WEXFORD TOWN councillor Joe Ryan is attempting to do what his counterparts in Enniscorthy have failed to do.

Three years ago, the folk in Enniscorthy put themselves in touch with An Post. They pointed out that the 1500th anniversary of the establishment of the town by Saint Senan was due to be celebrated in 2010. 'How's about a stamp to mark the occasion?' they wanted to know. Nothing doing, came the reply from the G.P.O. – two years later.

Now Cllr. Ryan is a member of a committee seeking to commemorate the Great Wexford Lock Out of 1911-12. For those whose grasp of early twentieth century history is vague, Joe offers a reminder that back almost 100 years ago, the town had three major foundries – Pierces (now Tesco), Doyles (now Dunnes Stores) and the Star (no relation to the newspaper of the same name).

The workers decided to throw in their lot with the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (I.T.G.W.U). The employers responded that they wanted absolutely no truck with an organisation masterminded by such subversive firebrands as James Connolly and Jim Larkin. They locked out the townsmen and brought in 'blacklegs' from as far away as Waterford and Dublin to stoke their furnaces. Picketing and protests continued for many hungry months as Wexford was riven with strife. An unfortunate man called Michael O'Leary was killed during a police baton charge on the Main Street.

A resolution of the dispute was finally hammered out after half a year of turbulence when the employees were kindly permitted to return to the payroll and set up their own Irish Foundry Workers Union under the leadership of their own Richard Corish. Five years later, the new organisation was subsumed into the I.T.G.W.U. (now S. I. P. T. U.) anyway. The protracted, acrimonious dispute produced no immediate winners.

Nevertheless, the episode was, as Joe Ryan suggests, a slice of 'hugely important social history' – though that may not be enough to convince the decision makers in An Post that it is worthy of a stamp. Certainly they will not be rushed into a verdict and their response to the proposal will not be known until January at the earliest. This slow moving approach has already been the cause of some frustration in the Wexford Labour party camp. Joe's council colleague George Lawlor, himself a printer, has pointed out that he would be long since out of business if it took him a year or more to respond to queries. He will just have to curb his exasperation.

George may also be well advised not to

Commodore John Barry has featured twice on Irish stamps. have his heart set on seeing Wexford Lock Out stamps on envelopes and postcards in 2011 or 2012. The relevant authorities are cretainly not given to honouring the Model County willy-nilly. Dublin can have few complaints when it comes to philatelic commemoration. Kerry has done well over the years too, since the Kingdom's Daniel O'Connell was the first person since independence to have his likeness published in this way. Wexford has not done near as well.

At least John Barry from Tacumshane has the distinction of having featured twice – in 1956 and again in 2003. As founder of the United States navy, the commodore also featured on an American stamp. Otherwise, the Wexford representation on Irish stamps has been sparse. A roll of honour that includes a range of personalities from India's Mahatma Ghandi to Eurovision's Linda Martin has largely passed us by.

The exceptions are sporting – hurlers Nickey Rackard, Nick O'Donnell and Billy Rackard, along with Special Olympics swimmer Michael Breen from Gorey district. Perhaps we should lay stronger claim to the likes of Oscar Wilde or to soccer player Paul McGrath who at least lives near Enniscorthy. Paul was stamped in 2002.

At least New Ross's favourite son – albeit a generation or two on from Dunganstown – John Fitzgerald Kennedy made the grade with the G.P.O. The magnificent Hook lighthouse has been on a stamp but no sign yet of the Campile bombings or the Battle of Three Bullet Gate.

The Taghmon lion (my own nomination) has been overlooked too. However, a colleague and stamp collector confirms that several Wexford events have prompted issues, so to speak. The world ploughing championships, which made mud wrestling respectable in 1973, were marked with a stamp, similarly the opera festival during the eighties.

Surely, like treatment for the Lock Out is not too much to ask.

To fill in any gaps in the above, be sure to contact david.medcalf@peoplenews.ie .

HUMBLE APOLOGIES

Your reporter is in the doghouse. A silly attempt at humour has backfired, reflecting badly on the writer. In describing the demeanour of Wexford farmers who appeared recently on the 'Dragon's Den' television programme, I used a phrase in last week's edition of this Diary which was unwarranted, unfunny and embarrassing to the person concerned.

Mark Browne, his colleague Andrew Byrne, and indeed all the landholders involved in the Wexgen project making briquettes from miscanthus are my heroes. Any farmer who takes the initiative to break free of the shackles imposed by sticking to the production of the routine commodities along the same old lines has my interest and respect.

In this case, the use of two crass words, selected out of alliterative convenience rather than by any yardstick of truth, could only deflect the reader's attention away from an important agricultural story, while mortifying the person referred to. The juvenile phrase is not repeated here – suffice to note that it was crass and unnecessary.

My name has doubtless been deleted from the Wexgen Christmas list for the moment but I hope those involved will find it in their hearts some time to forgive my over-exuberance.