The Icelandic volcano which has caused massive disruption to airflights and left passengers stranded has also left Galway city bereft of its civic an political leaders who are stuck in China.
The Mayor of Galway, councillor Declan McDonnell, his wife Mary; the Galway City Council’s director of services Tom Connell; NUI, Galway vice president Jim Ward; the Chamber of Commerce president Paul Shelley, the Registrar of the GMIT Bernard O’Hara; and the Marine Institute’s Dr Michael O’Toole are currently in Beijing, capital of the People’s Republic of China, and will not be able to get flights out the country until Friday.
The delegation were in Quigdao, eastern China, in order to explore and create links between the city and Galway, and their respective political and educational institutions. Quigdao is home to eight million people and is a major university, manufacturing, and brewing centre.
The links between Quigdao and Galway go back to 1999, a time when Cllr McDonnell was also mayor, when a Friendship agreement was signed between the two cities. The links were revived last year when Quigdao and Galway were both stops on the Volvo Ocean Race.
The Galway delegation arrived on Tuesday April 13 and held meetings with Quigdao city officials, inspected the city port, a major manufacture, the university, and the Ocean University of China.
The delegation were unable to return to Galway as planned on Tuesday, with airflights over Europe and the Atlantic cancelled. As a result the sextet have had to make alternative arrangements and it may be the weekend before any of them gets back home.
As a result of the delay extra meeting were scheduled in Quigdao and with the IDA representative in Beijing. It is understood that as a result of these meetings the GMIT, which was due to recruit 100 Chinese students, will now get 200.
According to a City Hall spokesperson an overseas student is worth €27,000 to the Galway economy so the 200 Chinese students would bring in €5.4 million to the city.
The mayor, his wife, and Mr Connell were due back in Galway before going to Chicago for Richard M Daly’s World Cities Forum at which the Mayor is due to deliver an address. They will now go straight to Chicago from China on Friday.
Messrs Ward, Shelley, O’Hara, and O’Toole are understood to be making alternative arrangements to get home, and will be possibly flying into the US before trying to get connecting flights back to Ireland.
However independent councillor Donal Lyons is stuck in Atlanta. He and 10 students were representing the VEC at a conference but the airflight cancellations have left them stranded in the state of Georgia.
It is understood that a delegation from Quigdao, including the mayor of the city, will come to Galway in June.
