He was like a wandering bard people used 'take him in ' . Barney McKenna's mother Kathleen let him stay with them in Donnycarney for a year or two. I think that was in the sixties.
Indeed, that's what I always thought too, the last true bard... One of his piping albums is named "The Wandering Minstrel", it's one of the tunes he played, I believe Ennis picked that name for said reason.
