A hero whose visage symbolises his own place

Thu, Jan 25, 2018

There are some artists whose life falls onto the canvas, becomes part of it, whose angst is evident in the brushstrokes; whose empathy shapes the message of the painting. They become part of what they work on, and what they work on becomes the whole of them. They become one with each other until it is impossible to ever see them apart as separate entities. To rob one from the other is to divide it irrevocably.

A glimpse back into an Ireland we deny knowing

Thu, Jan 18, 2018

Sometimes we imagine we are further removed from depravity that we actually are.

New Gaelscoil a boost to the city’s bilingual status

Thu, Jan 11, 2018

There is something wonderful about a new school. It is as if the newness is willing you on to learn things. It is the equivalent of the nice clean blank page in your copy book. It dares you to write on it, to make sure that its journey from tree to page is not lost on something less than meaningful.

New schools have the same effect. Because you can see their purpose more clearly, the facilities provided act as an inspiration.

When the rare becomes the commonplace

Thu, Jan 04, 2018

The thing about Once In A Hundred Years events is that, they self-implode. They are no longer sustainable as news events. Once Once In A Hundred Years events happen and are repeated soon after, they lose their appeal. They don’t carry the awe and wonder anymore.

Look after the little things this Christmas

Thu, Dec 21, 2017

Look after the little things in life.
Because one day the time will come when you realise they are the big things.

A local lad who went away...and came back

Thu, Dec 14, 2017

There is a lot to be said about being able to work in your own place, among your own people. It’s very parochial and comforting to be walking the paths of your childhood, waving good mornings to people you grew up with. There is a familial concept to it that forms your every decision for the day.

Get the perfect present at Hanley & Co.

Thu, Dec 14, 2017

With Christmas just over a week away, it can be a stressful time for people who have not completed their Christmas shopping list. But there is no need to panic as Hanley & Co, a Galway's menswear institution has the perfect present with which the man your in life will be delighted.

Give the gift of empathy — it’s not just for Christmas

Thu, Dec 07, 2017

It’s a sort of a dull pain in the chest.
Akin to a love pang in reverse — a feeling of being overwhelmed financially and emotionally. You are everywhere; on the streets, at home; looking at people with arms full of shopping bags, seeing TV ads for happy families sitting in front of roaring fires, opening exquisitely-wrapped gifts.

Akin to a love pang in reverse — a feeling of being overwhelmed financially and emotionally. You are everywhere; on the streets, at home; looking at people with arms full of shopping bags, seeing TV ads for happy families sitting in front of roaring fires, opening exquisitely-wrapped gifts.

Is honesty too much to ask from politicians and ourselves?

Thu, Nov 30, 2017

Imagine if we had never been taught the concept of lying.

Mladic verdict a reminder of just how close we always are to barbarity

Thu, Nov 23, 2017

Yesterday morning, we got a reminder of just how close we always are to turning on one another.

Let light guide us through the winter

Thu, Nov 16, 2017

There is a strong sense of impending Christmas about Galway this week. Tomorrow, the city lights will be switched on, in a progressive way by a city-hopping Santa who will by the end of his journey have brought the power of illumination to us all. The crews have been working on this and on the Christmas Market stalls and huts for the past seven days. The clang clang of their hammers and drills; the constant beeping of the reversing vehicles; the rattling of the dividing fences that will provide safety, the chatter of men dangling by ropes from the steel structure that forms the big Ferris wheel, almost 100 feet above the ground.

We should never forget the words of Gordon Wilson

Thu, Nov 09, 2017

So recalled the late Gordon Wilson as he watched his daughter lying critically injured under the rubble in Enniskillen, in an era which seems like it was thousands of miles away and hundreds of years ago, but which in reality just happened a few hours up the road 30 years ago this week.

Fooling ourselves if we think our regional stadia are international standard

Thu, Nov 02, 2017

For the 1982 World Cup, Adidas introduced a ball named the Tango. It was the first major design change of a football in a decade. With its circular panels and adidas livery, it was thing of beauty. Myself and my teammates in our small team in Ballinrobe never got to kick one, but a trip to Galway to some place like the Great Outdoors meant we could see it in all its glory and we salivated over it.

Galway investments arm us for an uncertain future

Thu, Oct 26, 2017

As I write this, I am travelling on a bus through central Strasbourg in France, from where I have been working all of this week, observing the sessions of the European Parliament and talking to some of the people who will play a key role in the direction of the EU as it hurtles towards March 2019. The trip to the European Parliament is one I have made many times in the distant past. On those occasions, it was difficult to get past the enormity of the issues that faced the institutions. You would return from each trip unsure as to what exactly would exercise the mind.

Thank you to all who minded us this week

Thu, Oct 19, 2017

There is no worse feeling in the world than the realisation that you don’t matter, that whatever you do will not alter the axis of the world, that other people’s lives will not be changed a bit even if they were to bump into you. As citizens, it is our duty to make sure that others do not feel this way. As good humans, you have to do your bit to ensure that whatever you take from someone, let it not be their dignity and sense of security.

WRAP Fund can inspire a new generation of storytellers

Thu, Oct 12, 2017

I often think that the best inspiration for doing something creative is to drag yourself out to a bit of wilderness and let a chunk of nature put ideas into your head. Out here with just the wind and the rain and the waves and the hills and the greenness to act as your creative palate, it is amazing how soon things start to make sense and stories start to be created in your head.

Remembering those who never came home

Thu, Oct 05, 2017

In the midst of that wonderful book Solar Bones written by Mayo author Mike McCormack, there is an intensely moving passage which encapsulates the atmosphere of a house after its children have grown and left. It is as if the soul of the house has been hoovered out and what is left is a void within a space made for many, but now occupied by just one or two. It is feeling that many of you have experienced as your own children have grown up and left, the end of a slow metamorphosis of your home becoming just a house again, its four walls no substitute for the noise, the bustle, the drama.

The rooms they leave behind a perpetuation of your agony, the markings on the walls of their increasing heights scribbled in a place where you are reluctant to paint over lest it hasten the day they depart or hasten the day they cease being children, your children.

Galway; the jewel in Ireland's crown from the eyes of a tourist..

Fri, Sep 29, 2017

Galway is one of Ireland's most vibrant cities, featuring a variety of diverse attractions that appeal to people of all ages. Sport, festivals, and history are among the area's favourite offerings, whilst its contemporary nature has seen the city chosen as the European Capital of Culture in 2020. Check out a guide to the best things to do in Galway from the eyes of a tourist.

A snake across the greenness

Thu, Sep 28, 2017

The family of hares sit on the hillock and observed it all, monarchs of a sea of emerald. Away to the right across the large expanse of green, of trees and fields and the occasion red-roofed barn, sat Athenry. To the left, in the distance, a swathe of east Galway leading away in the mist to where lies Tuam.

Return of the king of the selfies

Thu, Sep 21, 2017

It seems the little man-een is coming back to us. At the moment in the middle of Eyre Square lies a large wooden box housing a team of workmen, beavering away on some secret project, Galway’s answer to Shrodinger’s cat. But this cat may be out of the bag, because speculation is rife (when is speculation anything other than rife?) that in the second week of next month, a familiar face will return to the Square. And it’s not a minute too soon.

E-paper

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