Speedie's Blog

'Knitting in the Classroom' - Giving A New Lease of Life to a Traditional Craft

2012-01-16T20:04:00.003Z

One of my personal highlights of 2011 was in convincing Lawrencestown National School to exhibit at the Galway Science and Technology Science Festival Exhibition. Nothing special about that one might say as I annually coordinate the involvement of schools into this one day fair that is the highlight of a 2 week festival which this year took place in Galway University (NUIG) attracting over 24,000 visitors representing the largest crowd ever to appear on campus.

But what was different about this school was that they were demonstrating something that many people might feel has absolutely nothing to do with science or technology, namely the ancient handicraft of Knitting.

Yet this popular misconception could not be further from the truth. For mathematics is at the core of this traditional craft that produces fabric from a strand of yarn or thread.

Whilst working in the school during the course of the year, teaching the basic concepts of engineering using K’NEX, I noticed that the pupils of both sexes would sometimes take up knitting during lunchtime if it was raining outside. The classrooms also a fine display of woollen animals and objects.

I was intrigued!

The children told me that it was due to the pioneering efforts of teacher Davina Daly that the children were learning the joys and creativity of knitting. Rather than just buying ready-made toys, clothing and gifts as most children have done for the last few decades, these boys and girls were making their very own scarves, rockets and animals out of fabricating yarn with each item that they produced stamped with their own unique style and individuality.

Over the next few months, I noticed too that a few other schools were also doing likewise, once again due to the initiative of individual teachers.

Daire's window display of 'wooly monsters' at Halloween

'Knitting with Granny'

Then in September I found my own 11 year old son Dáire starting to take up knitting with a passion as a result of a new national educational scheme known as Knitting with Granny, whereby older women were being brought into the classrooms to show young people how to knit. Dáire created an ever-growing menagerie of animals that began to populate the whole house. I was hooked!

More Wooly Monsters!

Not only are primary schools reviving and giving a whole new lease of life to a very important aspect of the country’s heritage, stitching is introducing these young people to a practical understanding and usage of mathematics via the counting of stitches, the calculation of gauge (that is the number of stitches and rows required to knit a 10cm square for a particular yarn), the creating of patterns and the quantification of yarn required.

Some of Dáire's Christmas knitted Santa Claus and helpers

The Makers

As with my work in helping to introduce computer programming into primary and post-primary education sector, Knitting in schools is part of a vision of educating our people to once again become designers and makers of practical things rather than just users and recipients of items manufactured outside Ireland. It will help our national move from a having a culture of dependency to a culture of creativity.

According to Davina, “The knitting craze started in our school two years ago when Evelyn Reidy a friend of my mother's dressmaking instructor Mary passed away. Evelyn's daughter gave Mary all her knitting needles and wool. Mary passed all the knitting materials on to my mum and then to me. I didn't want the wool to go to waste so I brought it to school. The children from second to sixth class took and used whatever wool they needed.
Jean Greenhowe has a fabulous collection of knitting booklets for irresistible dolls and toys http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/booklets.html. I have bought a number of them - The Scarecrow Family, Little Gift Dolls, Knitted Clowns, Jiffyknits, Knitted Animals, Christmas Special and Christmas Treasures. The children have knitted various items from these booklets. Some of the children buy knitting magazines. Another mom gave her son a magazine that had knitting pattern for boys in it. There was a pattern of a rocket, a dinosaur and a turtle. Some of the children knitted them.

The first stitch the children learn is the Garter stitch (AKA plain stitch). Every row is knit. Once the children have mastered this stitch they learn how to cast on and off stitches. They knit simple hairbands (sweatbands for boys) and wrist bands to practise this stitch. Then they learn the Stocking stitch (aka purl stitch - knit on the right side, purl on the wrong side).
After this they learn how to read patterns. As the patterns get more and more complicated they learn more and more knitting techniques: inc = increase stitches, dec = decrease stitches, psso = pass slip stitch over and so on.

They've knitted dogs, owls, turtles, bears, scarves, penguins, santas and snowmen.
One boy knitted Mrs Claus for his grandmother (finished height 36 cm).
At Christmas the children knitted Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, candy canes, garland rings to hang on their Christmas trees. At Easter they knitted chickens. One girl knitted a rattler for her baby brother and another knitted Binky the Golfing Clown with the help of his Granny.”

Wooly Science

The school exhibited their Knitting project during the Galway Science and Technology Festival Fair that was held in NUI Galway on November 27th and was visited by over 24,000 people. With the theme of Wooly Science, their stand was one of the most popular as visitors were enthralled to see a line of children knitting away whilst explaining the mathematic basis of this ancient handcraft.

Christmas Truce 1914: A Flickering of Humanity in a Brutal Imperial War

2011-12-30T13:02:00.000Z

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I watched this thought-provoking and emotive French film Joyeux Noel (Merry Xmas) over Christmas. More than any other movie I have seen in recent times, it portrays the true message of Christmas, namely 'Peace on Earth and Goodwill To All Men'.

It was so beautiful to hear in the film the haunting sounds of the Celtic bagpipes. But so sad to know that so many of the men enjoying the friendships that sprung up between the soldiery of the opposing armies during that Christmas Week would be dead within weeks.
So May I wish all readers and their friends and families a joyful festive holiday and a progressive 2012.

Christmas Truce 1914

Along the Western Front on Christmas Eve 1914, soldiers from German, Scottish, English & French regiments organised unofficial ceasefires. Troops ventured into No Man's Land to exchange gifts, play football, sing songs together & bury their dead. Generals on both sides were outraged & ensured that no such large scale fraternization ever happened again by ordering shelling during subsequent Christmases. In an insane brutal war, there were already 3.5million casualties by then; another 32million would die before the war ended.

The leaders of the main warring nations dressed up the conflict as the 'War To End All Wars', a struggle for peace and liberty when in reality they were only concerned about expanding their empires.
For example the war resulted in the victorious French and British dividing up the Middle East between them. In the process, they created an artificial country known as Iraq to unite under British control the oilfields of Kurdistan in the north with the oilfields around Basra in the south. The consequences of such a decision lie with us today.

Irish Nationalists Join War To Enslave Nations
The Irish nationalists under Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party allowed themselves under the pretext of 'Freedom of Small Nations' (Belgium) to support an imperial war that denied freedom and democracy to so many. Nearly 50,000 members of the Irish divisions of the British military died fighting in a conflict that entrapped even more Africans, Arabs, Kurds, Chinese, Polynesians within the empires of France, Italy, Japan and Britain.

The Irish rebels were aware of this deception by the British. We Serve Neither King nor Kaiser was the motto of the Irish Citizens Army as they joined with the Irish Volunteers in Easter 1916 to overthrow British rule in Ireland.
So I cannot join with those historians of today that are trying to rewrite history and to glorify the deeds of the Irish regiments of the British Army. These Irish men, during the 19th and early 20th century, were a key component of a brutal military occupation force in countries such as South Africa, Sudan, Kenya, Afghanistan, India, Ceylon, Burma and China. Ironically, the Catholic Irish soldiery, as with the Indian and African members of this army, were despised by their military English officers and superiors who viewed them as primitive and stupid peoples.

Madness of War: Blackadder - Last Scene (Over the Top)

The last episode of Ben Elton's brilliant Blackadder series poignantly sums up the madness of the generals and politicians of the Allies and Central Powers (click image above).
Though I have major disagreements with the democratic deficit within the structures of today's European Union, nevertheless I recognise that it has ended the slaughter that used to characterise the relationships between nations and peoples of the continent of Europe.

Warhorse - Slaughter of the Animals in the service of Humanity

As Steven Spielberg's latest film Warhorse shows, animals suffered the most during this human conflict. Vast areas of forests and other main areas of wildlife habitats were totally obliterated by shell and fire. At least 485,000 horses serving with the British forces were killed and millions more died in the armies of the Ottoman, British, French, Russian, Austrian, Bulgarian, Rumanian and Serbian. Sadly the history of 'civilization' is a history of the enslavement and destruction of so many other denizens of Earth by humanity in the pursuit of pleasure, torture and self-indulgence.

Creative Communities in Ballinfoile Mór, Galway city

2011-12-29T18:34:00.003Z

Residents from across the Ballinfoile Mór, Castlelawn, Ballindooley and Bóthar na Choiste areas are asked to attend a Community Night at 7pm on Thursday January 12th in the Menlo Park Hotel when a number of grassroots organizations will be undertaking a recruitment drive as well as showcasing services and projects provided by local volunteers.

Community & Environmental Volunteerism in Ballinfoile Mór

The Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden, Cumann na bhFear (Men’s Shed) and the recently established Terryland Forest Conservation Volunteers will be collectively promoting a wide array of skills that they presently can offer residents as well as advertising others that they need voluntary expertise on.

Over the last year, members have offered courses or mentoring on metalwork, organic gardening, mural painting, cycle maintenance, hedgerow planting, scarecrow construction, nature studies, heritage awareness, computing, cooking, drystone walling and woodturning. But assistance is required in other areas such as basket weaving, plumbing, orienteering and wildlife pond construction.

The Makers - The (Almost) Lost Art of 'Making Things'

We are endeavouring to help people from all backgrounds and of all ages to once again rediscover the ability and enjoyment of ‘making things’. It is about moving away from being primarily a nation of consumers to being once again creators of everyday items and produce.

Furniture Restoration

Another fundamental principle of ours is that the skills taught or the expertise provided are feed into projects that directly benefit the wider local community.

