Forget Garth Brooks - visit Galway instead

Thu, Jul 10, 2014

Galway is synonymous with festival fun, and July signals an intoxicating mix of summer festivals that attract thousands of visitors to our city every year.

A new lease of life for Galway Airport?

Thu, Jul 03, 2014

The former Galway Airport site may soon be open for business again with negotiations ongoing by the Galway City Council, Galway County Council, and Carnmore Aviation Ltd.

Schools out for summer

Thu, Jun 26, 2014

The corridors of most schools across Ireland will be empty of students tomorrow evening on the last day of the school academic year.

Taking the positives from World Cup and Special Olympics

Thu, Jun 19, 2014

The world is being treated to a feast of football that for even the passing fan is intoxicating, particularly this year in the exotic location of Brazil, World Cup record holders, long-time world favourites, and home of the greatest footballer Pele.

A dispassionate examination of the facts

Thu, Jun 12, 2014

Both the Irish and the international media have gone into overdrive since the Irish version of an English tabloid ‘broke’ the story of the grave in Tuam attached to the former children’s home run by the Bon Secours nuns, the same order, many people in the west of Ireland will recall, that operated a highly-regarded maternity hospital in the town until the 1980s.

Don't leave home till you've seen the county

Thu, Jun 05, 2014

The June Bank Holiday weekend traditionally signals the start of a summer season that promises a calendar filled with festivals, outdoor activities, holidays, and, hopefully, warm and dry weather.

New politicians must tackle mental health issues

Thu, May 29, 2014

On Friday Irish citizens selected candidates they believe will deliver a better Galway and a better Europe. In voting against current Government parties, the people have translated their anger to the ballot box and said "enough".

‘Mummy, What is that man for?’

Thu, May 15, 2014

A story is told that when William Ewart Gladstone, the great 19th century Liberal Parliamentarian and prime minister was on the campaign trail, delivering one of his marathon three-hour speeches, a little girl in the crowd turned to her mother and asked, “Mummy, what is that man for?”

Reading the Runes: Local elections

Thu, May 08, 2014

Local Elections, like those coming up on May 23, are curious creatures. While they are undoubtedly local in the way that even a cursory glance at the different candidates election literature will immediately confirm – active in community initiatives, members of community councils, chairs of things like the Tidy Towns Committee, and, at least in the country, the GAA - local elections also have traditionally been seen, and used by voters, as a way of robustly telling the mainstream parties how they are seen from the groundlings point of view, and so providing either comfort or a harsh wake-up call, a two-fingered salute which is anything but comforting.

Professionalism is not just about money

Thu, May 01, 2014

As many winter sports come to a close, some will be celebrating a season of success, others regretting lost opportunities, but many more will be satisfied if they did their best.

After twenty-eight years, Chernobyl remains a ‘ticking time bomb’

Thu, Apr 24, 2014

We, all of us, have a problem with keeping things in mind, with remembering what it is important to remember, while allowing other things that might have seemed important at the time to fade. We can, perhaps, be forgiven for such lapses of recollection. We are, after all, bombarded 24/7 with an unprecedented flood of information, from every corner of the globe.

Aran Islands airflights - a lifeline, not a luxury

Thu, Apr 17, 2014

It is strangely easy to forget that Ireland is an island. Part of that comes from the fact that, unlike Britain, Spain, or Japan, we have no real naval tradition.

For generations, the river acted as some form of suicide magnet

Thu, Apr 10, 2014

Helicopters and Galway have always had a strange relationship. For a decade or so, the chopper was the preferred mode of transport for the moneyed classes who made their way to and from Ballybrit - the air above the city becoming almost as congested as the traffic lanes below.

The legacy of an angel

Thu, Apr 03, 2014

It is amazing how much positivity can come out of a happening that seems to bring nothing but sadness.

Harbour project impact must be minimised

Thu, Mar 27, 2014

A few years ago, I hauled the entire hard copy archive of the Advertiser up to M6 to Dublin to get it all scanned so that it would be preserved for ever. That tonne or so of yellowing old papers containing hundreds of thousands of pages were then individually scanned so that the changing commercial and cultural life of a city could be retained for future generations to look back on. (The result is contained on a free archive for all to see and use at archive.advertiser.ie ) However, the net result of that journey is that the existence of such an archive gives us all perspective on the changing face of this city and how major projects have come and gone in the last fifty years.

Walsh’s Boston decision shows moral fibre we need from our leaders

Thu, Mar 20, 2014

We can take a lot from the life of Marty Walsh, the Mayor of Boston who comes here next month. Not alone is his story one of inspiration for so many Irish people who have had to travel far from home, but it is one of immense pride to the people of this county and especially Connemara that one of their own can do so well without sacrificing any of the moral fibre which has taken him thus far.

Passing of a woman who let in the light

Thu, Mar 13, 2014

Sitting there in the darkness, sobbing, waiting for a dawn to arrive knowing that it might bring some reprieve from the misery, thousands of abuse victims in this country must have wondered if there ever would come a time when what was being done to them would be classed as wrong, illegal, depraved.

City and county should embrace return of Friday night football

Thu, Mar 06, 2014

When darkness falls across the city tomorrow night, there will be one perceptible change to the night landscape that has been lacking for some time. The night sky over the city will be illuminated by those four beacons of light that will beam down on perhaps the finest football surface in the league of Ireland. And when the sharp shrill of the whistle goes at 7.45pm it will bring to an end one saga for Galway sport and start off what is hoped will be a major rejuvenation of sporting pride in the region.

Choose our councillors carefully — and reap the benefits in a decade

Thu, Feb 27, 2014

Over the next few months, a considerable amount of public money will be spent on making some very practical changes to our council chambers. In County Hall, the price of a house is being set aside to make room for the nine extra councillors who will take their seats there for the first meeting in June. Across the city in City Hall, the councillors will be asked to shed a few pounds and a few euro to make room for the slightly more respectable additional number of three councillors who will be elected to the new council.

City must be ‘happy’ with toe-tapping video

Thu, Feb 20, 2014

In the 10 years this month since Facebook was founded - initially among students at Harvard University - it has become an accepted and acceptable worldwide media tool.

E-paper

Read this weeks E-paper. Past editions also available from within this weeks digital copy.