Explaining the Ice Bucket Challenge in the style of Druid

Thu, Aug 28, 2014

Location: A cottage on Aran. A turf fire crackles in the grate. A woman in a shawl (prob played by Marie Mullen) shuffles across the stage and spits into the flames. A howling sea wind is heard outside, battering the cottage.

University of life or career - or both

Thu, Aug 21, 2014

We have moved very far from Newman’s idea of a university - the purpose of which was to present a cultural inheritance of the Western World and to provide the tools whereby graduates could continue their journeys of education.

Let yourself be led back into the light

Thu, Aug 14, 2014

I've lost just too many friends to suicide. People I worked with, people I went to school with, people I socialised with, people I've acted with and played football with. All unique. All different. They had varying professions and occupations, various loves and losses.

Watch out for the SmartBins

Thu, Aug 07, 2014

Fret not if you’re walking down Shop Street these days and find yourself accosted by the new superdooper solar powered state of the art spanking new type of street bins. The Smartbins are solar powered so that means they’ll be grand these days when you could fry an egg on the head of a tourist, but might be useless come the dark days of November when the birds are falling off the trees with the hunger…and the birdshot.

So where was I when I left off?

Thu, Jul 31, 2014

Where have I been for the last four months? April 14, my birthday. I'd had manflu for a few weeks and was feeling the effects. That birthday started off at work as any normal Monday would have, but instead of ending it eating cake and cursing the passage of another year, I found myself rushed to hospital by ambulance, spending two days in Casualty at UHG. I'd never been in hospital at any stage of my life; not even at birth, so this was a totally new experience for me. My memory of those few days in Casualty is almost non existent, and with my condition deteriorating at an alarming rate I was brought to the High Dependency Unit in Intensive Care, where I was to spend a decent portion of the next month battling a virus that rendered me critically ill for a considerable amount of time.

At this time, the support for my wife Bernadette, daughter Giselle (5) and extended family and friends was very welcome, and the wishes, cards, and candles lit by many people lifted my spirit and enabled me to fight this serious illness. This I did, with tremendous care administered by the staff in casualty and especially in HDU where my condition fluctuated considerably during my time there. The care I received in HDU was simply outstanding and enabled me to battle the virus and make a complete recovery and put me in better shape than I probably was before all of this happened.

We need to sort out our water supply

Thu, Jul 24, 2014

Two areas of Galway are suffering from a lack of water this week, with residents and businesses in Newcastle and two of the Aran Islands affected by restrictions and interruptions in supply.

Make every effort to open Thoor Ballylee for Yeats’ 150th anniversary

Thu, Jul 17, 2014

The efforts by a group of local people to have the famous Yeats' Tower (Thoor Ballylee), near Gort, south Galway, reopened is to be welcomed and supported.

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.

 In fulfilling all the criteria for cultural tourism, Galway is blessed. One of the fastest growing areas of tourism with a reputed 40 per cent of Europeans visiting for cultural reasons, Galway must be the flagship for Ireland.  This month alone sees the big three kick off the summer -  The Galway Film Fleadh, The Galway International Arts Festival, and Galway Race Week.  

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.

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