The contributions of these groups and that of others such as the Castlegar Boreen Festival have breathed new life into the locality, tapped into the often hidden talents of individuals, awakened interest in local heritage and biodiversity and in the process imbued many inhabitants with a proud sense of purpose and of place.

Drystone Walling in the Organic Garden

This type of creative community volunteerism is a modern urban version of the Irish rural tradition of ‘Meitheal’.

The herculean efforts of committed volunteers are helping to transform Ballinfoile Mór and engendering a sense of neighbourliness.

Harvest Day in the Community Organic Garden

Ballinfoile Community Organic Garden: Local Food Produce & Wildlife-friendly

In the organic garden, residents have built wooden hurdle fences, gravel paths, drystone walls, native hedgerows, a large clay pizza oven, a ‘bug hotel’, a kitchen and an outdoor stage; planted herbs, vegetables and fruit trees; organized gardening courses and harvest festivals. Schools and youth groups have undertaken art programmes such as making scarecrows, painting murals as well as organising nature activities.

In the last year, the garden has been bestowed with the Galway City Mayoral Community Award and was runner up in the national Pride of Place Award.

Hand Prints of Children & Adults Painters Decorate the Door of the Garden's Kitchen

Men's Shed Movement Arrives in Galway city

Michael McDonnell welding at Cumann na bhFear, Ballinfoile

The recently established Cumann na bhFear (Irish = Men's Club) Ballinfoile Mór is modeled on the international Men's Shed Movement that originated in Australia a number of years ago. Taking its name and theme from the idea of the male of the household working on his hobbies in the garden shed, the Ballinfoile branch provides a friendly meeting place for men of all ages to try out new things and work on meaningful tasks at their own pace. There is a strong emphasis on projects that have an environmental and social value and that keep alive traditional Irish crafts and skills from metalworking to woodturning.

Blacksmith's forge at Cumann na bhFear

The local members built a blacksmith’s forge, purchased an array of tools including a wooden lathe, restored old furniture and farm equipment, provide classes in a range of skills from woodturning to panel-beating, organise monthly cycle repair workshops for all ages and serve as a venue for the manufacture of props and set designs for youth theatre groups and facilitate rehearsals for young musicians.

Farming Implements: - Before Restoration

Farming Implements: - After Restoration

Galway City Council leased to the group an excellent two story premises (complete with workshops, meeting room, kitchen, toilets and offices) in the Sandy Road Business Park.

Community-planted Silver Birch trees in Terryland Forest

Conservation Volunteers for Terryland Forest Park

The new Conservation Volunteers group for the Terryland Forest Park will be involved in tree planting, boundary structure repairs, path maintenance, nature tours, biodiversity enhancement and community clean-ups.
The volunteers want to return the park to the principles of its founders when they established the park in the late 1990s in order to create a large urban woodland populated by native Irish trees that functions both as a Wildlife corridor and a People's Park. By creating a forest in an urban setting, it was to serve as the Lungs of the City, encourage citizens to reconnect to Nature and act as a sanctuary to indigenous flora and fauna at a time when across the planet, commercial farming, habitat fragmentation, deforestation, pollution, road construction, urban sprawl and the resulting global warming is leading to a mass extinction of species.

Household Waste dumped in Forest Park

Community initiatives in Castlegar include some wonderful heritage signage along the old rural bótharin network.

Heritage Signage in Castlegar

Tracks 'n' Trails across rural Galway City

The Friends of the Galway Forest coordinate regular community clean-up of the city's parks, undertake heritage cycle tours on the east side of the city and will be working with other NGOs such as Castlegar Connect to develop a series of greenways linking the castles of Tirellan, Castlegar, Menlo and Clooncauneen.

In September the group collaborated with Councillor Frank Fahy and local land-owners in starting the clean-up of an old bog road near Carrowbrowne that will act as a vital link in this pioneering trail. This particular botharín has been destroyed by organised criminal dumping of a vast quantity of fridges, cookers and furniture that has contaminated the environment and ecology of the area.

Constructing a Greenway near Carrowbrowne. Michael Tiernan holds a traditional 'grappler' used in times past to clear water-logged ditches of debris

At the Community event, Councillor Fahy will also outline proposals on heritage enhancement whilst Rosie Webb, senior executive architect at Galway City Council, will showcase a series of maps produced by the architectural students of the University of Limerick that provide information, analysis, plans and guidelines on the regeneration of the Terryland Forest Park as an important cultural and amenity facility as well as a primary wildlife habitat.

Beautiful rural landscape of Castlegar

The current recession caused by the greed and gambling antics of an oligarchy of bankers, property speculators and certain politicians has dashed the dreams and expectations of so many ordinary people. It has led to mass unemployment, high emigration, an increase in criminality, the closure of many community partnerships and an upsurge of depression amongst so many.

Making a 'Bug Hotel' Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

But becoming involved in pro-active neighbourhood schemes can empower citizens and foster a sense of belonging and of personal value to a community.

Volunteerism is the gel that binds people together in a positive manner, particularly in times of economic and social stress.

Community Tree Planting in Terryland Forest Park

You Can Make A Difference!

Together We Can Make Ballinfoile Mór A Wonderful Place to Live In!

So Get Involved, Sign Up for a Local Volunteer Group & Attend Our Celebration of Community Initiatives at 7pm on January 12th in the Menlo Park Hotel

The High Price of Materialism

2011-12-10T19:59:00.000Z

Great Video on the dangers of a world that is being dominated by commercial consumerism.

It should be a wake up call to what really matters in life. We have to recognise that the world does not revolve around ourselves, that we are part of a bigger picture, that we belong to a community and to a planet both of which are in a delicate state of being due to a society that promotes self-promotion and greed at the expense of intrinsic values. For it is only in giving to other humans and to the Earth can we truly feel that our few years of existence is worthwhile. This principle underpins every science course I teach, every technology I promote, every environmental, political, social and community campaign that I get involved in.

The personal enjoyment is in giving knowledge that enriches or empowers the lives of others, and to realise that so many others all around me also giving their time, energies and resources to do likewise.

That puts a smile on my face every time!

Enjoy the video!

Nature is the 99%, too - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

2011-12-03T22:42:00.000Z

Nature is the 99%, too - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

The 1% that control the politics and economies of so many countries are not only destroying the lives of 99% of the human populations in their immoral quest for power & profits but also the other 99% of species of planet Earth.

We must save our fellow creatures and in so doing save mankind from destroying itself. Science shows that all species are interdependent and part of Nature.

First Telephone, Transistor and Google Storage Device replicas On Show at Galway Science Exhibition

2011-11-30T22:12:00.001Z

A press release that was published in the current edition of Galway City Tribune:

A unique series of exhibits were unveiled at the remarkable and highly successful Galway Science and Technology Festival Exhibition that took place in NUI Galway (Galway university) on Sunday last.

Visitors to the Computer Museum exhibit at the Galway Science & Technology Festival

Replicas of some of the most important inventions in the history of modern communications were displayed in the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland which was re-located to the main campus for the event.

Replica of Google Server at Scoil Bhríde Mionloch stand

“Three recently arrived artifacts represent significant milestones in the history of communications technology,” according to Brendan Smith Outreach Officer of the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) at NUI Galway.

First Telephone

Replica of Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone on display at the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland

in DERI, NUI Galway

“The telephone or ‘electrical speech machine’ was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. He later founded what became known as Bell Laboratories, probably the most influential research facility of modern times, which can list amongst its achievements the laser, synchronised sound and motion picture, the solar cell and the Telstar space satellite. Today it is a part of the Alcatel-Lucent corporation, an industrial partner of DERI.

First Transistor Comes to Galway

One of their engineers Toby Joyce originally from Clifden, arranged for the transfer from Bell Labs in New Jersey to Galway of not only a replica of the first telephone but also that of probably their greatest invention, namely the ‘transistor’ that was developed in 1947 and became the basic building block of modern electronic devices.

Replica of first transistor

“DERI has passed on these fascinating artifacts to the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland that operates under a multi-sectoral board chaired by Dr. Chris Coughlan of Hewlett-Packard with representatives from Engineers’ Ireland, NUIG, GMIT, small businesses and Irish Diaspora groups as well as DERI.

Google- the Galway & Irish Connection

“The museum will also play host to a very intriguing exhibit being constructed by Scoil Bhríde Menlo (Mionloch) and Cumann na bhFear in Ballinfoile. It is a model of the Google original storage device from 1996 . The company’s founders put together a server consisting of 10 hard disks of 4 gigabytes each, then the largest capacity drives available, encased in a cabinet covered with children’s Lego bricks.

It is appropriate that this school is undertaking this task as Google was founded in a garage in Menlo Park, California, so named in the 1850s by two Irish immigrants, Oliver and McGlynn, in honour of their Galway birthplace.

Our institute has had a close working relationship with Scoil Bhríde as we have provided laptops on loan for the last four years to all their pupils in fifth and sixth year classes in an effort to promote eLearning education."

The Cumann na bhFear (Irish for "Men's Club") is a recently formed group in Ballinfoile Mór that is modeled on the Men's Shed movement that originated in Australia. Two of its founding members, Michael McDonnell and Michael Tiernan, helped construct the metal stacking unit (above), secured many of the old hard disks and made an exact copy of the 'clouded' perspex panels used as the sides of the original Google server by cutting out sections from a shower door!

Michael McDonnell and Michael Tiernan cutting panels out of an old Shower Door

Halloween - Another significent contribution to World Culture by the Irish & Celtic peoples!

