|
The
armiger is an elected
Councillor on Dún
Laoghaire Rathdown
County Council in
Ireland and a former
member of An Garda
Síochána (Irish Police).
He was born in County
Mayo to Bob Durkan and
Bernie Flynn of
Rathnacreeva,
Ballyglass, Claremorris.
He is married to Dymphna
(née Nolan) and they
live in Dublin with
their daughters, Saoirse
and Grace.
He
was a long-time member
of An Garda Síochána
(Irish police) and based
for many years in Dún
Laoghaire Garda Station
where he became the face
of community policing
and many worthy
initiatives dealing with
juveniles and, in
particular, he was
instrumental in founding
Dún Laoghaire Town
Football Club for local
youth and migrants;
organising local
festivals and events,
including many at the
National Maritime Museum
of Ireland.
He
also was a long-time
secretary of the
Holyhead-Dún Laoghaire
Link Organisation –
uniting the Towns and
Communities of
Holyhead–Caergybi in
North Wales (UK) and Dún
Laoghaire.
He
was elected to Dún
Laoghaire Rathdown
County Council in June
2024 for a five-year
term to represent the
Dún Laoghaire Local
Electoral Division,
which includes the Town
of Dún Laoghaire. He is
a member of the Fine
Gael Party.
The
symbolism in the arms
reflects many aspects of
the armiger’s family
history and, of course,
his professional life,
public service, and his
love for his native
County of Mayo in the
ancient province of
Connacht in the west of
Ireland.
The
tinctures chosen for the
design, Argent, Gules,
Vert and Sable, have
each a very specific
significance as follows:
Argent taken from the
field of the traditional
Durkan/Durcan/Durkin
arms and from the
elements in the
traditional
Nolan/O’Nolan arms,
including the Martlets
and Cross, and alludes
to the swans on the
lakes around the
armiger’s family
homestead in County
Mayo.
Gules
taken from the field of
the traditional
Nolan/O’Nolan arms and
here signifying the
ancient bloodline of the
Durkan family in this
part of Connacht. It is
also one of the two
colours of the County
Mayo flag, arms and
Gaelic Athletic
Association football and
hurling teams.
Vert
is one of the two
colours of the County
Mayo flag, arms and
Gaelic Athletic
Association football and
hurling teams and here
signifying the local
town-land of
Rathnacreeva, the
landscape and, of
course, Mayo comes from
the Irish “Maigh Eo” or
the “plain of the yew
trees”. It is also the
traditional colour
associated with Ireland
and alludes to the
armiger’s public service
as a policeman and later
as a public
representative.
Sable
taken from the saltire
on the traditional
Durkan/Durcan/Durkin
arms and here the
saltire is replaced by a
Celtic Cross to
represent the local
parish of Mayo Abbey –
an ancient monastic
settlement dating from
the 7 th century
believed to have been
founded by St. Colmán.
Mayo Abbey is very near
to the armiger’s family
homestead at
Rathnacreeva, as are the
ruins of the old church
of the Civil Parish of
Rosslee.
The
Gules Lion was chosen to
represent strength,
courage and
determination – the
hallmarks of the
armiger’s long service
as a member of An Garda
Síochána “guardians of
the peace” and the
defence of law and
order, public protection
and now his deep
commitment to public
representation as a
guardian of our
democracy in our second
tier of government in
Ireland – local
government. The lion
passant is also an
element in the
traditional
Nolan/O’Nolan arms.
The
Mural Crown Argent was
chosen to represent
Rathnacreeva – a
ringfort. These are the
most common monuments
surviving in Ireland
with up to 60,000
examples spread across
the whole of the island.
Most were built during
the Early Medieval
period (c.500-900CE),
although some are
thought to date to Late
Iron Age (c.100-500CE).
However, many are found
on or within earlier
sites that have origins
going back as far as the
Bronze Age
(2500-500BCE). Ringforts
are circular settlements
that come in many sizes
and can be made of stone
or earth. The use of the
mural (wall) also
alludes to Dublin Castle
which was the
headquarters of An Garda
Síochána and, of course,
it also represents the
dry stone walls that are
seen throughout the west
of Ireland giving it a
very distinctive
landscape. The Oak
Leaves Argent represent
the five sons of Bob and
Bernie Durkan, of which,
the armiger is the
second youngest. The oak
was a sacred tree in
Ireland and is now
commonly used to
represent a genealogy or
an ancestral connection
to the land and, in this
case, to the homestead
at Rathnacreeva which
means the “ringfort of
the branches”.
|
