The sad reality of a dream shattered

Thu, Nov 15, 2012

This morning, as you read this, wherever you are in the world, a man is broken, inconsolable, shattered. He is a man around whom a maelstrom of controversy has erupted in the past 48 hours. A man who just a few days ago was unknown to many of us, but who has been thrust into the limelight by a personal tragedy, the horror of which we can only try to imagine.

Don’t let complacency be a further rebuke to victims of Letterfrack

Thu, Nov 08, 2012

There is a sadness that envelopes anyone who takes the time to stroll around the former industrial school at Letterfrack. The sculpture in memory of those who suffered there in the adjacent church is also a silent reminder that screams out at us in a way the children who were incarcerated there were unable to do. In the dark days of the fifties, sixties and seventies, when hope was in short supply in Ireland, it was even less in abundance for those who were placed there often through no fault of their own, abandoned by the State to become the sexual and physical playthings of a brutish regime.

The Irish-American vote

Thu, Nov 01, 2012

The Irish-American vote used to be a sure thing. If you were Irish-American, you voted Democrat. It was as simple as that. When I was growing up in 1950s Chicago, Republicans were like another species. An analogy from Baseball. As a Chicagoan, you supported either the White Sox or the Cubs. It was a tribal thing. My family were White Sox fans. So I was a White Sox fan. Cubs fans, on the other hand, were weird. Why would anyone support the Cubs? In much the same way, Republicans were weird too. Why would anyone support the Republicans? If you were Irish-American, even to pose the question bordered on the ridiculous.

Debate needed on Children’s Referendum

Thu, Oct 25, 2012

With three weeks remaining before Irish citizens vote on an amendment to the constitution, information on the proposed changes arrived in most letter boxes this week.

Just what we needed — another dozen councillors

Thu, Oct 18, 2012

It was only a matter of time before the human being was replaced entirely by the computer, but to be fair it was not expected to happen for another few decades at least. And one would never have thought that when the time came for Man to be made redundant by the electronic chip, it would be the humble county councillor who would be used as the guinea pig.

The bright legacy of a black day

Thu, Oct 04, 2012

Five years ago today, this city and county was reeling from the shock that a young languages student had been attacked and murdered just 10 minutes away from the city centre. In the half decade since, the name of Manuela Riedo has become known in nearly every household in this region. More so than the dozen or so other people who has lost their lives violently in Galway city and county over the past decade or so. The memory of Manuela though has been kept strong by the randomness of the incident and the fact that Ms Riedo was but a few days into her trip to Galway. It was an incident that sent shockwaves through the region as a collective sense of shame and guilt was verbalised, as people rushed to protect the notion that Galway was a safer place to be after dark than any other. We now know that it was not, as several other serious fatal and non-fatal violent atacks in the city centre have since illustrated.

The hurlers can shorten our winter

Thu, Sep 27, 2012

One minute we were shepherding in the summer and all it promised — the Volvo, the arts festival, the races, the oysters, and it all came with such a flurry that before we knew it, the summer had disappeared into thin air and we were left facing down the hill into Christmas. But what an unexpected bonus it is that we are on the cusp of October and yet there is still reason for fire in our ample bellies. Who could have believed that with darkness falling across the land as the lowing herd winds slowly o’er the ( bit of Gray there, but not the fifty shades variety) and that as yet, the destiny of the premier hurling title is still undecided and that better still, our team has shown that it is well capable of entering the final replay and bringing home the McCarthy Cup for the first time in a generation.

Farm tragedy focuses on health and safety awareness

Thu, Sep 20, 2012

Twenty deaths as a result of farm accidents have been recorded in the last 19 months in Northern Ireland alone. Drowning in a slurry was once identified as the second most common cause of farm death. In the year 2011 there was a massive increase in farm-related fatalities which represented one of the worst years in a decade for accidents involving loss of life on Irish farms. This year it is estimated that farm accidents have increased yet again - by 35 per cent. According to the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Shane McEntee, there were 6,673 non-fatal accidents reported on farms, in addition to 22 fatalities.