2011-10-31T19:38:00.002Z

Halloween's Pagan Celtic Roots

Today Halloween is joyously celebrated by children across the Western world.There is a popular misconception though that Halloween is a modern American invention. Not so. Like so many other things that have brought great happiness to humanity for millennia, its roots lay firmly in the culture of the Irish Celts!
(Photo- my son Dáire & 'friend'!)

Yet it has to be said that the Americans, in their child-friendly re-packaging of this ancient pagan festival, have destroyed many of the fine traditions that were once such an integral part of the festivities. For instance our Celtic custom of placing human skulls with candles at entrances to domestic dwellings in order to ward off evil spirits has been replaced by lights in hollowed-out pumpkins! Likewise the visits of children dressed up in ghoulish and macabre fancy dress going door-to-door looking for gifts of sweets and fruits is a poor substitute for the former visits of the ghosts of our ancestors who used to drop in once a year on October 31st for a nice meal with their living relatives (we would prepare a place for them at the dinner table).
It was said too that live captives were placed in wicker cages above huge bonfires and burnt alive (as portrayed in the classic British 1970s cult film “The Wicker Man”). But such horror stories were originally spun by those nasty Romans when they were at war with the Celts. So it was probably nothing more than malicious enemy propaganda. After all, what do you take us Celts for? Barbarians?!

As with so many other religious festivals, Halloween has become so commercialised by 'Americanised' popular culture that its true origins and religious aspects have long since being forgotten.
So here is the true story of 'Féile na Marbh' (Festival of the Dead'):

Christianisation of 'Samhain'
Yet modern-day Americans were not the first people to re-brand the festival. In the middle ages the Catholic Church created the Christian festival of 'All Hallows Eve' or 'All Souls Day' when people were asked to remember and pray for their dead family members.
This event was superimposed onto the ancient pagan Celtic festival of 'Samhain' which marked the end of the summer season characterised by heat & light and the coming of the dark cold barren winter months.

Celtic Festivals
Typical of many agricultural societies, the Celts had four major annual festivals based on the cyclical differences experienced in the changing seasons of nature and their corresponding weather patterns. The other three were 'Imbolc' (spring) 'Bealtane' (summer), 'Lugnasa' (autumn). The latter was associated with harvest time.

Bon(e)Fires
Samhain was a time when food was hoarded as people prepared for the cold season when no plants grew. While many domestic animals such as cattle were brought indoors for the winter, others were slaughtered and most of their meat salted for storage whilst the remainder was cooked for the big feast. As with all Irish festivals, communal bonfires were lit as people gathered together at warm fires to socialise and to give thanks to the deities. Bones of the slaughtered animals were thrown into the fire as symbolic gifts to the gods, an action which give rise to the term ' bone fires' or 'bonfires'. Embers from this sacred fire were taken by local people to their households to light their own domestic fires.

Antecedents to the Pumpkin & 'Trick or Treat'
But Samhain was also a time when creatures from the supernatural world could enter into the world of mortals. 'Fairies' (Irish='Sidhe' as in ‘Banshee’/‘female fairy’) and the spirits of the dead would walk the earth. Many of these beings were benevolent and the spirits of dead ancestors; so families laid out extra food and set aside a table space for their ghostly visitors. This metaphorised into the custom of today's children dressing up as demons and witches & calling to the neighbours' houses to receive presents.
But there were spirits that came on the night of Samhain that were malevolent. Candles were placed in skulls at the entrance to dwellings as light was feared by these dark foreboding creatures. This protection against evil became transformed in modern times into the positioning of hollowed-out turnips and later pumpkins with carved out faces and internal candles at windows and doorways.
Centuries-old party games of trying to eat an apple lying in a basin of water ('bobbing') or dangling on a string tied to a ceiling ('snapping') are still popular festive past-times with Irish children.

The apple is probably the most common edible fruit in Ireland. It was also strongly associated with the spirit world and the fairies (sidhe). In the Arthurian legends, the mystical island of Avalon is where King Arthur obtains his magical sword Excalibur and where he is taken at the end of his life by the Lady of the Lake and her female fairy companions (banshee). Avalon comes from the Welsh word afal or Irish aball.

Fortune Telling at Halloween
Central to the Irish Halloween is the eating of a fruit bread known as 'Barmbrack' from the Gaelic term 'Báirín Breac' (speckled or spotted top). It is still a popular festive food today.
Various symbolic pieces were placed in the dough before it was baked such as a ring, a pea and a stick. When an item was found in the slice when it was being eaten, it told of the future that awaited the recipient. For instance, the 'ring' signified marriage within a year; a 'stick' represented a bad or violent marriage; the 'coin', wealth and a 'pea', a long wait before marriage.

Irish Export Halloween to North America
The Irish emigrants of the nineteenth century introduced Halloween and its rituals to America. Within a few decades, the festival was transformed into the fun and games event of today.

Significant Irish Contributions to World Culture:
No. 7642- 'Dracula'
Considering our national passion of asking the dead to resurrect themselves & drop into the house for a late night meal & party, it should come as no surprise that the world's most well known vampire Count Dracula was the creation of an Irishman, the novelist Bram Stoker in 1887.
His inspiration though was Carmilla, a book about a lesbian vampire created naturally enough(!) by another well known Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu.

Finally, the name Halloween comes from a mix old English and Irish with Hallows meaning holy and een from the the Irish 'ín' meaning little signifying the night before the big or main event of All Hallows Day which took place in the Christian calander on November 1st. Alternatively een could be a version of Eve as in Christmas Eve.

(Photos from Macnas Halloween youth parade in Ballinfoile, Galway City)

Michael D. ABÚ!!

2011-10-29T18:12:00.003Z

What a Great Day for the True Community Values of the Irish People!
A Warrior that has fought many battles in the name of Justice, Liberty, Equality & Fraternity has today won an historic victory against the mass forces of greed and elitism.

Have a look at my articles below to know what Michael D Higgins represents to so many of us

Michael D Higgins - the Conscience of the Nation

What has Michael D Ever Done for Ireland and the Irish People?

Michael D Higgins: The Great Advocate of International HUman Rights in the History of Dáil Éireann

Michael D. Higgins - An Irish Legend!

2011-10-26T22:51:00.003Z

In the last day of campaigning, Michael D. Higgins visited Galway university where he gave a rousing but dignified speech to a crowd of enthusiastic supporters that included myself.
He has served the people of Ireland and the world so well for over 40 yrs. The country will benefit from a progressive, humane, intelligent, erudite visionary who has worked at all levels of society and is brimming with energy.
Whoever designed the Celtic motiff poster that has accompanied the campaign should be awarded a medal. Truly stunning, the painting portrays Michael as an ancient Celtic chieftain accompanied by two Irish wolfhounds and surrounded by his people as they congregate on a hill overlooking a wooden stockaded fort. Beautiful!!!!

Click here for Michael D Higgins: Conscience of the Nation

Click here for a short video of Michael D's through the years

A Vote for Gallagher is a Vote for a Discredited Establishment that Robbed Our Country & Our Children's Futures

2011-10-25T19:19:00.000Z

Cracking Presidential Debate on Frontline last night!
Martin McGuinness played a blinder exposing Sean Gallagher as representing the worse excesses of FF cronyism. Organising political party fundraisers with a €5,000 entry fee in return for an 'audience' with the Taioseach/Prime Minster of the country (are meeting with the leader of Ireland only available to the wealthy?), going to a wealthy business person's home to collect a monied envelope, receiving a huge director's loan (to avoid tax) & admitting he was an admirer of the unpatriotic tax exile Denis O'Brien who was condemning by a judicial review as having corrupted the Irish political system.
Combined with the fact that Gallagher was a member of the FF National Executive, refused to condemn the last government for their incompetency and a big property owner with a business customer base amongst big builders shows he was part of the FF-property speculator-financial elite that siphoned off our taxes over many decades to fund their rich lifestyles, who bankrupt the country, who destroyed so many of our livelihoods and whose 'old boys network' policies led to a mass emigration of our brightest and best.

He certainly was not an ordinary honest decent rank and file member of the party as he has tried to portray so many times.

If he gets elected, it will be a victory for a discredited immoral 'me-fein' establishment.

A Vote for Gallagher is a vote for Those that Stole Our Hard-Earned Monies & Robbed Us & Our Children of a Future!

What has Michael D Higgins Ever Done for Ireland & the Irish People?

2011-10-23T18:15:00.000Z

Helping to Liberate Irish Women from Servitude and Discrimination

In the early 1970s, women were treated in Ireland as second-class citizens by the state and as the servants to men by the Catholic Church.

Married women were barred from working in the Civil Service; divorce and the sale of contraceptives were illegal; women got paid less than men for doing the same job; children’s allowances were paid only to fathers; barring orders did not exist to protect wives from violent husbands; wives could not legally refuse to have sex with their partners; women had no legal rights to a share of the family home.

For young women in education and work, there were even problems trying to obtain bank loans. Unlike their male counterparts, the banks were hesitant about providing loans to female students as it was felt that soon after leaving college, they would get married and lose the ability to repay by becoming house-bound wives with no independent incomes.

Michael D Higgins was at the forefront of all the major campaigns to secure equality for women. He was one of the very few members of the Oireachtas that stood by these issues of women’s rights from the 1970s onwards. As with Noel Brown a few decades previously, he earned the wrath of conservative and religious mainstream society at the time, condemned as someone that wanted to under the family values. This was particularly evident in the Divorce referendum campaign of 1985. Yet he never backed down in spite of the verbal and written tirades hurled at him.

