Reflecting on twenty years of involvement in his adopted town

He has done his resident town some service since he first arrived in Athlone almost twenty years ago, chairing many landmark festivals, running the local Community Services council and by being one of the town's committed workers for the arts. Jarlath Duffy first came to prominence in Athlone shortly after he arrived in the town, in 1990, when he was Chairperson of the Athlone Tercentenary Festival, which commemorated the 300th anniversary of the Siege of Athlone. The festival, which took place over eight days in the summer of 1991 brought, for the first time, different strands of live music to the streets of Athlone and the festival was complemented by street theatre, art exhibitions and competitions, and a re-enactment of the siege on the Weir Wall on the final night. "I was co-ordinator as part of a twelve-month contract with the Town Council and it all seemed to go well, and it was all mostly a first for Athlone, but people like Town Clerk John Walsh were supportive and gave me great scope to do what I wanted," said Jarlath. "It was an exciting time of music on the street and great energy in the town." Interestingly the development of Athlone Castle and the opening of the Relief Road were happening at the same time that summer of 1991, alongside the festival, and it was all seen at the time as the dawn of a new era for Athlone. Jarlath had just moved to live in Athlone with his native wife, Katie McCay and their young son, Mark. Katie's family ran a family business in Bastion Street, Athlone, for many decades, and she herself ran The Bastion Gallery. Mark is currently working as a photographer. After starting life as one of eleven siblings in a thatched cottage on the family farm near Claregalway, Jarlath later resided in Galway city, where his father had a tailoring business in Prospect Hill. Jarlath and Katie met while in University College Galway when both were studying there, which happened after Jarlath, had attempted a career as an apprentice jockey in Kevin Prendergast's stable in the Curragh. He returned to school and after completing his Leaving Certificate in St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, he went to work in London, initially on a building site for the first recycling plant built in the UK in 1976. He returned to Ireland to study at UCG, and after graduating in commerce, Jarlath worked as an editor of an information processing computer programme called Information Sources Ltd. This involved bringing information from publications across the world to a data bank that was sold onto interested parties. This was in the early 1980's, when the computer age was beginning, although more than a decade before the internet. "We benefited a lot at the time with grants, but our problem was cash flow and the time lag from collecting the information and getting it to businesses and libraries, but we had eighty to ninety people working at the company," said Jarlath. When Information Sources closed down, Jarlath and Katie moved to Waterford to lecture in economics for the local RTC. In 1985, partly because that year had one of the wettest summers on record, Jarlath and Katie took on a new challenge. "Waterford was in the sunny south east, but not that year," laughed Jarlath. "I gave up the lecturing job, and went to America, where the streets were paved with gold, so it was said. We had a very romantic view of it all, and planned to go there for two years to make money, and return to live in Spain and teach English as a foreign language." While that plan didn't work out, Jarlath did accumulate much life and business experience in 1980's America. He worked first as a carpenter in Boston and then went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was employed as an accountant. On returning to Boston, he laboured on a number of houses, bought by policemen who also worked as tradesmen in their spare time. He learned about taxation after studying there, and worked as a tax consultant for a company in Boston, and he later started selling real estate. Jarlath also got involved in the arts in Boston, setting up with other Irish people, an Irish Theatre company in the city. He came to live in his wife Katie's hometown of Athlone in August 1990, just in time to take the Tercentenary job. He also co-ordinated the following year's festival, 'Athlone 301', and was involved with Athlone UDC and others in supporting Athlone's involvement in the first European festival which took place in Liebremont, Belgium, in 1992. Jarlath worked with Athlone Chamber of Commerce when its formalised its executive office at the old Jolly Mariner Marina. He later managed for a number of years, the Athlone Community Services Council, in Dr Dobbs in Northgate Street. His work on the council involved providing direct services, and working on a number of European funded programmes, and overseeing the council's responsibility for being an umbrella organisation for voluntary organisations. "I left the community services council because I had developed it to a level that I was happy with, and I needed a new challenge," said Jarlath. The born-again Athlonian, as Jarlath calls himself, then decided to set up his own business consultancy service where he acts as a life and executive coach, and conflict mediator, and a trainer of both managers and leaders in essential skills. Jarlath Duffy Assoc, which is based on Ballymahon Road involves training and coaching, which involves Jarlath ensuring that an integral part of his delivery to clients is both the developing of skills and the instilling of confidence in participants of his courses. "A lot of people need direction nowadays, because they may be under stress and strain, and not sure where they are going," said Jarlath. "Many need to have more certainty in their lives and I work with individuals and managers, and help them to realise their true potential, and therefore to make life easier for themselves." Besides having a Masters Degree in Business and working in business, Jarlath has a great passion for the arts, most notably in drama. He acted in Athlone Little Theatre in a comedy called 'Unforgiven', which was based on the western film of the same name. He was acclaimed by this writer in the Westmeath Independent in 2003 for his performance in a British comedy, 'Dry Rot' by John Chapman, for the Kiltoom Drama Group. In the recent past he was one of the committee of Athlone Town Football Club. "I like being involved in cultural pursuits and I'd like to see Athlone develop more culturally and I was very proud to be asked recently to be Chairman of the Athlone Literary festival weekend," said Jarlath. "We had a very successful festival in September and in the future I'd like to see it develop into an Arts Festival with links to other arts-based organisations in the town like the Dean Crowe Theatre, the Passionfruit Theatre and the Athlone Little Theatre."