking him off the curriculum.
I’m as vocal as anyone for artistic freedom but pederasts do not deserve to be lionised by their country.
March 13th, 2008 @ 10:39 am
“i DUNNOE ABOUT THAT SLIGO KNACKER – I BET PEADER GETS HIS SHARE DOWN AT THE DOCKS.”
Slightly more comprehensible than your previous comment
March 13th, 2008 @ 10:41 am
cunás bothár cailín báinne
March 13th, 2008 @ 10:51 am
That’s a scary Pearse poem! Jesus.
I’m sure you’re right about the LC not making anyone any money Twenty – but surely it must raise your profile (ahem, his profile, I think it’ll be a while before your book makes the curriculum, though who knows :)) to be on it and therefore have a knock on effect?
I don’t know whether or not I agree with the lionising comment, problemchildbride. I do. I don’t. I don’t know. I have a certain compassion for paedophiles in that I think they’re created by the abuse they underwent as children themselves. But I don’t think it should ever be considered a remotely acceptable life choice, it’s deep rooted, twisted, psychological damage. The idea that he did nothing illegal because it’s legal in Nepal is reprehensible. Third world children mean less than first world children? Ugh. Still, plenty of people agree – you can browse sex holiday info in top shelf magazines in newsagents, and somebody makes the choice to sell them.
For me, the question is, does somebody whose sexual wiring causes them to abuse children lose the right to live an ordinary life in other respects, make a living, etc. I suppose I wouldn’t hire a plumber if I knew he went on sex holidays in Nepal.
March 13th, 2008 @ 10:54 am
. I have a certain compassion for paedophiles in that I think they’re created by the abuse they underwent as children themselves.
Not all paedophiles were abused as children. Far from it.
March 13th, 2008 @ 11:16 am
Size ten, that was hilarious. Still laughing.
March 13th, 2008 @ 11:44 am
The idea that he did nothing illegal because it’s legal in Nepal is reprehensible.
It’s also incorrect if this from the Indo is right
“The Garda inquiry is focusing on the Sexual Offences Act, which allows an Irish person who breaks Irish consent laws abroad to be prosecuted in Ireland. While the age of consent in Nepal is 16, it is 17 in Ireland.”
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/boys-were-damaged-by-sex-trysts-with-poet-1286378.html
March 13th, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
Peader – here is some of the attention you so obviously crave. I wasn’t referring to you in my first post which obviously made you feel left out – so, my good deed for the day Peader is to give a nod your way as you more or less scream ‘Look At MEEEE Everyone”
Anyway – with that out of the way -This scumbag ‘poet’ (a Dublin 4 euphemism for waster layabout) would be jailed for life in any country that gives a rat’s ass about protecting kids.
But then – His role models are probably the Bishops and their minions.
And we are supposed to be surprised that an Irish person indulges in this sick crap?
March 13th, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
“Peader – here is some of the attention you so obviously crave. I wasn’t referring to you in my first post which obviously made you feel left out – so, my good deed for the day Peader is to give a nod your way as you more or less scream ‘Look At MEEEE Everyone””
I was justing pointing out that it didn’t make much sense to me. I wouldn’t say it made much sense to anyone else either. Comments left are going to be read by other commenters.
March 13th, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
God. That documentary made me mad, but his arty Aosdana buddies sticking up for him on talk radio have made me madder. Doesn’t it occur to them that he could have distributed the money in Nepal to the PARENTS or COLLEGES or the odd GIRL even?
And it wasn’t even his fucking money he was buying the poor naive kids with! He lives in a council house. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but it seems his years of sex tourism have been funded by charidee, funds raised by well meaning people. To buy him sex. Cheeky bastard. No, I take that back, these kids weren’t rent boys who sold sex… they were so innocent that they seemed shell shocked after the event. We should at least hope that he won’t be able to raise ‘charity (begins at home) money’ EVER again. Or that the hacks from the Heddild will follow him around and report if he or somebody on his behalf tries.
Jothemama – jesus… it’s people like you…
Size 10 – God that was so so funny!! Thank you. x
March 13th, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
Well, I suppose it’s a reason to learn Irish – subsidised sex holidays.
March 13th, 2008 @ 10:56 pm
cathal is a genius. His poetry is exquisite. Fuck you philistine begrudgers. Where would we be wthout aosdana??? Watching coranation sterret – no doubt!!!
