Year in Review 2020: April

By Maurice Garvey

The implications of Covid-19 really started to ramp up in April as local people were directly affected by the pandemic, losing loved ones in utterly cruel circumstances, unable to say goodbye or attend a funeral.

It was like a bad dream, but thankfully there was always rays of light to complement the brilliant sunshine that shone throughout the month.

A surreal feeling to be in normally busy villages, towns and hubs, yet to see so many closed shutters. Such was the case in Ballyfermot on April 15, with more shutters down than there were open.

One essential business Tasty Treats Bakery, installed an ingenious partition to enforce social distancing for customers. (April 16 edition)

Walkinstown great-grandmother Margaret Lynch celebrated her 100th birthday in style and received much media coverage for her endearing life, including a 20-minute chat with Joe Duffy’s Liveline on her birthday.

Sadly, Margaret passed away later in the year but her wonderful spirit and legacy lives on. (April 9 edition)

Adamstown resident and bicycle centre owner, Brendan Whelan was given the opportunity to create a life-changing invention and was successful after participating in RTÉ show ‘Big Life Fix.’ (April 2 edition)

The death of Tallaght grandfather Maurice O’Reilly (79) touched a nerve in the community. Funerals, such an integral part of Irish society, changed irrevocably during this early stage of the pandemic – no reposings, no large gatherings, a lack of priests available, and the opportunity to grieve restricted.

Maurice’s wife Anne and his three children couldn’t see him at Millbrook Manor Nursing Home, nor when he was admitted to Tallaght Hospital.

“It is still a bit unbelievable,” said son Stuart O’Reilly at the time. “It is hard not to have a wake and not to touch him. Only five of us were allowed to the cremation.

We saw the coffin for 7/8 minutes. It’s not fair.” (April 2 edition)

Platforms like Zoom, Skype and House Party became part of the ‘new normal’ as workplaces and groups discovered new ways of engaging with each other. Clondalkin Toastmasters found Zoom worked better than expected, according to Julie Gorman, Vice-president of Public Relations for the group. (April 9 edition)

A video of farmer Donie Anderson cutting his hair with a traditional sheep shears amassed millions of views on the former Tallaght Person of the Year’s personal Facebook page. (April 16 edition)

In May, The Echo celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first edition of the Tallaght Echo – setting in motion an enduring history of one of Dublin’s leading local newspapers, covering the surrounding suburbs of Clondalkin, Ballyfermot and Lucan. (April 30 edition)

Pick up this week’s copy of The Echo to read the full Year in Review for May 2020.