Connacht Rugby gets behind greenway plan – inspiring the community to get active

Thu, Aug 01, 2019

In support of an active lifestyle in the community through cycling and walking Connacht Rugby recently teamed up with local med-tech Company Aerogen and the Connemara Greenway Alliance project.

‘We come down harder on dirty kitchens than we do on créches,’ says Rabbitte

Thu, Aug 01, 2019

Following the RTE Investigates programme which showed dangerous practices in a Dublin Créche chain Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Children & Youth Affairs, Anne Rabbitte TD, says that greater enforcement powers should be given to Tusla.

She cshe said like so many parents around the country, she was horrified by what she saw on last week’s Primetime programme.

Council must refuse applications for Airbnbs in city centre, say Soc Dems

Thu, Aug 01, 2019

The Galway City Council “must say ‘No’” to property owners seeking planning permission to change the use of their properties to Airbnb style lettings in the city centre.

This is the view of the Social Democrats Oranmore Local Area Representative, Susan McGrady, who said any “further loss” of long term residential rental properties in the city was “unacceptable”.

Renmore woman wins best dressed at Ballybrit

Thu, Aug 01, 2019

Fashion enthusiast Pamela Uba, from Renmore, Galway was today announced as the winner of the coveted Best Dressed competition at the Galway Races.

Gonna take my horse out the old Tuam Road….

