Owner of popular St Mullins Mullicháin Cafe, Martin O'Brien is bringing a major part of local folklore to life.
Martin has commissioned artist Thomas Kelly from Bevel Furniture and Woodworking School, to create a sculpture of Buile Shuibhne, commonly known as Mad Sweeny or Suibhne's Frenzy.
In Irish folklore, Buile Shuibhne is a tale about a king who lived 600AD in Ireland and was cursed and turned into half man and half bird. The story has been used in Seamus Heaney's book 'Sweeney Astray' and Flann O'Brien's 'At Swim-Two-Birds'.
Irish folklore says that St. Mullins is the place where Suibhne Geilt dies, after having been welcome in the monastery by Saint Moling himself. Martin says this is a major focal point in St Mullins and wishes to bring it to life for the locals.