Condoms for All

At the height of the Aids epidemic in1992, I was part of a nationwide campaign known as CondomSense that wanted to liberalise the sale of condoms. We saw such contraceptives as offering greater protection for women from unwanted pregnancies and STDs. At this time, these pieces of rubber could only be purchased with a doctor’s prescription from a pharmacy for ‘bona fides’ family purposes. I was the only publican in Galway city that decided to openly defy this law by installing condom vending machines. I was prosecuted by the state and a jail sentence hung over me as I was brought through the courts system. However by the summer, the government caved in and introduced a Health Amendment Act that allowed the sale of condoms outside of pharmacies and without a prescription (though not in vending machines).

Yet again, Michael D Higgins was the only Galway TD that stood with us.

Children’s Rights: Ending Illegitimacy

In 1984, Michael D Higgins and Mary Robinson put forward the bill that removed the label of 'illegitimacy' from children of unmarried parents.

He was helping to put into law the committment given by the Irish rebels in the Proclamation of the Irish Republic of 1916 in "cherishing all of the children of the nation equally"

Towards a Cleaner Safe Environment

In 2000, I was one of the leaders of a large scale community movement known as Galway for a Safe Environment(GSE) that wanted to introduce a pro-recycling waste collection system and to stop the installation of a municipal waste incinerator. Over 22,000 people supported the campaign which was successful in stopping the incinerator being built and in having Galway city become the first local authority in Ireland to implement a domestic bin collection system based on recycling and composting.

Once more, Michael D was the only Galway member of the Oireachtas that stood with us from the beginning. Though others such as Fine Gael’s Pauric McCormack did later come on board.

Defender of Biodiversity

As Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Michael D signed on behalf of the Irish government in 1997 the EU Habitats Directive that requires member states to maintain or restore favourable conservation status for certain habitats and species.

Monvea Bog, Co. Galway

Of particular importance were the Irish bogs which account for 10% of the world’s total. This Habitat Directive was and is vital to protect the small number of bogs that are classified as Natural Heritage Areas. Peatlands possess unique biodiversity as well as being important areas for flood prevention, water quality and as critical storage areas for carbon, up to 57,402 tonnes of carbon per year (EPA BOGLAND project).

Michael D became one of the few Irish government ministers ever to enact legislation to protect endangered wildlife and their habitats and to reverse the millennia old destruction and exploitation by mankind of the planet’s natural heritage.

Today we have private turf-cutters condemning Michael D for what he did in 1997. They have little respect for the long-term consequences of their actions to life on Earth. As co owner (i.e. guardian) of a bog and as a son of man whose family lived and worked on the great Bog of Allen for generations, I wholeheartedly congratulate Michael D for his actions.

The Fianna Fáil government in 1999 allowed people affected by the ban to have 10 year period of grace. Sadly continued turf cutting was and is not compatible with the conservation of these sites and rare intact raised bog has decreased in area by over 35% in the last decade. The major cause of the loss and degradation of this priority habitat type is domestic peat cutting.

Eco-Tourism, Inverin Bog. Co. Galway

Giving Respect and Recognition to the Irish Language,
Arts and Culture

When Michael D Higgins became the first minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht in 1993, the state finally recognised arts as a fundamental part of the life of a citizen, and gave it a status similar to the right to education, to work, to health, to justice and to housing.

Michael D did not just get a seat at the cabinet table in 1993. He demanded and secured the establishment of a new state office that finally gave due respect to something that was recognised outside the country and in ancient Ireland as being synonymous with the Irish people- a love of music, literature and art in all its forms but was until his ministry often viewed as a luxury and something for the privileged few.

By setting up a nationwide network of arts centres, galleries, libraries and theatres, he returned the arts to the common people and made it part of the fabric of so many communities across Ireland.

A Community Arts Halloween parade in Ballinfoile, Galway city

As Minister, he expanded the Irish film industry from a small sector generating 11million pounds into an internationally recognised industry that was worth 186 million by the time he left office.

Michael D is of course a renowned artist in his own right. In September 1990, Salmon Publishing launched his first book of poetry. Entitled ‘The Betrayal’, I am proud to say that I was its official sponsor and listed as such on the inside cover.

Stimulating an Irish Language Revival

Michael D established TG4, Ireland’s first Irish language television station thereby reinvigorating our native tongue and giving work and pride to so many people that wish to use Gaelic in their everyday lives.

Rediscovering Ireland’s Inland Waterways

Over the course of the 20^th century, Irish canals became increasingly ignored by the state as rail, road and air took over as the main arteries of transportation. Our canals and inland waterways fell into disuse, were abandoned and largely forgotten. A major achievement whilst he was Minster was to reverse this trend and allow Ireland’s inland waterways to become major opportunities for sustainable national and local tourism. He began connecting the waterways with the result that Ireland today has over 1000 kilometres of navigable waterways, providing employment and tourism in localities across the country.

Encouraging Youthful Creativity & Imagination

Michael D has always being more than just a career politician. He is multi-faceted in nature and has taken on many roles throughout his life- factory worker, lecturer, poet, socialist, humanitarian, journalist…

But all of these different elements have been united by a common egalitarian vision of the world. His talks and writings express a humanistic vision of life.

He ended political censorship by the state when he abolished Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act that denied Sinn Féin and other political parties the right to be interviewed and to be heard in the media.

Whilst a radical student leader at UCG, I was enthralled by his lectures that questioned the injustices of the world past and present and held out a vision of a better tomorrow. He supported our student union campaigns to make ‘Education a Right not A Privilege’ and to question social injustices in all its form whether it was in apartheid South Africa, Catholic Ireland, US-backed dictatorships or in Stalinist Eastern Europe. He encouraged these issues to be raised within the university halls and walls. During the 1980s, he brought progressive politics into mainstream youth culture by writing an incisive regular column in the weekly Hot Press magazine, the staple diet for rock music enthusiasts.

He has a deep affinity with creativity and imagination in science and engineering as much as in the arts.

Over the last decade I have dedicated a lot of my time endeavouring to ensure that technology can benefit all sectors of society. Michael D consistently supported this social inclusion approach and would always make himself available to attend and officiate at events that I was organising related to neighbourhoods, asylum seekers, older peoples, open data and so much more.

Michael D. Higgins in 2007 at the launch of the community website by the residents of the Eglinton Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre, Salthil Galway city

Please view my Previous Articles on Micheal D Higgins:

Ireland's Greatest ever Advocate of International Human Rights in the History of Dáil Éireann
Michael D. Higgins: Conscience of the Nation

Vote Michael D. Higgins for President of Ireland

'Opening Up Government Data' Conference in Galway

2011-10-20T19:48:00.000Z

The institute where I work- the Digital Enterprise Research Institute is hosting a major eGovernment conference on November 8th entitled Opening Up Government Data.

This very important citizens empowering event is being held as part of Irish Open Data Week with the aim of highlighting the benefits of Open Data to public authorities, businesses, community organisations and individual citizens through a conference based on open, facilitated discussions and hands-on sessions.

Attendees will include officials from many local authorities across Ireland as well as representatives from the political, academic, community, media, corporate and small business sectors.

Hopefully community activists and NGOs attend in large numbers

Michael D Higgins: Greatest Advocate of International Human Rights in the History of Dáil Éireann

2011-10-11T20:31:00.004Z

More than any public representative in the history of the Oireachtas, Michael D Higgins has campaigned tirelessly at home and abroad against the oppression of peoples, in defense of human rights and in securing justice for all.

It is notable that whilst generations of Irish parliamentarians unashamedly kept their mouths shut on human rights abuses perpetuated by successive United States governments and their allies, Michael D has had the courage of his convictions to not allow himself to be coerced into silence. He did not distinguish between torture and coercion committed by the USA, China, Soviet Union or any other regime. Whenever the opportunity arose to defend the downtrodden and stand up to the powerful, he did so.

In recognition of this consistent, effective and proud record, he became the first recipient of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize awarded by the International Peace Bureau in Helsinki in 1992.

Solidarity with Oppressed Peoples Everywhere

His international causes including highlighting abuses in countries such as Western Sahara, Chile, Iraq, Turkey, East Timor and Somalia, some of which he visited and some of which he was expelled from.

In particular, he has been since the 1970s an outspoken critic of the brutal armed occupation and creeping colonisation being perpetrated by the Israelis in Palestine.

He was an early supporter of the Anti-Apartheid movement as it sought to end the racial oppression of blacks in Southern Africa and introduce democracy.

On February 11^th 1990, I along with dozens of other peace activists was lucky enough to be with him in a packed Atlanta Hotel on Dominick Street Galway city, as we watched the release of Nelson Mandela from prison unfold live on television. Michael D and the rest of us were part of the international people power movement that finally succeeded in forcing Western governments to end their unswerving support of the racist South African government.

UCG Reunion 2008: Remembering the Anti-Apartheid Campaign

He was never afraid to take on the so-called defenders of the ‘Free World’ as they poured weaponry and military advisors into Chile and Nicaragua in order to overthrow democratically elected governments who were endeavouring to end the economic stranglehold of the nations natural resources held by a tiny elite and multinational corporations.

He visited Nicaragua and El Salvador in the early 1980s as tens of thousands were being slaughtered by US armed paramilitary gangs and authoritarian regimes. His endeavours at the time were praised by Irish Catholic missionaries who had lived in the region and by Bishop Eamon Casey of Galway

In 1984 he was one of only 4 TDs to join the huge public protests against US President Ronald Reagan’s visit to Ireland. Michael D was with other graduates that included myself outside UCG in Galway when we burned our degrees to coincide with Reagan being awarded a Honorary Doctorate of Law by the university authorities, even though he had just previously broken international law by mining the ports of a sovereign state- Nicaragua.