Thu, Aug 01, 2019

“Am gonna take my horse out the old Tuam Road…am gonna ride 'til’ I can’t no more.” Song is ringing in me head...written for me that was, written for me...where am I...oh, I’m here so I am, like. I’ve landed. In Galway... Like that Boris Johnson lad, head on me like an explosion in a bloody mattress factory. The clobber on me right out of Peaky Blinders, the kinda clothes me fadder's fodder would have worn like 150 year ago…Sun rises in the capital of culture…ate a clock in the morning…waking up in a crumpled hape…I’d need Hawkeye to see if I made it home at all last night…smartphone alarm beep beeps into me ear...one hand picks up and smashes it again the wall...not so smart now is it…Radio bursts on…Leo and Boris having a row over a catflap or a back flap or something...have I fallen asleep like and woken up in some posh boy's dream...I listen to him and his Tory mates and say in me own mind he shouldn't be fecking with the country that make the world's supply of Viagra and Botox... mess with us boy and there'll be no hard Brexit for ye but plenty of soft landing...the Brits will be pushing a car with a rope...’tis Race Week…where am I...recessed lights in ceiling shine into me eyes...discover me pyjamas have a hood in them and me in skinny jeans…fell asleep in the clothes again...where am I...not Mrs O'Brien's B & bloody B this year… an AiryB&B yolk which is basically paying hotel prices for someone else’s scratcher and someone else’s jacks…decided to mess them about by moving the pictures around and putting all the clocks back two hours...they've another little toilet beside the regular wan, like a bath for your feet so I soak the socks in there all night...need the cure bad...have to look me best...Limerick lads are winning Love Island so pressure's on...went to bed looking like Donal Og Cusack woke up looking like Dunphy...open shirt buttons and spray deodorant under arms one squirt for each oxter and one for the road with a shot for the lads below…ya can never take any chances like at the Galway Races…could be hit by a bus or a quare wan...head for the lift…close buttons, push buttons, and fella in the lift mirror does the same…state of me like…airyB&B and a kitchen with nobody’s food left in it…head for the morning cafe…hipster fella with a beard asks me do I want brunch like. I do in me...whole night I've been starving...says he can do me advocate toast or something strange sounding like that...throw back the lugs and dive in...twas muck...like eating a squashed apple through a sock...try to walk sober like, wan foot then the udder, repeat...I'm Racingman, I'm wide out…I’m part of Galway. I’m Racingman, the boyoh, unleashed for the week…I walk down the street like Travolta in Saturday Night Fever 'cept without the can o’ paint…baby shakin that ass... they're looking at me, the wimmen, can't get enough of me...nawthing like a pair of skinny jeans (no ballroom dancing for me) and a mismatched jacket and tweed jacket and braces and cap to get them going...down the square check out paddys ladbrokes boyles get the odds... and ends...too early to go out to Ballybrit yet...sit on bench and look at the pretend fountain that's never on…Arts Festival hippies taking down their own festival garden for atin’ hummus and talking through their…are sure it's great for them…sit on steps, legs sprawled……wink at young wan heading to work down town, get scowl but scowl back at her…then I remember MeTwo or what ya call it, so I stall the ogling’…cramps me style though bigtime...Me the man, Racingman...me the man…loads o’ young lads around…Anthony Ryan mustn’t have a confirmation suit left in his storeroom…Reach into arse pocket of me jeans……hand shakes but 'twould by now anyways Wednesday... some forren fecker with a guitar murdering Grace in the Square...where's Lee Harvey Oswald when ya need him…I…get the Racing Post...to look cool like…in the know…and the Star...I stink a bit bad, so dash into Debbinghams cosmetics section and when the posh wimmen staff aren't looking over, Racingman is lost in a spraycloud of Calvin Kyne, Packie Rabanne, and Ralph Lawrence eau de sweat…lash on the lot of them…the cognac combo….then a splash on ur hand to look like ya know your stuff…spray some on that little card yolk… doubles up as a toothpick…smelling grand...looking good, give the crown jewels a scratch…let me get wan thing straight and all that…ready for the road...ready for the course...hop into taxi...sit in front…legs sprawled…I’m the man…talk the talk…big happy head on me…air stinks of air freshener and stale conversation...Then he said something about a rising tide lifting boats…knows his stuff this fella…crabbing on about immigrants taking our wimmen, can't get jobs…and he's from Lagos...three ways to racecourse...green, blue, and red routes…an hour later we take a bit of blue and red and he drops me in a cowshit-spattered field near Castlegar church...walk that way he says... the brown route...and I walk...go to ring the boys but smartphone still smarting from batin' I gave it… walk straight...shoes covered in sheeeite...in the gate...Text the lads but they get back on WhatsUpp app thingy…haven’t used that since the time I WhatsUpped Mixer the story about Murphy’s father knocking up the nurse up the village and didn’t know I was telling’ the whole hurling club like…They’re at the bar they tell me...Get myself a selfie with the new horse statue...made by Brendan Behan they tell me...that fella must be 150 himself...Guard nods at me I nod back 'howya guard' what does he know... probably has a file on Racingman...Maybe a whistleblower will get it for me…the big happy Templemore head on him and eyes red-out from reading Pulse all night…lads say to tease them about the missing breath tests but I told them I will in me ....whole day looking around to see famous faces...no sign of Leo today…he was here Monday with a wallet with him. Feckin’ Taoiseach with a wallet…and maybe even a bank account…twouldn’t be like that in the Bertie day…Rakes of Galway hurlers and footballers around...saw them around the parade ring throwing shapes, ya wouldn't see the feckers up in Croke Park where ya'd want to see them this time of year...shouted up Mayo at them...Bumped into the Comer Brothers, was going to ask them for a touch after they threw twenty million into Galway United...never know which of them Comers is which so just chanced me arm and said 'howya Damien,' and they looked at me as if I was some sort of a feckin eejit...stumbled on...fine fillies everywhere...Saw the Lads, roared c’mon ye bollix at them, the boys from home…saw Ted Walsh too…twenty years since he rode her mother... Lads have quare wans' mobile numbers… they want 200 notes for an hour of the bould thing...lads laugh when I ask for group discount and take out me social services card….an hour I laugh, an hour of drinking time wasted...she says for 400 she'll bate me with a whip ’til I cry and give me a happy ending…told her I can get a batin' for nawthing outside the chipper…and if I want a happy ending, I can watch Frozen…and the lads laugh…Am great for the auld repartee, me Racingman. Me head's in a spin...hops into taxi and shows the driver lad the place where the AiryB&B is…It’s Lagos man again...more stale conversation...he's up from Carlow with all the other taxidrivers…takes me to Newcastle via Athenry…he knows a shortcut. Tells me he loves…drives me around town nine times to make sure before I push in door of AiryB&B and I crash on the couch but then there’s a thump and some fella shouting about getting out of his house and then I sees that I do be in the wrong Airy B&B.…but I love it. I love Race Week...and today's Ladies' Day. So I better have a bath...it's August.

