Mrs. Anne Devitt:

It is not her mother, but Alice Leahy's mother was a very good friend. She was one of the founders of the country markets. The first one was down there. She also brought forward the idea of the horticultural college which was at An Grianán. That only disbanded in the early 1960s, but it provided a service. At the guild meeting, the member of the ICA had the opportunity to do crafts. Do not give me a sewing needle. I can do something at home but do not ask me to do it outside. I want to be stimulated and to enjoy myself, and it gave me that. It provided courses. One could do arts. One could get awards in arts, public speaking and so forth. One could get all types of little challenges. That gave structure. Behind the guilds there was the county federation. It has officers that kept in touch. All of that was very important.

It comes back to the question of connectivity, which was mentioned by the Chairman. It is so important if it starts in a small parish. It is keeping in touch with one's church, the businesses in one's town and the people. It is knowing one's community and the different things in it. The ICA has that. It has friendship. We were not saints but we provided a service and we followed up on people. Some guilds have contracted because of numbers and shifts to different areas, but new guilds are being formed and a new response is being given. Our agenda has changed somewhat. When I joined the ICA people were very concerned about children with a mental handicap and disabilities, as it was called then. One of the members of our guild, Eileen Noonan, set up the association for looking after children with disabilities in our county and made it a county organisation. There are schools for children with mild disability, moderate disability and so forth. The ICA people are a tentacle of that.