A well-known priest in Mullingar Parish found himself having to intervene in a row between two travelling family groups at a Mass in Navan on Sunday last, 26 July.
Administrator in Navan Parish, Fr. Declan Hurley was forced to tell those involved to leave the church grounds at Navan Church after 1pm Mass, with about fifteen people involved in the incident, mostly men.
Eyewitnesses, including Sinn Fein TD for Meath West, Peadar Tóibín, described how they heard raised voices at the back of the church as the Mass, celebrated by Fr. Hurley, was concluding, and after some jostling inside the church, when he walked out by the Fair Green entrance, it was like a battleground.
“Inside the church, about fifteen people were roaring and pointing at each other,” said Deputy Tóibín. “There was a bit of jostling inside the church.”
Mr Tóibín described the scene outside the church: “There was a serious row going on. This was not just involving handbags. Punches were being thrown, and people were taking full-on punches to the head. It was mainly men, but one woman was in the middle of it, but I think she was just caught up in it.”
He grabbed his children and moved them away from the scene, and other parents were comforting their children, who were shaken up by what was happening.
He said that the trouble lasted for between 10 and 15 minutes, and towards the end, there appeared to be ‘reinforcements’ arriving for both sides.
“Fr. Declan arrived out, and fair play to him, went into the middle of it, and basically told them to get off the church grounds. Thankfully they listened, and started to move away, still roaring at each other,” said Deputy Tóibín.
While local people praised Fr. Hurley for the actions he took, the Administrator played down his role, and suggested it was more or less over when he got to it.
“You can’t be a shrinking violet in my job,” he remarked, explaining that people sometimes turn up drunk or on drugs at ceremonies, and people occasionally raise their voices to one another.