150,000 to flock to city for 150th racing festival

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

Some 150,000 punters are set to flock into the city over the next week as Galway Races celebrates its 150th birthday with a bumper meeting full of special events.

Demand for hospice services to double in the next decade

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

Demand for the services provided by the Galway Hospice are expected to double in the next 10 years, which highlights the urgent need to find a new site for this much needed facility, according to its chief executive Mary Nash.

Hanley calls for a 'night life' mayor for the city

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

A second mayoralty should be created for Galway city - a Night Mayor - whose role would be to "promote the exciting life after dark that already exists in Galway", as well as "develop new cultural additions".

Donal Lyons re-appointed as chair of Leisureland board

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

Donal Lyons, the long serving Independent city councillor, has been re-appointed as chair of the board of Leisureland. Newly elected councillors, Pauline O'Reilly and Owen Hanley, have also been appointed to the board.

'Decisions need to be made to allow Galway grow without congestion getting worse'

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

Participating in this weekend’s First Thought Talks, as part of the Galway International Arts Festival, the new Land Development Agency chief, John Moran, will share a platform with UCD's Orla Hegarty, to discuss ‘Obstacles to Decent Housing’ - one of the most important issues for Ireland today.

Are you running the Streets?

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

To be honest, when are you going to get a chance again to run through the heart of the city, to see it from the middle of the road, to not have to be worrying about traffic, for just one evening? To run free, as a adult through the heart of the city.

Aran Islands RNLI comes to aid of stricken yacht off Straw Island last weekend

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

Aran Islands RNLI volunteers were requested to launch their all-weather lifeboat at 5.20pm on Saturday by the Irish Coast Guard as a yacht with one onboard was experiencing engine difficulty north east of Straw Island.

Closing date tomorrow for payment for School Transport Scheme

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

Parents and guardians of primary/post-primary school students are being reminded that the closing date for payment for the School Transport Scheme is tomorrow Friday, July 26.

Hanley calls for a ‘night life’ mayor for the city

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

A second mayoralty should be created for Galway city - a Night Mayor - whose role would be to “promote the exciting life after dark that already exists in Galway”, as well as “develop new cultural additions”.

Cannon condemns lack of consultation with councillors over rail submission

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

A call to re-open the Western Rail Corridor, in a submission from the Galway County Council executive to Iarnród Éireann, has been described as a “slap in the face” to elected members.

Hanley calls for a ‘night life’ mayor for the city

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

A second mayoralty should be created for Galway city - a Night Mayor - whose role would be to “promote the exciting life after dark that already exists in Galway”, as well as “develop new cultural additions”.

This is the view of Social Democrats Galway City East councillor Owen Hanley, who said Galway should follow Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Zurich in appointing a Night Mayor. The role involves the mayor liaising between venue owners and the authorities. In Amsterdam, the night mayor is an intermediary between the mayor, the local authority, business, and residents.

Michael J Fox Foundation Funds NUI Galway research into brain repair for Parkinson’s

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

A team at NUI Galway has been awarded funding of US$300,000 from The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research to develop a novel approach to brain repair for Parkinson’s disease.

Cheevers calls for footpaths between Doughiska/Roscam and Galway Clinic

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

Footpaths must be constructed from both the Doughiska and Roscam junctions out towards the Galway Clinic as part of the new junction at the clinic which will replace the Martin Roundabout.

Mayoral chain makes it up the Reek in aid of Jigsaw

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

It is not every day the chain of the Mayor of Galway makes it up Croagh Patrick — Mayor Mike Cubbard joined 100 people from the Insurance industry as they took on Croagh Patrick in a fundraising event in aid of Youth Mental Health charity, Jigsaw.

Ó Cuív demands that Aran Island air services be upgraded

Thu, Jul 25, 2019

The current air services to the Aran Islands need to be upgraded so it becomes feasible for aircrafts with capacity of up to 20 seats to provide flights to and from the islands.

This is the view of Fianna Fáil Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív, who is calling on the Aire don Ghaeilge, don Ghaeltacht, agus do na hOileáin, Seán Kyne, to ensure that any new air service contract upholds the standard of services there previously, and extends the runways marginally to a length of 1,800ft to facilitate aircraft of up to a capacity of 20 passengers.

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