Croi — tacking the illnesses of a new Ireland

Thu, Sep 13, 2012

Croi has come a long way since it had that funding barometer sign outside the hospital, where passers-by could see just how much money it had to raise in order to give West of Ireland people a fair shot at surviving heart disease. Prior to Croi, if you had a dodgy ticker, you had to get on bone-rattling buses and cross the country in order to have your lifesaving surgery. Your chances of survival were reduced if you lived in the west. Back then too, the trauma of open heart surgery was so much more than it is today. Now, thanks to great leaps in technological advancement, bypasses and other invasive heart surgeries are becoming common and incredibly more lifesaving.

New heroes for a new generation

Thu, Sep 06, 2012

The world has changed a lot in the last quarter of a century. Back in 1987 and 1988, we did not know what we did not know. I remember those summers as times when I was likely to meet a neighbour as we waited at 5am in the lines outside the cafe in Cricklewood where we gathered in those hours before dawn, trying to look desperate enough to be given ‘the start.’

Reducing alcohol without reducing enjoyment

Thu, Aug 23, 2012

There is no doubt about the role that the consumption of alcohol plays in the economy of this city. No city could earn the monicker of being a party city, a city that never sleeps, without acknowledging the role that drink plays in the creation of this perception. Just a cursory search of the world Galway in Twitter reveals the number of exchanges hourly that praise Galway for being a place where time gets lost, where today ends and tomorrow begins, inevitably lost in a haze of alcohol and music.

Gardai seek Interpol assistance to identify Lettermullen beach body

Thu, Aug 23, 2012

Galway gardai are continuing their efforts to establish the identity of a body found washed up on the rocks of a Lettermullen beach last week with assistance now being sought from international police organisation Interpol.

Why doesn’t Kerry love our lovely girls?

Thu, Aug 16, 2012

You may wonder why I am thumbing my way through the list of finalists in next week's Rose of Tralee contest and then gently rocking back and forth with disappointment at the realisation that for the umpteenth time, Galway will not have its worthy representative taking part in the national televised final.

A breather at last

Thu, Aug 02, 2012

August, where the hell were ya? We were looking for ya for, what, must be weeks now. Waiting for this bank holiday to come so that the madness can stop, so that we can take a breather, sit down, relax without having that subliminal urge to get up and be somewhere at something where everybody else will be because they sat down and got the same urge to get up and go as well. Well now, after a month of non-stop events in the city, my get up and go has got up and gone.

A breather at last

Thu, Aug 02, 2012

August, where the hell were ya? We were looking for ya for, what, must be weeks now. Waiting for this bank holiday to come so that the madness can stop, so that we can take a breather, sit down, relax without having that subliminal urge to get up and be somewhere at something where everybody else will be because they sat down and got the same urge to get up and go as well. Well now, after a month of non-stop events in the city, my get up and go has got up and gone.

Let the races begin, here and in London

Thu, Jul 26, 2012

And so as we enter Olympic week, we use Olympic parlance — the baton of craic that is perpetually on the move in Galway is passed on in the relay team of Johns. First John Killeen grabbed it and ran at a speed of knots, sailing through the field, the wind at his back to pass it on to John Crumlish who took it with a little artistic flourish, had it repainted while it was in his hand, juggled it through the air, airkissed it before seeing the third John awaiting on the cusp of the last 100, and with the white flag being hoisted into the air, he passed it on to John Maloney who will, with a ‘wild lep’, jump over the last fence and bring the Galway summer to the finishing line with the applause of the audience ringing in his ears.

Stimulus brings hopes to many tables

Thu, Jul 19, 2012

Even though you would not have thought it at teatime at Casement Park in Belfast last Saturday evening, everything Galway seems to touch at the moment seems to turn to gold. The eyes of the country are perpetually fixed on the perpetual parties and festivals that break up the rainy summer months for us, the VOR was a great success and this week, the city and county are grateful beneficiaries of the economic viagra for the economy — the much vaunted Government Stimulus which on Tuesday sent the guts of 4,000 jobs our way in the guise of several shovel ready infrastructural projects which when complete will change substantially the commuting and health care habits of a good proportion of our population.

