Kenny Deary
CEO of Galway Chamber
When travelling to a new city I often wonder, “What would this place be like to live in? What is the accommodation like? Is it safe? How do we move about?" Important things that can determine your lifestyle.
What I love about Galway, is that it is influenced by the water. There is a ruggedness, and a beauty, of coexisting with the Corrib and the Atlantic. Going for a swim or a dip in Blackrock, rowing on the Corrib, or sailing out at Maree are joys we take for granted, that most of the population can only aspire to, when they come visit.
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The positive impact the artistic and creative community have had on the west of Ireland over the years, is something I don’t believe we fully appreciate. Through my work, I’ve been exposed to the genius of Macnas, Druid, Music for Galway, Babaró, and many other wonderful creative organisations. They showcase Galway and its creative capacity with pride at home and abroad. They need continuing amplification.
Our Galway has created, with the help of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, and the LEO, thousands of high value jobs, that have had a considerable influence on the city - good jobs that provide security, a roof over your head, and a sense of pride and self-worth.
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The investment in co-working spaces, incubation, fostering, and supporting entrepreneurship has had a tremendous impact on the start-up and scaling tech industry. Our location on the Wild Atlantic Way and our reputation as a quality and enjoyable place to visit has delivered close to two million visitors last year.
We need to continue to compete on a global stage, to attract jobs, investment, and people to come here. That requires us to be more imaginative, more agile and more competitive than ever before.
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We are lagging and need to improve on the public realm, our footpaths, our streetscapes, and how we move about. Our traffic is problematic – if there were easy solutions, they would have been adopted years ago. We need to embrace sustainable transport options and learn from the Leuven’s and the Amsterdam’s in terms of their experience. Loop the traffic around the city that does not need to be in our junctions and roundabouts and embrace new, healthier more sustainable ways of getting about downtown.
We are very privileged to live in such a safe urban setting, with a sense of community and lots of things to do. With leadership and political will, we have the capacity to do more quickly so that ‘Our Galway’ is an even better place to live, work, learn and visit.
John Connolly
Fianna Fáil Galway City West councillor
I’m invoking some liberty in extending my post-Covid vision beyond our city boundaries. In following the discussion, I have seen some fine notions; fewer cars, sustainable transport, better streetscape, greater community spirit, better broadband, all lovely ideas, some relatively easy to implement, others requiring greater thought and more time.
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One thing that has surprised me is that there has not been more debate or comment on our future healthcare system, particularly on the health and care needs of the elderly. The need for this analysis is heightened by our increasingly ageing population, which caused the outgoing government to propose increasing the pension age, costing them support in February’s election.
'Whatever changes occur in Galway post this phase of Covid, we must prioritise measures that offer more protection to the members of our society that are most vulnerable'
Somewhere close to half of Coronavirus deaths in Ireland occurred in nursing homes. It is difficult to verify if that statistic differs from other countries. The WHO special envoy, Dr David Nabbaro, noted how Ireland calculated the casualties: “Ireland has probably got the widest circle of inclusion of all the countries I have studied, which may be one of the reasons why there is a relatively high rate of deaths in nursing homes associated with Covid”. Some countries did not categorise as Covid related, deaths where there was already an underlying issue, others did not count deaths that occurred outside hospitals. Therefore, international comparisons are difficult.
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The Programme for Government includes a section 'An Age Friendly Ireland'. Included is the establishment of a commission, learning from Covid, to examine care and support for older people. There is a theme of enabling citizens to live independently for as long as possible including the establishment of a statutory scheme to support people to live in their own home.
Currently the country has 30’000 nursing home beds, by 2030 that demand could be as high as 45,000. The State must play a proactive role in helping nursing homes to manage risk and prevent infection. Though predominantly privately run, the exchequer already funds the sector through the Fair Deal scheme to the tune of almost €1 Billion annually. It is worthwhile now to evaluate if rebalancing that expenditure in favour of enhanced community health support could also provide enhanced health protection.
The programme interestingly also suggests changes to the planning system to embed ageing in place options for older people into the development plan system.
Whatever changes occur in our city or country post this phase of Covid, we must prioritise measures that offer more protection to the members of our society that are most vulnerable.
Brendan Holland
Local businessman and chair of GLUAS Galway
I have worked in Williamsgate Street, in the city centre, for more than 40 years, and of course have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of Galway.
The good: its people, making it the best place in the world to live. Galway has that X factor which cannot be explained. We are close to the ocean, the bay, the lakes, Connemara, and the Burren. The city has a rich history, catering for all and every kind of recreation, education, and pastime. While we call it a city, we think of it as a small town, welcoming, warm, and friendly to all races of people be it for a day or a lifetime.
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The bad: not a lot, maybe the rain and the wind. Currently the Pandemic which has hit our city hard, but this can be a time of review and looking for opportunity for the future.
The ugly: without doubt the traffic and this is key to my view of how I would like to see our Galway of the future - a modern public transport system which can benefit everyone.
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Currently we rank as the 63rd worst city in the world for traffic congestion. There must be a better way. The last three months have shown us how easy it is to get around Galway with huge numbers of cars off the road. Imagine the city centre as a traffic free pedestrian friendly area - a busy car free city centre will showcase our city to the world.
This will happen with a proper modern traffic system which we currently lack, and have lacked for years, despite countless studies and reports. I believe a light rail tram based GLUAS system is the answer. The proposed bus solution will only convert 10 per cent of car users to public transport. Tram systems convert 30 per cent. Look at the success of LUAS and ask why not?
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Would London or New York be the cities they are today if they had continued with buses only? No. Do not tell me Galway is too small. Planners tell us Galway is going to grow by 50 per cent in our life times. Do we wait for that traffic problem to arrive before we take action, because that problem is coming down the tracks fast.
The GLUAS is a game changer for Galway. We are at a crossroads now and we need to aim high as previous generations did for us. We need to secure a modern congestion free city for our future generations to enjoy, and fulfil the true potential of Galway’s future.
