Latoon
2006
Digital Betacam video transferred to DVD
Duration: 8:30 minutes
In 1999, folklorist and storyteller Eddie Lenihan campaigned to save a whitethorn bush from being destroyed by the construction of a €90 million road scheme in Latoon, County Clare.
Lenihan claimed that the bush is an important meeting place for supernatural forces of the region, and warned that its destruction would result in death and great misfortune for motorists travelling on the proposed new road. His campaign was featured on CNN and in The New York Times. Clare County Council, acting on his advice, eventually changed the direction of the road away from the bush.
In 2006, Lenihan agrees to further explain the significance of the bush. Arriving at Junction 11 of the M20 motorway accompanied by a local television production crew, we encounter the construction of another road nearby, and the bush once more seems to be in danger…
