Published: Wednesday, 30th December, 2009 6:00pm

It's a long way to Argentina

For a man who has never actually been to Argentina, well-known local solicitor Louis Kiernan knows an awful lot about the place that welcomed so many of his fellow countrymen in the nineteenth century.

Louis's interest in all things Argentinian stems from his own family connection with the South American country; his great-grandmother Julia Cuskelly was born and raised there before the family returned to Westmeath, and his grandfather, Joseph, vividly recalled Spanish being spoken at home when he was a child.

"My grandfather only died two years ago, so it's all quite close really," said Louis.

It was these blood-ties that led him to become secretary of the Longford/Westmeath Argentinian Society. Next year the society hopes to take another trip to Argentina where members will be able to witness the bi-centennial celebrations of the founding of the state and Louis will finally get to see the place that has fascinated him since he was a child. Since the Westmeath Argentinian society was founded in 1989 members have travelled to Argentina roughly once every five years, remembering and strengthening links with the country which welcomed their ancestors. If the 2010 trip goes ahead, Louis hopes to make time for some more research into his family tree.

"I have discovered exactly where the campos (farm) that my family owned is," said Louis. "If you look at older maps of Argentina, the country was defined by the railroads and railway stations were often named after people who owned land in that area and those people were often Irish. So you would have Mulcahy station or O'Brien station or whatever. I have some old family letters from Argentina and I didn't realise that the name on the back of one of those letters actually denoted the address of the campos owned by the Cuskellys and so hopefully I'll be able to go there during my trip. It's in an area just outside Buenos Aires.

"My great great grandparents, John Cuskelly and Bridget Holmes were both from Westmeath and met and married in Argentina and had four children.

"From family stories I believe that the Cuskellys left the Argentina because they feared that the boys would be conscripted into the army. I also heard that John always hoped that one of the boys would go back and take over the campos again but they never did and he actually went back when he was an old man in 1925 and sold the place.

"I suppose I always knew about my family's links with Argentina and I got interested in it when I was fairly young. It's a fascinating place and then I have the family ties on top of that.

"It's just such a vast and varied place with the jungle in the north east, then you have the wine producing areas, the pampas, Patagonia and the glaciers in the South. I have all the CDs and the grammar books to start learning Spanish, I just haven't got around to it yet.

"Stories about Argentina have always been in my family and my grandfather Joseph remembers his mother having conversations in Spanish. That wasn't unusual for Westmeath up until the 1940s or 1950s when there would have been many fluent Spanish speakers around.

"A lot of people came back but a lot of people stayed and the Irish influence is still remarkably strong because something like 400,000 Argentinians claim Irish connections and the country has the largest Irish population outside the English speaking world. I've heard of people who have never left Argentina who speak English with a broad Westmeath accent.

"Most of the people who went to Argentina from Ireland came from either the Westmeath or Longford area or from Wexford.

They went over as farmers and did very well and more importantly they got involved in the banking system and so they were able to finance family members coming over.

"At the turn of the twentieth century Argentina was the fifth biggest economy in the world but of course things have not gone so well since then.

"This August their football team will be playing Ireland and we are hoping to organise some events around that and we also have the annual asado, which is a roast or barbecue and we usually invite the Argentinian ambassador. It's always held in Abbeyshrule and we have Argentinian food and wine and a bit of tango.

"The day is a celebration of our links with Argentina and it's amazing to the think how much Ireland has influenced the place.

Where do you think the manager of the Rugby team, Santiago Phelan, got his name from?"