In the last decade Michael has been the leading parliamentary campaigner against the illegal invasion of Iraq by US coalition forces, against the illegal detention camp at the US military base in Guantanamo Cuba, against the CIA rendition flights including their use of Shannon Airport and against the militarisation of the Salthill Airshow.

Michael D Higgins participating in the Galway Alliance Against War demonstrations held to condemn the presence of military planes at the Salthill Airshow from air forces that participated in the illegal Iraq war

Check out also my blog article Michael D. Higgins: Conscience of the Nation

Michael D. Higgins: Conscience of the Nation

2011-10-10T10:59:00.002Z

In a period of public disillusionment with a governing system that has been exposed as too often serving vested interests, that sold off our country’s assets and the labour of generations not yet born to pay foreign moneylenders for the gambling debts of bankers, property speculators and their political lackeys, it is refreshing to know that there are still politicians whose actions and deeds mark them off as servants of the people rather than abusers of public office. None more so than Michael D Higgins whose career spanning six decades has been about implementing the ideals of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic “…that guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens…to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation…cherishing all the children of the nation equally…”.

His life has been a never-ending campaign against poverty and oppression and against the powerful elites of church and state both here and abroad who stood in the way of securing equality, justice and due recognition for women, children, gays, artists, minorities and the disabled. He has served as the conscience of the nation on so many occasions and on so many issues, sometimes giving voice to the voiceless, reminding us all, time and time again, of the core values and responsibilities that underpin citizenship, democracy and natural justice. Often this struggle has been a lonely one even within his own political party.

Over the years he has encountered many political setbacks and much personal vilification. But such obstacles never daunted him and today he burns with the same passion, intellect and idealism that he has always possessed. In the last Dáil, he was one of only eighteen TDs that voted against the catastrophic bank bailout.

Michael D sits amongst the pantheon of heroic government ministers that include Frank Aiken, Noel Browne, Seán Lemass and Donough O’Malley whose visionary actions have brought long-lasting benefits to the country. As the first Minster for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, he established TG4, re-invigorated the Irish film industry, gave legal protection to wildlife habitats, ended political censorship in public broadcasting and established a countrywide network of public museums, arts venues and theatres.

A lot of the fundamental rights that we take for granted today in areas such as divorce, access to contraceptives, female equality, status of children and the disabled were only won within the last few decades after long and hard fought campaigns by activists that always included Michael D. Sadly he was too often the lone member of the Oireachtas within their midst.

Maria O'Malley with Michael D with an Anti-Apartheid poster from the late 1970s at a NUIG Reunion party

He portrays those traits of the Irish that have over the centuries earned us admiration across the world. Our respect for arts, culture, nature, folklore, heritage, sport, hard work, creativity, compassion, egalitarianism, spirituality and community is known in schools, theatres, concert arenas, churches, parliaments, village halls and stadia from Seoul to Berlin; our struggle for nationhood and republican principles has inspired generations of the downtrodden in the Americas, Australia, Africa and Asia; our traditional non-alignment stance has made us trusted by small nations and a popular choice as UN peacekeepers in areas of conflict.

Michael D’s whole life personifies this positive image of Ireland. If he became president, he would help undo the harm caused at home and abroad by those few but prominent Irish who forgot their roots, were often anti-patriotic tax exiles and epitomised an arrogance and greed that damaged the nation. Michael’s campaign trips overseas were always in solidarity with those communities in need and not junkets or golf outings as was the case with some of his fellow parliamentarians. His presidency would rekindle our national spirit, making us proud to be Irish, and being able once again to offer something of worth to the wider global community.

Check out also my blog article: Michael D. Higgins: Greatest Advocate of Human Rights in the History of Dáil Éireann

Michael D. Higgins: Conscience of the Nation

2011-10-09T18:16:00.001Z

Maria O'Malley with Michael D with an Anti-Apartheid poster from the late 1970s at a NUIG Reunion party

Steve Job: The Man that Brought Technology to the Masses and Defined a Generation

2011-10-06T09:50:00.000Z

Steve Jobs. who died last week at the young age of 56, was one of the most inspirational, innovative and entrepreneurial geniuses of the last century, who popularised and revolutionised communications technology in a way that so few others have dared to do.

A child of the counterculture of 1960s California, he was never ever afraid to take on the status quo, to pull down walls of conservative scientific thought and throughout his life he challenged convention time and time again. His lifework was about combining art and creativity with science and engineering.
His products emancipated technology placing powerful computing technologies onto the people's kitchen/office table during the late 1970s with the launch of the desktop Apple 11 and into people's hands with iTunes and iPods from the early 2000s onwards.
The master of gadgets, his products were powerful, aesthetic, radical and colourful, that captured the public imagination on so many occasions.

For me, his philosophy is best exemplified in Apple's American television commercial (directed by Ripley Scott) entitled 1984 that launched the Apple Macintosh personal computer onto an unsuspecting world as a commercial broadcast during a break in American's football Super Bowl final. Based on George Orwell's novel, the theme was about individual expression overcoming the power of authoritarianism. Click on image above for a view of this fantastic video.

Into the Future

With every new product released by Apple, from the Apple 11 to the iPad, he pushed the boundaries of change forward. It was, as one commentator said on the day of Steve's death, as if he disappeared into a Time Machine to journey into the future, and always came back with something new and exciting for all of us to enjoy.

Steve Jobs along with his colleague Steve Wozniak and Bill Gates of Microsoft were part of small group of young innovators who were instrumental in creating the Age of the Microcomputer in 1977, the first two with a computer known as Apple 11 and the latter with the inclusion of MBasic on the Commodore Pet. They did so much to take the computer out of the laboratory and corporation headquarters and into the home and small office. 1977 was the same year that the owner of the world’s largest minicomputer company stated that he saw no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home!

So many products from Apple defined a generation – Apple 11 (Visicalc – world’s first electronic spreadsheet); the Lisa/Macintosh (world’s first popular computer to use the graphic icon, windows and mouse interface), the iMac (world’s first computer to be marketed as a window into the Internet rather than a stand-alone isolated desktop), MacPublisher (world's first desktop publishing system) (the iPod/iTunes (personal downloadable portable music), iPhone, iPad……

His time with Pixar represented a milestone in cinematic industry with the launch of Toy Story the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI (Computer Generated Imagery).

Apple in Ireland

I have a personal affinity with Apple.
The company established their first overseas manufacturing facility in Ireland in 1981. From this plant in Cork, they exported computers across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. 30 years on, Apple is still there.
My first permanent job after leaving university was to set up and manage a computer store. I was quite successful and by selling so many Apple 11s became Apple’s first ever Salesman of the Year for Ireland (the award was an all expenses trip for two to Morocco!). I installed the Apple 11 into circa 500 schools across the West of Ireland, which represented the first introduction for teachers and students to this new technology that was about to change the world forever.
A few years later I helped in the introduction of the Lisa and Macintosh into Ireland.

Part of the Apple exhibit at the National Computer and Communications Musuem in DERI, NUI Galway

Steve has been a hero and inspiration to me and millions of others for decades. His legacy is powerful and beneficial.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam

Ballinasloe Horse Fair

2011-09-30T17:56:00.001Z

According to local legend, Napoleon's most famous horse Marengo was bought in 1799 at the Fair in Ballinasloe, which is one of Europe's oldest and largest Horse Fairs, dating back to the 1700's when it was formally established by the local British landlords (Trenchs).

But its origins probably go back thousands of years as Ballinsloe (Béal Átha na Sluaighe, = 'Ford-Mouth of the Gatherings') is located at a strategic crossing of a river near to the famed 'Esker Riada', the great prehistoric highway formed from eskers that allowed people to cross Ireland from east to west, giving them safe dry passage above the bogs, wetlands and lakes of the midlands.

Today, it is estimated that c100,000 visitors flock to the town to sell, buy and enjoy this majestic animal.

As part of my DERI Outreach work, I am involved with a local committee in collecting and digitizing images, films and stories associated with this living heritage and cultural gathering.
Tonight (Sept 30) we hold a special public meeting on the subject in Haydens Hotel in the town. The fair itself starts the following day(Oct 1).

Using Arcade Games To Inspire New Generation of Programmers & Innovators

2011-09-20T19:48:00.005Z

What promises to be an exciting night of Retro Gaming will take place from 6pm until 8pm this Friday (Sept 23^rd) in the National Computer and Communications Museum located in the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) at NUI Galway.

This event is being held as part of ‘National Culture Night’ and visitors will be able to enjoy playing video Arcade classics including Pacman, Asteroids and Space Invaders on renowned vintage consoles and computers such as Atari, Amiga and Sinclair ZX81.

The sights and sounds on offer will try to capture the essence of the early days of computer gaming of the 1970s and 1980 which made a major contribution in the overall development of digital sound and graphics.

But attendees will also be introduced to the software coding that constitutes the games. They will be allowed to actually input these computer programmes line by line, to experiment with the code and to make their own creative enhancements. This should give participants a better understanding of how digital technology actually works. For a key aim of this event is be part of a process of introducing young people in particular to the software infrastructure behind popular devices such as smart phones, sensors and laptops thus hopefully inspiring them to consider careers in computer science and engineering which are essential prerequisites in creating a sustainable knowledge-based innovative society that will help secure a niche for Ireland in an ever-changing world.

It must be remembered that a previous young generation enthusiastically took on similar challenges during the early days of computing and created many of the technologies that we use today. They became innovators and entrepreneurs combining youthful imagination, artistic skills with a scientific understanding.

When microcomputers such as Sinclairs, BBCs and Apple 11s were first introduced into Irish schools during the early nineteen eighties, children often had to write their own programmes as there were few affordable applications available. Sadly this ability to be taught how to make things in IT classes has been replaced in the intervening decades by a policy of only teaching pupils to use applications such as word-processing and databases. Whilst this is a laudable exercise, nevertheless we must re-educate our young people in the lost art of computer coding which should be considered a life skill that forms part of the national educational curriculum. Otherwise we will remain, what in literary parlance could be referred to, as a nation of readers rather than of writers.

Over the last year, DERI mentors have provided computer programming courses to primary and post-primary schools in Connacht. In partnership with the Galway Education Centre and other stakeholders, we intend to roll out courses in programming to as many schools as possible over the next year. We will also be promoting the setting up of an inter-schools’ students Computer Club and encouraging participants to draw inspiration from visits to Ireland’s only museum which highlights the important but oftentimes hidden role of Irish people, women and young people in the history of world communications.

Scarecrows, Pedal-Powered Smoothies & Blacksmith Forge Amongst the Highlights of Ballinfoile Harvest Festival

2011-09-12T18:42:00.018Z

Face painting with Anja Sammon

Scarecrows, pedal-powered fruit smoothies, blacksmith forge, multi-ethnic cuisine, birdwatching excursion, a bugs detective experience and a bike maintenance workshop were some of the highlights of last Saturday’s Harvest Festival in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden held in the grounds of the Terryland Forest Park.

In spite of the atrocious weather at the weekend, hundreds of people turned up to enjoy an exciting programme of events that appealed to all ages and all traditions in a wonderful garden setting that is a tribute to the skills and civic enthusiasm that exists amongst the residents of Ballinfoile, Bothár an Choiste and Tirellan.

Social Inclusivity: Volunteer gardeners from the

Lisbrook Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre

The festival was a successful fusion of local volunteerism; environmental, community and art organizations idealism and the public service ethos of many staff in state agencies.

Michael Tiernan from Cumann na bhFear working the Forge

Mayor Hildegarde Naughton complimented the organisers, and along with councilor Frank Fahy and Derek Nolan TD, spent considerable time enjoying the positive ambiance of the occasion.

Mayor of Galway city Cllr Hildegarde Naughton, with Daire Smith & renowned Galway hurler Alan Kerins

Councillor Frank Fahy with Tom Cuffe who provided a very informative guided birdwatching tour of nearby woodlands

There were stalls selling locally grown fruit, herbs and vegetables;

Selling Vegetables & Fruits harvested from the community garden

tasty fruit smoothies produced by pedal power; a blacksmith forge; a multi-ethnic food fair; a home baking counter, a bird-watching tour of the surrounding woodlands; face painting; craft displays; a free bike maintenance workshop; a large marine aquarium; a trad music seisiún; disc jockeys; bug detective trails, and a medicinal herbal information stand.

Michael Quinn(L) from Galway Civic Trust enjoying some of the delightful ethnic dishes provided

What was particularly eye-catching though was the fantastic array of 40 plus colourful scarecrows that dotted the garden created by the children of Scoil San Phroinsias and the Sunny Meadow’s playschool.

Neighbourhood festivals based around locally grown food produce, culture, heritage, sport and environmental awareness are growing in popularity worldwide. Over the last few years events such as the Boreen Festivals of Castlegar have started to capture the public imagination in suburban Galway. In times of deepening recession, rising unemployment and decreasing national expectations, Irish people need to rediscover the importance of working with their neighbours to develop a sense of place, purpose and pride as well as a feeling of goodwill towards their localities. Traditionally, we as a nation have been characterized by a strong community ethos as exemplified by the GAA, ‘Meitheal’ and our coming together in times of adversity. So the festival was be grassroots based and will celebrate local volunteerism and demonstrate how residents working together for the common good can improve the quality of life in their communities.
Finally, a big thank you to Galway City Council and Galway City Partnership for all their support.

U3 (Frances, Deasan & Cathal) traditional music group

Visitors at the weekend also saw the fantastic contributions made by local people to the development of the garden over the last eighteen months including the drystone walls, hedgerows, poly-tunnel, vegetable plots, orchard, wildlife pond, wildflower meadow; path-laying, outdoor performance stage, disability-friendly raised beds, hazel hurdles, kitchen toilets, giant nature art mural and willow sculptures.

Bikers United! Brian MacGabhann & Cathal McCusker who were in charge of the Bike Maintenance Workshop

Distributing home-made ice lollies to the visitors

Kevin O'Hara from Atlantaquaria demonstrating the wonders of Galway Bay at the Marine Boat Aquarium

'Bug Detective' Stand from Dolores Keegan was one of the most popular stands at the Fest

Michael McDonnell, the backbone of the community garden for all things infrastructure, at the Cumann na bhFear workshop

Visitors left with a bountiful selections of fresh organic vegetables & fruits!

The Herbal Information Stall enlightened attendees on the medicinal value of what many still consider obnoxious Weeds

DJ Paul Coyne kept people entertained with his selection of Commentary & Celtic Rock music

Caroline, Justine & co provided a wide selection of month-watering multi-ethnic dishes to all & sundry!

The hard-working Caitriona Nic Mhuiris(left) was one of the engines of the Festival

Digging One's Own Dinner! -One of the great novelties of the Festival, was that we had many of the visitors

dig up their fruits and vegetables puchases!

Home-made Cakes & Jams Stall

Africans United! Pierre Ludwick from South Africa with a young west African friend

Tiernan McCusker pouring fruit smoothies from the pedal powered unit gracioulsy supplied by Liam Cobb of the West of Ireland Cycles

Scarecrows Galore!

The Children of Scoil San Phroinsias & Sunny Meadows playschool provided a breathtaking display of scarecrows,

each one of which had its individuality and character!

Developing Links Between Ireland's Technology Heritage Museums

2011-08-11T11:15:00.006Z

The Communications and Computer Museum (which I helped establish it as part of my Outreach work) at DERI NUI Galway intends to establish links with the telecommunications museum at the Alcatel-Lucent plant in Dublin.

I held discussions yesterday with the corporation’s Toby Joyce with a view to developing an ongoing working relationship between the two technology learning facilities that are unique to Ireland with the aim of promoting an awareness of technology innovation particularly amongst young people.

Toby is an ex-employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Galway and attended the DEC Reunion that was held in DERI last February.

Alcatel-Lucent’s R&D element is the New Jersey-based Bell Laboratories whose proud ancestry goes back to Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone who founded a research centre to focus on the analysis, recording and transmission of sound.

Bell Laboratories was one of the greatest communications research facilities of modern times, developing a wide range of revolutionary technologies that have helped change the world including the transistor, the laser, solar cell battery, synchronous sound motion pictures, the UNIX operating system, C & C++ programming languages. 7 Nobel Prizes were awarded for work at Bell Laboratories.

The corporate’s Blanchardstown plant has a museum that exhibits many of these inventions including a replica of the first telephone (1876),

a 1915 air-to-ground two way voice radio communications apparatus (consisting of a leather pilot helmet with built-in radio receiver and a microphone)

a 1923 Loop Antenna (Western Electric engineers used a similar device to send the first transatlantic telephone signal 1915);

an early fax tele-photograph machine (1925)

a 1926 Vitaphone record and project system (first talking movie).

Telstar model (somewhat smaller than the original) with Toby Joyce

My favourite artifact was the tiny solar-powered Telstar (first communications satellite) to relay television signals, telephone calls and fax images (1962).

There was also a fine collection of early telephones including a 1926 telephone switchboard contained in a beautiful carved wooden cabinet. The unit was from Newbliss County Monaghan and had only 3 customers (Garda Siochana, Post Office and Tyrone Guthrie) when it was installed was operated non-stop for 60years by one man Patrick McCabe. When it was replaced by an automatic service Patrick was made redundant at the ripe old age of 90years!

Plans for another 'Local Community Harvest Festival' in Galway City Gathers Pace

2011-08-03T19:42:00.019Z

There was a great attendance at last Tuesday’s meeting in the Menlo Park Hotel called to help in organising a neighbourhood Harvest Festival at 12.00-2.30pm on Sat Sept 10^th in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden.

The discussions and the resulting proposals were ambitious but nevertheless achievable.

Participants agreed to provide at the Harvest Festival the following:

a) mass display of children’s Scarecrows b) Arts activities including Face-Sketching by local children c) Music & ents (on stage) from local musicians d) Stalls selling locally-produced Organic Veg and Fruit produce e) multi-ethnic Cuisine(Irish, African, Asian f) Family Picnic area g) Bicycle Maintenance Workshop h) Displays of locally produced Crafts i) Recruitment Stall for new Men’s Skills Club (Cumann na bhFear j) Nature Tours (hourly) of neighbouring Terryland Forest Park.

Recent Scarecrow to Garden

Furthermore, it was agreed to continue with the mapping of walking and cycling routes in the Ballinfoile-Castelgar-Menlo localities.

Last year’s Ballinfoile Harvest Festival and the ongoing success of the Castlegar Boreen Festival shows that the spirit of the traditional Irish rural ‘Meitheal’ is making a comeback in Galway city.