A job well done, but can more be done well?

Thu, Jul 12, 2012

The events of the past few weeks here in Galway have demonstrated undeniably that ours is a city that punches well above its weight, for a variety of reasons. And our punch is the kind of sneaky disarming uppercut that our opponents are least expecting. The success of the event just passed has given us all a great confidence that we have the capacity to make this city and county a truly sustainable one, by playing on our strengths, compromising, and listening to, but not being dictated by the naysayers whose stance on each issue is always the same, who believe that each progression has an agenda and that there are more reasons why things ought not to happen, than why they should. Perhaps this is too simplistic, but the can-do attitude of the last few weeks makes simpletons like me think that with the right attitude and people, a lot more could be achieved in this city.

Time for the Volvo legacy to result in port development

Thu, Jul 05, 2012

What would Roy Keane make of it all? Getting up out of the warm beds at ungodly hours of the morning to stand by the dockside, singing The Fields of Athenry and ole ole and clapping in boats from far flung corners of the globe. He’d raise the eyes of heaven and say that it’s not good enough boy, that we shouldn’t be clapping in small boats, that we deserve better; that we should be staying in our beds til we get the massive boats we deserve, the oil tankers, the cruise liners, ships that act as midfield generals, ships that won’t be blown around in the wind on the sea, bossed by waves or bigger boats. He’d tell us to cop on and get back into the leabas.

The like of which we may not see again

Thu, Jun 28, 2012

O come ye all who are interested in maritime matters and pursuers of craic and welcome to this most westerly of cities for the short time you will be among us...May the draw of this place of the Tribes drag ye in off the ocean...May the wind sneak behind you before filling your sails and make ye glide into our port... may your arms pump the energy like a Frankie Gavin elbow...May the pounding of your heart as it primes the pistons of your body act like a gentle staccato soundtrack in the movie of your feat...May the hard disk drives of your mind become sponges to absorb all that is around you. May you fill your lungs with all that is Galwayness and let that soak through your being...May you, winners all, see among the faces on the shore, the smiles of your family and friends who will be glad to see you after so long at sea...may you embrace them and embrace us with the same fervour...may you take the applause of the thousands and believe that each utterance of 'fair play to ya' is a heartfelt blessing from the giver...May your time among us be one of wonderment and satisfaction...may every piece of morsel that passes your lips here detonate your taste buds and may every soothing drink spread its coolness throughout you... May you enjoy Galway and all that it offers you and may you be intoxicated by the uniqueness of this strange place set on a rock facing the Atlantic, perpetually enduring the wind and rain that ye endured for nine months and, with that knowledge, may ye show even more wonderment at our good humour...may you feel the warmth we all have for you next week...may you stand and sit and share our music, may your foot tap to the box players, may you hum along to Two Injured Swans by the Saw Doctors...may you understand our culture, our strange customs and see why you were right to come back again among us and why we hope you will do it again and again...may the royal princes who visit feel chilled enough to sip pints and talk about Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the chances of an Abba revival...May you walk the streets and be enveloped in the magical mist that is Galwayness, that strange force that makes us leave behind thoughts of what we could have been to concentrate on what we are...May your minds never be too exercised working out what is unique about this place and why it turns grown people into children...may you ease those aching muscles in our midst...may you realise that this welcome afforded you is one built on voluntary genuine spirit and not on massive resources...may you see what we have done with the finale and how we are using it to showcase what we do...may you enjoy the foods, be enlightened by the innovation, the conversation, be amused by our creativity and may you bring with you throughout the world, a memory of Galway that will make you want to tell others about it, so that they too can come here and sample all of this for themselves...so welcome to the Volvo family, all who are racing, watching, absorbing. May we thank you for choosing us. Welcome to Galway...let it be your home while you are here.

E-paper

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