Padraig Conneely to indulge his inner poet

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

While Labour TD Michael D Higgins is known as a very fine poet, the Mayor of Galway Cllr Padraig Conneely will be reciting verse and stanza for National Poetry Day.

Healthy walk for World Heart Day on ‘Bofin

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

The Inishbofin island committee are organising a World Heart Day loop walk for the Irish Heart Foundation on Sunday next Oct 5.

Chance for Galway businesses to interact with digital media minds

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

The Mathematics and Computing department at GMIT is inviting interested local businesses and the general public to a Digital Media (web based design) Open day to be held in the Digital Media Computer Centre at Cluann Mhuire.

When did council first know about lead in the water asks Ó Brolcháin?

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

Claim and counterclaim has raged between City Hall and Green Cllr Niall Ó Brolcháin over when the Galway City Council first knew about lead exceedences in the water and when figures for those exceedences were released.

Pub noise keeps language students awake, court hears

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

The owner of a language school has been losing business because excessive noise emanating from a late night bar next door has been disrupting students’ sleep, the Galway District Court heard this week after an objection was made to the renewal of a publican’s licence.

Objector to the seven day liquor licence, John Daly of 6 Ard na Coille, Maunsells Park, who owns an apartment at 1 Toon na Mara, Dock Road, and Thomas Patrick Sheridan, owner of Dock 8 Bar, at Niland House, 8 Dock Road, were both warned by Judge Mary Fahy to work together to find an adequate solution to the noise.

The form of the city

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

I live in a village outside Moycullen, overlooking the lake. This is the best kind of place, far from perfect, as the best places are.

Will the Lane pictures be the Queen’s gift to Ireland?

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

Ireland has every possibility of getting back the 39 controversial paintings, willed to the Irish people by art collector Sir Hugh Lane at the beginning of the 20th century, but which remain in London because the codicil to his will was not witnessed. “Hugh Lane’s intentions were absolutely clear”, the dynamic director of the Hugh Lane (formerly Dublin City) Gallery, Ms Barbara Dawson said in Coole last weekend, “there is no reason on earth why the paintings are not on Irish soil permanently.”

Candidates doing the splits in Oranmore

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

The trouble with the Oranmore electoral area is that it divides into a number of distinct areas. The three candidates left representing the people are clustered around the northern end in Turloughmore, Annaghdown, and Claregalway. Leaving three distinct regions Carnmore to Cold wood, Oranmore/Maree, and Clarenbridge without any representation.

Mary Hoade could make this the worst or the best Fianna Fáil electoral area in the county. However she cannot make up her mind until Jim Cuddy decides whether he is in or out of politics or if he is in the Progressive Democrats or Fianna Fáil. He cannot decide any of these things until his political master Noel Grealish decides when to jump and who is allowed to hold onto his parachute.

Political football

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

What is it about soccer and Galway politicians? Terryland is so full of them that Galway United’s home ground could nearly be regarded as the ‘second council chamber’!

Go to Galway United’s home matches any Friday night and collecting your ticket or entrance fee will be former mayor Martin Quinn, who is hoping to stand again for Fianna Fáil in the 2009 Local Elections.

As you were for the Greens?

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

On Monday The Green Party unveiled its election team for the 2009 local elections - the first political party in Galway to do so. However the party look unlikely to make any increase on the one seat it secured in 2004.

Paul Osikoya breaks new ground again

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

Nigerians Paul Osikoya and Tokie Lotan broke new ground in Galway politics when they became the first non-nationals to run for elections to the Galway City Council in 2004.

Water crisis should force Galway to have a re-think

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

The lead drinking water crisis is the city’s second such crisis in a year. While we are told it is confined to specific areas, it is still a cause for concern because it has even more serious implications for public health than cryptosporidium.

This situation, though serious, must also be seen as an opportunity - a chance to re-think how we do things, and the possibility this crisis throws up as an opportunity, must be grasped.

Get the lead out

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

The Galway City Council knew about the presence of lead in the Galway water supply as far back as July, it was confirmed last night by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Man jailed for for pee-ing in a bus

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

Bus Eireann has been praised by a Galway district judge for no longer tolerating the damage of its property and for prosecuting those who urinate in its buses.

A chronic alcoholic, with 84 previous convictions for public order offences, was yesterday sentenced to three months in prison for causing damage to a bus at Ceannt Station by urinating in it.

We’ve been badly let down again

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

‘Tis hard to kill off the Mervues, the Bohermores, the Claddaghs and the Shantall-ians. It is no coincidence that the four areas that are in the headlines this week are communities that house the hardiest people in the city. Homes to dozens of centenarians, and families of amazing strength and tenacity, it is these bastions of auld Galway that are in the eye of the current storm.

Of course, it is the fact that these areas are the true Galway that has put them at the centre of the latest water scare. These are areas that have to a large degree managed to hold back the bulldozers that have turned Galway into Matchbox City. And because of that the piping that brings the clean water from the water plants to their traditional homes in traditional areas is deemed to be the cause of the contamination that has seen some and possibly many families consuming water with up to FOUR or FIVE times the permissible level of lead.

Old Mervue residents must be provided with bottled water says Walsh

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

Elderly residents in Old Mervue must be provided with free bottled water instead of having to haul buckets of water from the street to their homes according to Fine Gael Cllr Brian Walsh.

Public confidence in water supply has ‘gone totally’

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

Public confidence in the cleanliness and safety of the Galway drinking water supply has “gone totally” as the city faces into its second major water crisis in less than 18 months.

The discovery of “very high levels of lead” in 12 houses around the city, particularly in Old Mervue, has led to City Hall and the HSE issuing a warning to residents of the area not to drink the water until further notice.

Council and HSE advise public on precautionary measures to deal with water crisis

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

The Galway City Council and the HSE have advised residents of Old Mervue not to drink tap water and informed the rest of the city on the precautionary measures which must be taken to deal with the latest with water crisis.

Public urged to support fundraiser for six-year-old boy

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

A fundraiser in aid of a six-year-old boy who was paralysed following a car crash will take place on Saturday at An Púcán, Forster Street, from 10pm until late.

Man sent forward for trial charged with sexual assault

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

A 43-year-old, charged with the alleged sexual assault of a woman last year, has been sent forward for trial.

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