Raised Beds, constructed by local volunteers

Raised beds in Polytunnel, constructed by local volunteers

Ballindooley/Castlegar Walking Route

View along the proposed new Ballindooley-Castlegar 'Greenway'

In advance of the Harvest Festival, it was further agreed to support local residents and landowners in a major clean up of a botharín that has been identified as a possible major new scenic walking and cycling route that links the Headford Road (near Ballindooley cross) and Tuam road (near Clooncauneen Castle).

Councillor Frank Fahy has liaised with local farmers and has secured broad support for its development as an ‘Off the Beaten Track’.

The clean-up will take place on Saturday Sept 3rd. Rendezvous: 10am at Ballindooley Stores.

Discussions are also taking place with Rosie Webb of Galway City Council on development of further 'greenways' in the Terryland Forest Park environs.

Terryland Forest Park Clean-Up

Members in attendance from the Lisbrook Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre agreed to coordinate a clean-up of a section of the Terryland Forest Park in advance of the Harvest Festival (details to follow soon).

Children’s Giant Eco-themed Mural

Last summer, City Arts Officer James Harrold commissioned artist Margaret Nolan to work with local children in creatively coming up with ideas to transform the ugly exterior of the multi-purpose (kitchen, toilets & storage) container into a giant canvass dedicated to Nature, gardening, agriculture and themselves.

The mural covered three sides of the unit. Local adult volunteers spent a week sandblasting the walls in preparation for the painting.

In advance of the Festival, Margaret will once again work with the local children and garden committee to complete the artwork.

Wildlife-friendly garden ethos

Volunteers Urgently Needed

Many Hands Make Light Work!

Next meeting will take place at 7.30pm on September 1^st in the Menlo Park.

Everyone is invited to support this exciting neighbourhood ‘Meitheal’ project. So if you feel you can contribute something and could not attend the last meeting, please contact us asap! This community initiative needs lots of volunteering help and advice to make it a success. So if you have any ideas for:

Children’s arts /crafts activities, nature walks, eco-stalls… or would just like to assist on the day in general volunteering, we would love to hear from you.

Building a traditional Irish rural stone wall

Native Tree Hedgerow preparation along garden perimeter, work carried oout by the youth of Dochas den Óige

The Jollity & 'Irishness' of the Galway Races

2011-08-01T12:02:00.025Z

Galway Race Week is probably Ireland's most popular Festival.
It is when the rest of the country seems to pour like a tidal wave into the City of the Tribes to indulge in a 7 day extravaganza of fun, gambling, drinking, frolicking, style, paddywackery & networking.
But most of this is undertaken with a nice bit of humour and in good taste.

During the Celtic Tiger years, Race Week was when helicopters descended on the city like a swarm of locusts; when the very latest BMW & Mercs populated the hotel carparks; when restaurants and bars were bursting at the seams; when pink champagne flowed like tap-water; when high class prostitutes turned tricks in city centre apartments & when all-night card games offered pots of six figure sums. It was the annual occasion for the Irish nouveau riche to publicly display their new found wealth with the arrogant vulgarity and pomp that was their trademark.

Trappings of a Medieval Jousting Tournament
The horse racing festivities at Ballybrit had all the trappings of a medieval jousting tournament.

The real Stars of the Festival

The state's traditional ruling political elite –Fianna Fáil (FF)- erected a special tent at the racing festival where the captains and kings of business, banking and industry dressed in all their regalia came to pay homage, to socialise and to be seen with 'King' Bertie 1 a.k.a. An Taoiseach (prime minister).
‘Pay’ being the operative word as it was 350Euro for a meal & seat in this regal tent!

Ballybrit Castle

A People's Festival
Yet like any good medieval gathering, there was and still is an opportunity for the ordinary folk to partake of the merriment and largesse.
So don’t believe for one minute that the Race city is a playground only for the rich and famous.

Young 'Mad Hatters'

Though the event was founded by the Anglo-Irish gentry and merchant elite of Galway city, nevertheless it has taken on a strong People's Festival identity, an amazing egalitarian extravaganza when-for one week only-the ordinary office worker rubs shoulders with aristocracy, priests, farmers, hookers, politicians, beggars, tourists and billionaires. And there is something for all ages- from betting offices, bars, restaurants to fairground attractions.

The Irish too have a special affinity with the horse and horse racing which reach far beyond the medieval period.

So while the festival was only founded as late as 1869, nevertheless its cultural antecedents pre-date even the Celtic epoch and hark back to the earliest Neolithic times when all members of a tribe or tribal confederation would gather together on one sacred location for a celebration of life combining worship with sport, competitions and entertainment for all peoples and all classes.
Of course, the demise of the Celtic Tiger has dampened the spirit of the occasion somewhat. The FF Tent has disappeared from the landscape; the ostentatious trappings of the property speculators is not as garishly on show to the same extent; helicopters seem to have become an endangered species as these noisy flying beasts are now much fewer in the skies over Galway; many local hotel rooms lie empty as ordinary visitors refuse to pay the outlandish prices that their owners stupidly still demand.

Yet the numbers of visitors remain more or less the same, though their spending has diminished. Interestingly, the crowds have over the last few years become much younger and sadly more drunker. For the first time in my years enjoying the jollity of the Festival, I experienced at first hand a darker side of the Week's festivities when I was violently accosted by a bunch of highly intoxicated well dressed young teenagers when I asked them to desist from littering a parkland and frightening others from enjoying the beauty of an area. Talking to friends, I found that this occurrence was sadly not an isolated incident. It is symptomatic of an Irish society that is suffering from a binge drinking malaise perpetrated by the greedy me fein philosophy of the 'boom years'.
But I still believe that these anti-social elements are a minority with most people out to enjoy themselves without wanting to negatively impinge on others.

Ladies' Day - A Race Course Full of Ireland's Most Beautifully Dressed Women

Thursday is ‘Ladies Day’ when women of all shapes & sizes dress up in their most beautiful finery to be praised and ogled.
From early in the morning, large groups of classy garbed females wait at bus stops all over the city on their way to the race course.
Amazingly once the event ends, hordes of girls in the most expensive dresses just take off their high heels and walk the miles back to their city centre hostelries and hotels. There is something so refreshing about this attitude. People may dress up in fantastic clothing for the festival, but most are still just ordinary 'down to earth' folk underneath.

'All the Fun of the Fair'
There is nothing like the age-old excitement of a Fair with fairground attractions for a younger generation to enjoy. But this one needs a serious revamp. Some of the equipment has seen better days & seems to be in a bad state of repair.
Furthermore, a few of the Funfair's attendants could also benefit from a course in customer relationships! This area seems to reek of staleness and inertia.
The children deserve better.

'Mad Hatters' Day!

One of the funniest events takes place on Sunday when girls and women (& a few men) wear "Crazy Hats'. The craftsmanship and time that people put into their headgear is absolutely fantastic. Fully fledged farm, stables and race tracks are recreated in the most detailed miniature to sit precariously on the top of people's heads!

Not only that, others create the most outrageous full length costumes to match their garish hats.
For hours these ostentatious individuals walk and mingle with the crowds before gathering together for the awards ceremony.

There is nothing else quite like the Galway Races on this planet!

Sweet Stall (a la Moore Street)

'Tea Room' - Remnant from British Imperial Days

New Unity of Purpose Between Galway City Council & Communities to Protect Biodiversity & Heritage

2011-07-21T17:09:00.022Z

Over the last few years, the protection of biodiversity and preservation of areas of natural heritage has deteriorated in Galway city. Serious pollution in Lough Corrib; increases in litter and illegal dumping in bogs, parks and woodlands; the almost complete disappearance of community tree plantings events; the attempts by officialdom to build a new road through the Terryland Forest Park; the failure to implement the Galway City Habitats Inventory (which agreed on a management plan and an annual monitoring process for 28 important natural habitats) by City Hall; the failure to develop 'ecological corridors'; the failure to appoint a City Biodiversity Officer; the loss of lands to an ever-expanding housing/roads construction a la urban sprawl; the ongoing destruction of hedgerows and drystone walls as field and roadside boundaries; the daily killing of native mammals such as hedgehogs, badgers and foxes by car traffic have all impacted negatively on wildlife.

But thankfully there has been a corresponding fightback by courageous individuals and organisations who consider it their duty and responsibility to educate people on the need for each of us and of humanity collectively to safeguard what is left of our natural environment before its disappearance leads to our own annihilation. Groups and organisations such as Atlantaquaria, An Taisce, Birdwatch Galway, Galway Bat Group, Inland Waterways Ireland, Galway City Community Forum, Castlegar Connect, Galway Education Centre, NUIG's Martin Ryan Institute and Applied Ecology Unit, Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden and concerned individuals such as Kay Synott, Tom Cuffe, Gordan D'Arcy and Caitriona Nic Mhuiris; politicians such as Catherine Connolly, Niall O'Brolchain, Derek Nolan and Cllr. Frank Fahy (FG) as well as city officials such as Sharon Carroll, Rosie Webb, James Harrold and Stephen Walsh deserve credit for their herculean efforts on behalf of the other species that live amongst us.
Their efforts have led to many eco-awareness programmes being adopted by schools and communities.

Our own NGO - has also played its part in changing public opinion.

For the last few weeks have witnessed significant progress in a number of key areas that the ‘Friends of the Galway Forests’ initiated or have been closely identified with since the group’s inception in late 2007. These successes include a local authority ‘Cash for Cans’ scheme, funding for a Community Garden Harvest Festival and the resurrection of the Terryland Forest Park Steering Committee.

