There was a light-hearted, spring atmosphere at the March plenary meeting of Galway City Council this week, as the city's leaders attempted their assembly solely in Irish for the first time in seven centuries of civic government.
More than 100 members of trade union Forsa may have been protesting the Council’s proposed move to Crown Square outside, followed by a smaller protest at the closure of the Pálás Cinema, but inside City Hall, councillors and staff were brushing up on their cúpla focail, as the arrival of TV news cameras added an element of showbiz to the historic event.
Mayor Peter Keane (FF ) was well-able to chair the council meeting as Gaeilge, and although several councillors apologised for their poor Irish, all made concerted and impressive efforts to use the native teanga over a four-hour meeting. That is no mean feat when complex topics such as land zoning and audit reports are being discussed, while council official Edel de Paor did sterling work in providing a live translation.
Councillors Frank Fahy (FG ) and Eibhlín Seoighthe (SD ) probably had the most most natural blas. Fahy hails from the Mionloch Gaeltacht, while Seoighthe was educated in An Spidéal.
However Councillor Helen Ogbu (Lab ), who grew up in a non-Gaeltacht area of Nigeria, received approving nods for her consistent cúpla focail. Both Ogbu and Councillor Eddie Hoare (FG ) are understood to have taken Irish lessons in recent times, an indication perhaps that both aspire to higher oifig?
Veteran councillor Fahy was on hand to remind all present last Monday, that this was actually the second time councillors had met formally using Irish. When he was méara in 2016, Galway was declared a bilingual city.
Mayor Keane reeled off up-to-date survey stats that 80 per cent of people would like to use more Irish every day. The main Irish-speaking townlands of the metropolitan area include Barna, Ballybrit, Ballindooley, Ballinfoyle, Cappagh, Castlegar, Coolagh, Menlo, Parkmore and Terryland, with Knocknacarra and An Bruach Thoir registered Gaeltachtaí. Keane put the meeting in historical context, reminding all present that in centuries past, Galway city’s rulers attempted to outlaw the native tongue.
“But as the historian Michael Gibbons wrote: the Irish language seeped through the city’s walls, like morning dew,” emoted Keane, as Gaelige.
Rumours of cracks and leaks in the walls of the Council’s potential new Crown Square HQ in Mervue exercised Councillor Clodagh Higgins (FG ), who successfully convinced colleagues to agree to hold an extraordinary meeting to dissect the Crown Square controversy next month. The previous Council voted a €45m loan to buy the site, plus 200 car parking spaces, in 2022. There is widespread disquiet amongst current councillors of all parties that, as Councillor Alan Cheevers (FF ) put it: “they were sold a pup”.
“The entire process is nothing short of embarrassing. It’s hard to believe there has been a four year delay since 2022,” Higgins thundered. “The staff are protesting at the move, and it’s time to deal with their concerns. Accountability and respect are required.”
City chief executive, Leonard Cleary, who insists the move should happen by 2026, assured councillors that officials are working with staff and unions, and that two independent valuations of Crown Square will be ready “shortly” in time for Councillor Higgins’ proposed special meeting in April.
Forsa, which represents mostly office staff in City Hall, claims its members feel “cast out” to Crown Square from College Road, and that 75 per cent are considering looking for work elsewhere.
Councillor Niáll McNelis (Lab ) brought up the other eilifint sa seomra, demanding to know when city officials will publish a formal invitation for expressions of interest in taking over the now empty Pálás building, which cost tax payers €8.4m to build and fit out.
“Has anyone spoken to the Department of Arts?” he demanded. “Has anyone checked the feasibility of hosting the Galway Film Fleadh in the Pálás this summer? Has the current lease been surrendered? Is the [equipment] inside being maintained?”
Cleary answered – again – that he was open to all suggestions regarding the Pálás: “What I can say is that the Fleadh will happen in Galway this year, and there are a couple of cinemas elsewhere in the city available.” Judging by the horrified looks around the chamber at this response, the city manager should expect more political pressure on this issue.
Mr Cleary, a Clareman, brought the lilt of Munster to proceedings when he read out Máirtín Ó Direáin’s poem, Fear Lasta Lampaí, to the meeting, as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge in Halla na Cathrach. With councillors and the public demanding light be cast on political prátaí te, such as Pálás and Crown Square, the city manager may well be wishing he was a humble city lamp lighter too.
Ag fonóid faoi gan náire,
Ach ghluais gan mhairg fós.
