A magician who brought wonder to the West

Thu, Jul 11, 2024

I have always looked back on the 1970s with a sense of wonder. The summers seemed to be longer, and sunnier. It was a time when we felt less connected to the outside world, although the passing of Elvis impacted us all.

The undeniable lightness of contentment

Thu, Jul 04, 2024

The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us. And so, has been the case this week as we bask in the glory of a victory that was as thrilling as it was unexpected.

Right, let’s start getting things done

Thu, Jun 13, 2024

And with the last vote counted, that was it. The choices have been made and the composition of the local councils that will oversee our city and county is known. While many of the experienced councillors have retained their seats, there are plenty of new faces too, to create the ideal sporting blend of youth and experience.

Vote for those who propose to shape the society you want

Thu, Jun 06, 2024

It is Friday, June 8, 2029. Five years hence. On that day too, the electorate will be going to the polls in their droves to pass judgement on those of you who were elected in the elections of the summer of 2024.

The cello, you can bring it anywhere

Thu, May 23, 2024

There is a wonderful flow to Galway’s year - from the sounds and smells of the Christmas Market to the last chuckle of the Comedy Festival, each period is marked by a differing attire. From the tweeds of the Races, to the polo necks of Cuirt, to the summery freckled skin of the Arts Festival. Aliens arriving from space to visit would be able to determine what is on by virtue of what people have on.

A woman you don’t meet every day

Thu, May 16, 2024

There are people who do great things for their city by virtue of the position they hold; that an extra element of their public role enables them to do with ease the good things that make a difference to those who need a bit of a lift in life. These people are worthy and deserving of our acclamation for the good they do.

A nostalgia for the concept of good service

Thu, May 09, 2024

It’s a cliche that Ireland would be the best country in the world if the sun just kept shining a bit more, but there’s no denying that there’s nothing like some rays to bring out the best side of us.

The ball has been thrown in — let the banter begin

Thu, May 02, 2024

It has become de rigeur in recent years in GAA circles to not name the proper starting line-up until about an hour before throw in, lest you should be giving away any vital information about the composition of the mark-ups in a game. Indeed, it is often not only until the game has started that you know who is up against who and what strategic role they have been given for the task ahead.

In the same way we have been speculating on the make-up of our local councils and the European Parliament; up to now, we have been surmising what might happen. But with the closing of deadlines for putting your name forward, we too have a clearer idea of who is going and for whom in which area.

Government should never bully its people just because it can

Thu, Apr 25, 2024

“We walked in the cold air
Freezing breath on a window pane, lying and waiting

50 days from the polls — time to do your bit

Thu, Apr 18, 2024

You can smell the election now... not in the way you smell it after four days of counting in a cramped community centre somewhere, but in the air, there’s a real sense of people wanting to be part of our new Councils.

The marketisation of our creativity

Thu, Apr 11, 2024

There is nothing as innocent as the process of passion that drags you on the path to whatever you choose to do in life. The excitement of eking out a wage, of convincing yourself that people will want to consume what you produce is common across all occupations.

A year tinged with heart-numbing sadness

Thu, Mar 28, 2024

When the bells peal on a new year, we enter it with a bucket of fresh hope that the changing of what are just numbers will alter what lies ahead. It is a naive but innocent assumption that does no harm.

Play your part in the shaping of a new Galway

Thu, Mar 14, 2024

The present and the future have an annoying habit of conspiring to show just how silly we might have been in the past. Armed with foresight and hindsight, something that might have seemed like a good idea at some stage in the past is ridiculed by the present and put right by the future.

The heads above the parapet

Thu, Feb 29, 2024

In a hundred days from now, most of us will go to the polls to elect new city and county councillors and new MEPs. The race for the European seat used to be a lot more interesting when the constituency was merely the West...now it goes from Rossaveal to somewhere near the Mull of Kintyre. There is never any shortage of candidates for the European gig...as political posts go, they are the most desired. If I ever come back in the next life as a politician, you’ll find me in Brussels or Strasbourg, eating starters instead of main courses to keep the pounds down.

It’s not so easy to find takers for the ticket on the councillor level and this is regrettable, because it is here you find the academy for future TDs and Senators and Ministers. At that level, you learn how to grease the wheels, to press the fatted damp hand, uttering ‘sorry for your troubles,’ with a tear-stained hand and cheese sandwich that the crowd from next door made. It is here, you learn to growl and roar, to fight your corner. To do your bit for the place where you came from, to help those among who you live and work.

Sleepwalking into the repeat of history

Thu, Feb 22, 2024

I had coffee with some old friends the other day; people who had devoted their lives to doing the right thing; never ones to let a cause go unfought. People who took an interest in the world; people whose emotional ebb and flow was determined by the general state of mankind.

The reinvigorating power of February

Thu, Feb 01, 2024

My mother used to say that you kept something long enough, it would come back into fashion. But of course, I never heeded her, and so all my trendy Gola sports bags and original three-stripe Adidas tee-shirts were discarded, not knowing they would come back into vogue. So too with flared trousers. It must have been the devil himself who designed those in the 1970s and thought it was a good idea, but back they have come again for certain age-groups.

Galway facility can sate the palates of the world

Thu, Jan 25, 2024

For anyone who has studied the history of Galway over the past century, you will see therein a repeated window of opportunity which has either been grabbed with both hands (as in the case of our early cultural and artistic endeavours) or frittered away (as was the case with our continuing failure to benefit from the proximity of the waters along which we live).

Every community needs a Martin Horgan

Thu, Jan 18, 2024

As was the norm, the last time I spoke with Martin Horgan, one of us was either coming or going to a football pitch. Trudging off with a bag of balls, shoving singlets into a box, making some arrangement for the pushing of some project or others, the complexion of sporting satisfaction evident in our visage. Perhaps because it was always in places like that that we encountered each other, my memories are so precious and so sad. Pitches were a playground in our youth, and in our more mature years, they still represent a leap from the reality of life. Perhaps that is why I love them so much. That reality hit home this week when Martin passed away, his death sending shockwaves throughout the sporting community in Galway and his wide circle of family and friends.

A man who kept the story of Galway alive

Thu, Jan 11, 2024

The great stories have always found their way down to those who appreciate them the most. The cave writings, the hewed and smoothened tablets, the leathery books that fill the most treasured libraries; the tiny lead-made print of the 18th and 19th century newspapers.