‘DENIS represented all that was good about Schull.’
That was just one of the tributes paid this week to the late Denis Quinlan, who died on Tuesday night, July 30th.
For more than 30 years, Denis, along with his family, ran the renowned Courtyard Bar in Schull. The gentle and mild-mannered owner helped to make it one of the best music venues in West Cork.
It helped that Denis was a wonderful raconteur and musician, and almost always had a ready – and beautiful – smile.
One of his friends, Tim O’Connor, the former principal of Schull Community College, described how The Courtyard became ‘the nucleus of the village for many years.’
Both Denis and his wife Finola are known to be private, low key people, but they knew how to celebrate the important things in life. The family established a renowned food emporium in the early 1980s, which championed artisan food along with its famed Courtyard bread.
Many West Cork businesses became established through the opportunity they got in The Courtyard Crafts store.
The Quinlan family’s commitment to Irish crafts continues in Schull, more than 40 years later, with their Craftyard store on Main Street.
For many years, Denis was involved as secretary of the Schull Regatta. And, in recent years, he showed real leadership in helping to establish The Fastnet Trails Schull Trailhead.
As a community volunteer, Denis also dedicated a lot of his time to the Schull Development Association.
Tim worked closely with Denis when the Schull Community Inshore Rescue was set up, following the tragic drowning of a Schull fisherman in Roaringwater Bay. The life-saving service is thriving today with an excellent, which funded by voluntary contributions, but under the governance of the Irish Coast Guard.
Everyone in the community will have fond memories of Denis and they will, in perpetuity, continue to offer their love and support to his family.