Seamus Ni Dhomhnall (no relation)
March 13th, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
The man himself said:
“… I have considered deeply the opinions put forward by my critics and I can see how my actions could have been misinterpreted. It hurts me to think that I would be seen in this light.
However, as my efforts to support and nurture the people of Nepal are more important to me than the privacy of my relationships, I have decided to establish a trust to administer whatever funds I am capable of providing in the future.
The trust will consist of Prem, my adopted son, Sunita his wife and my daughter-in-law, a Nepalese solicitor and accountant. I will distance myself completely from the distribution of funding for chosen projects. This will allow the work I have started in Nepal to continue and afford me the privilege of regaining some semblance of a private life.
I would finally like to say that the vast bulk of the money I used to help my friends in Nepal was my own income. Although I lived there for three months of the year, I support the educational and other projects all year round.”
Hahaha. So he thinks he can still raid money for his activities? And ‘distribute’ through this ‘independent’ ‘trust’ hahahahaha!
March 13th, 2008 @ 11:41 pm
(meant ‘raise money’, freudian or what?)
March 14th, 2008 @ 2:32 am
And lastly, to rest my case ’cause I’s a hopping mad and want to share:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/revealed-how-poet-set-up-charity-fund-1315024.html
“In December 2005, €50,000 was raised at a Cathal OSearchaigh Nepal event attended by 150 people in Co Donegal. Others who contributed included Nobel prize winner Seamus Heaney, who donated a hand- written poem, and artist Pauline Bewick, whose painting fetched €4,200.
Contributors later received a ‘thank you’ message but were never informed how the money raised was eventually spent.
Among the 80 donors was Gay Byrne and his wife Kathleen Watkins, who gave self-portraits in the form of doodles depicting Byrne on a motorbike and Watkins playing a harp.
When contacted by the Irish Independent, Mr Byrne said: “I would be concerned about where the money went, but what can I do about it?”
And his PR consultant Liam Gaskin, hired two weeks ago, confirmed yesterday he was no longer representing the poet”
€50,000!!
March 14th, 2008 @ 7:04 am
Why go to Nepal? The “Age of Consent” for sex is 14 in Germany. Cathal can get a nice cheap RyanAir flight for a pfennig (plus taxes and charges, of course) and have money left over for lollipops.
For male-male sex, there doesn’t seem to be any statute known in Nepal.
The list: http://www.avert.org/aofconsent.htm
“In Germany, sexual intercourse is legal from the age of 14 in most cases. An exception is when the older partner is aged over 18 and is “exploiting a coercive situation” or offering compensation, in which case the younger partner must be over 16. In addition, it is illegal for someone aged over 21 to have sex with someone under 16 if they “exploit the victim’s lack of capacity for sexual self-determination”.
March 14th, 2008 @ 9:39 am
I didn’t get to see the RTE programme, but I just had a quick tour of the filmaker’s website and was left feeling chilled by a sticker with something about how its never too late for a happy childhood … also there were comments about boys’ innocence, and helping them, etc, which resonated with the Jackson situation in the States.I might be conflating issues, but it is totally inappropriate to be so close to minors like that. To boot, he never established a bona fide charity, plonker! Sorry, you plan something in Nepal, raise money, etc., that’s not naivety. But does he wear a lapel button with “Self-Destruct” on it? He should.
April 11th, 2008 @ 11:12 am
I’m female. I met Cathal some twenty years ago. I am some years older than he is. He was kind and helpful to someone he couldn’t have expected any gain from. Maybe at least some of you could look at him as a person and not just a hate-figure to put your own anger on.
May 10th, 2008 @ 1:07 am
Listen if we were to look at him as a person we get a middle aged man, who writes acclaimed poetry fair enough, who goes to Nepal on on a bill footed by the Irish government by way of various grants and organizations, shacks up in room 405 of the Buddha hotel, buzzes round the local Montessori basically to get his hole off young lads who are uneducated, aren’t fully aware of right and wrong (he tells them apparently that this is normal practice in Ireland, a country they see as Western and idealogical) for a few bob for themselves. The manager of the hotel stated that one of the boys was hurt so badly he was bleeding and in so much pain he had to go to hospital. I’m not trying to look at him as a hate figure but what do you make from that.
And to be a bit juvenile he’s a chubber lecherous cunt that is so far up his own hole when he does a reading of his own poetry I don’t know how he doesn’t suffocate….the voice he puts on makes me die a little inside. And those little eastern hats he wears make me want to get sick in my mouth. I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire.