Call for more thatching courses to save 'uniquely Irish craft'

RTÉ News​

18-06-2025

There has been a call for more thatching courses around Ireland in order to save the "uniquely Irish craft".
Fine Gael Senator Manus Boyle said that thatching is at risk of dying unless investment into training is urgently made.
He said that a Heritage Council course in thatching in conjunction with the Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board saw great interest and that similar courses need to be extended around the country.
"There are only ten master thatchers in the whole country," he said.
"It's something we really need to get on top of very quickly. If anything happens to these ten people, the whole trade is going to die away.
"I really want to see the young people take it up," Mr Boyle added.
"Even if they don't use it as a trade, get the gift of knowing how to do it.
"So that they can pass it on down through the years."
Mr Boyle said he has a list of thirty names who would be interested in learning the skill in Donegal.
"It's something I really believe in. It's part of our heritage," he said.
The senator said he remembers his own grandfather's house being thatched and that it was a "week's work from the time you cut the rushes".
"It's something that came up through my heritage and I would like to see it being kept alive and well for the generation to come," he said.
"Originally, it was always passed down from father to sons, then my generation missed out."
Mr Boyle said there are approximately 2,000 thatched buildings that need constant maintenance and a one-year waiting list for most repair jobs.
"You're on a waiting list for the thatcher to come," he said. "This time of year would be very busy.
"If we could only get another 20 from the whole country, just to keep the tradition alive so that it could be passed on to the next generation."
Mr Boyle added that thatched houses are an important part of the Irish landscape that tourists "really love" to see them.
"The Americans loved the thatched house," he said.
"You'll always see the cars pulled up outside of the thatched house and them taking a photograph."
'Every village should have a thatcher'
Meanwhile, Wexford thatcher Matt Whelan said that he cannot keep up with the amount of people who want to learn the skill from him.
"I can't take them all. I am so busy," he said.
"There are so many emails, so many people looking and it's heartbreaking."
He believes that "every village should have a thatcher" for the craft to be kept alive.
Mr Whelan grew up in a thatched house and completed a Fás course in Rosslare, Wexford 33 years ago.
"They brought a master thatcher over and he taught the course," he said. "They had an 80% success rate."
Mr Whelan runs the Irish School of Thatching in Kilmore Quay but said that Ireland lacks a "structure of teaching".
He said that there is "no set technique" in Ireland and that he has heard some "horror stories" where people have "paid €20-40,000 and the roof is gone in a matter of three or four years".
"There are different levels, especially in Ireland because we haven't recognised thatching as a craft," he said.
"It has always been these bohemian characters that are thatching. Their techniques vary so much.
"One guy might do a roof and it might only last three years. Another guy could do a roof and it might last 40 years."
He said that becoming a master of the craft takes decades of practice.
"That's a word given never taken," he said.