1. ‘Cash for Cans’ Scheme Launched by City Council
Galway City Council this week officially launched Ireland's first pay-back scheme for drink cans. Well done to Councillor Catherine Connolly and to city officials for pushing this community proposal towards a successful conclusion.
The idea was initiated by the 'Friends of Galway Forests' in 2007, when we began lobbying the then Minister for the Environment to introduce a national ‘cash for beverage cans and bottles’ programme in order to clean up our parks, fields and natural habitats. When no favourable response was forthcoming from Minister Gormley, we re-focused our efforts in persuading city council to introduce a local scheme that hopefully the new government may ultimately roll out nationwide with a more significant cash payback for both cans and bottles. After all such a scheme exists in many other European countries and existed in Ireland for bottles until a few decades ago. Well done also to Community Forum reps Kieran Cunnane and Eleanor Hough for keeping the issue alive at SPC meetings and to Delo Collier and Michael Quinn at CDB meetings.

2. New Conservation Volunteers Group Agreed for Terryland Forest Park
After a series of correspondence, discussions and meetings with Stephen Walsh of Galway City Parks, it has been agreed to establish a new Conservation Volunteers group to organise a programme of on-site activities and projects for the Terryland Forest Park.
Nollaig McGuinness (Galway City Partnership), Michael Tiernan (Friends of Galway Forests), Paul Gillen (HSE), myself and Stepehn Walsh are presently compiling a programme of works for 2011/2012.

3. Resurrection!- Terryland Forest Park Steering Committee
After years of direct action as well as intense lobbying through a series of council sub-groups, a very workmanlike meeting between senior city director Ciaran Hayes and myself agreed on the terms of reference and membership of a Terryland Forest Steering Committee Mark 2.
The new committee will have representation from relevant groups such as HSE West, GMIT, NUIG, Community Forum, OPW, schools etc. who together will support and advise City Hall in its implementation of biodiversity policies, formulate an annual calendar of events, promote the park as an outdoor classroom, an outdoor laboratory and as a recreational resource.

4. Men’s Skills Group Secure Workshop Premises
A Ballinfoile Mór Men’s Shed (Cumann na bhFearr) was established in early 2011 thanks to the herculean efforts of Michael McDonnell and Michael Tiernan supported by Caitriona Nic Mhuiris. Amongst its aims are the promotion/teaching of traditional Irish crafts and skills. Earlier this week it secured a one year lease from City Council for a large 2 storey workshop premises in the Sandy Road Business Park.
Since its inception, members have undertaken a range of activities in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden that have included plumbing, electrics, carpentry and construction. A recruitment drive will commence in September for new members and to select appropriate built and natural heritage projects. Such a group could become a valuable long-term asset to the city, the local community, to the city's heritage and to the Terryland Forest Park in areas such as coppicing and hedgerow planting.

5. Community Harvest Festival
An important meeting will take place at 7.30pm on Tuesday next (July 26th) in the Menlo Park Hotel to coordinate the planning of a Harvest Festival and Community Celebration on September 10th in the Ballinfoile Mór community organic garden at which all interested groups and agencies are being invited to attend. The structure of the meeting will be based around a series of tables where different topics (arts, plantings, construction, biodiversity) will be discussed and agreed upon. The Sept 10th Festival will promote the work of a number of community and eco groups, will host an intercultural food fair and will be a celebration of the modern urban version of the traditional rural Irish Meitheal. This Harvest Festival has the potential to become an important annual neighbourhood gathering and celebration of ‘community’ within the Ballinfoile Mór locality. Hence it would be vital that as many people and organisations as is possible make an effort to attend the July 26th meeting. For we need ideas and people involvement in order to make this festival an outstanding success and to become a showcase for all local eco-communities.
Funding has been secured from City Hall for the Festival whilst RAPID and the Galway City Partnership have supported the garden project since its inception.

6. New Castlegar-Ballindooley-Clooncauneen Castle Walking Route
A very productive on-site investigation by Brian Smyth, Brendan Smith and Councillor Frank Fahey took on Sunday June 26th to check out the possibility of developing/mapping out a walking/cycling route connecting the Headford Road to the Tuam Road near the castle of Cloonacauneen Castle. The scenic trail studied was characterised by quiet hedgerows/drystone lined botharins, passing bogs, castles, and pasture lands. But there was a noticeable high level of industrial-scale illegal dumping. A few days later Councillor Fahey held very productive talks with local landowners regarding issues of access, botharín repairs etc.
It is quite possible that this new walking/cycling route could become operational by summer 2012 and would compliment the now popular ‘Off the Beaten Track’ Ballinfoile-Castelgar-Menlo cycle heritage trail thus forming the basis for developing a local community-based eco-heritage tourism strategy for Galway city.
As an update, 44 cyclists took apart in the last ‘Off the Beaten Track’ tour on June 19th.

Disappointment with Galway City Mayor's U-Turn on 'Zoning & Vested Interests' Comments

2011-07-15T22:18:00.014Z

Below is an article of mine the main elements of which appeared as a letter in the current edition of the Galway Advertiser:

In January, Fine Gael Councillor Hildegarde Naughton electrified the political landscape with a major revelation on the state of local politics in Galway city: “We’re either here to serve the public interests or vested interests. There is an elite in this city that has been pulling strings for the last 20 years and councillors are doing their bidding for them.” She felt that this relationship resulted in councillors re-zoning 150 hectares of land in contravention of the citizenry-consulted Galway City Development Plan and against the advice of planners, leading to a surplus of commerciall land that undermined other land requirements. She called on all councillors to have the courage to stand up, side with ordinary citizens and say enough is enough.

Consequence of Property Speculation

Her views echoed that of so many community activists who have seen the quality of life of neighbourhoods destroyed by an urban sprawl too often characterised by concrete jungles of overpriced houses in suburbs suffering from absentee landlord neglect and of ghost estates; that is starved of an natural heritage-recreational facility infrastructure and with an anti-pedestrian/anti cyclist/anti-public transport road system; where key industrial lands needed for the Smart Economy jobs are sacrificed to build rows of empty offices and retail outlets; where prime agricultural lands needed to feed the world’s growing population and to protect biodiversity are re-zoned to met the short-term unsustainable demands of greedy property speculators.

Corrosive Influence of Vested Interests on Irish Politics

Politicians cannot serve two masters. It is a matter of public record that developers have made donations to elected representatives in Galway city and across the country. Being good businessmen, they are probably looking for a return on their investments. Likewise it is well known that many politicians both here and elsewhere havestrong associations with the property sector.

Yet sadly we now find that this outspoken young female councillor who dared to speak the truth has been forced to grovel before her accusers by publicly apologising and retracting many of her previously strongly held statements in order to secure the position of Mayor.

No office of state is worth such a sacrifice.

It has brought the Mayorship into disrepute.

Mistake Not To Refuse Ultimatum

Councillor Naughton would have been wiser to have refused such an ultimatum, stood by her comments and to have sided with those of her fellow councillors who have consistently over the years stood up against vested interests. For in not so doing, she has disappointed those of us who were expecting her to be part of a new political landscape that would sweep away the unholy alliance of property speculators, bankers and compliant politicians who have destroyed Ireland’s sovereignty, ruined our countryside, reduced the nation to penury and forced unborn generations to financial enslavement by having to pay for their property gambling debts, greed, incompetency and mismanagement.

For the thrust of her earlier statements has been confirmed by experts and others right across the political spectrum.

Developer-driven Galway City

For instance the then acting Galway city manager Ciaran Hayes told councillors in late 2010 that rezoned lands were unsustainable and would only benefit developers.

An Bord Pleanála Chairman John O’Connell said recently that, “land zoning was the greatest failure in Irish planning and had brought the system into disrepute.”

At the same January meeting that our present mayor made her views first known, Brian Walsh (now TD) commented as he voted against commercial rezoning that, “(It is necessary for councillors)…to vote in accordance with what is right for the city rather than what appeases individuals with vested interests.” Yet the very issue that Councillors Naughton and Walsh were alluding too, namely the request from former Fianna Fail mayor Michéal Ó hUiginn for a rezoning of 9.5 acre lands in Shantalla, was voted through this week in contravention of government’s strategy on urban retail planning and against the advice of city planners. The city does not need more supermarkets, institutions that led to more job losses than they create, who have helped destroy farming in this country.

Fianna Fáil - "...party of bankers, builders and developers..."

Éamon Ó Cuív T.D., a politician who personifies many of the original egalitarian principles of Fianna Fáil, stated immediately after the last General Election that his party had to move away from the corrosive image of the Galway Tent with its associations with big builders and bankers by admitting that “we have to reposition the party away from the image of a party of bankers, builders and developers.” He hoped too that, “Those who affiliated to Fianna Fáil just because we were in power will move away from Fianna Fáil now we are not in power”.

No-one has asked Messer’s Walsh, Hayes or Ó Cuív to apologise for or retract these comments. So why has the present mayor done so?

Mayor Naughton must be praised though in admitting that she made a grave error of judgement this week in giving the casting vote to deny David Norris the opportunity to address Galway City Council which she promised to rectify. She should follow this brave decision by returning to and implementing her previously held conviction that the needs of ordinary people should take precedence over vested interests.

Irish in Africa

2011-07-08T13:43:00.003Z

I am presently helping one of Ireland's great sporting heroes Alan Kerins develop further his organisation's Social Media elements to promote his work with schools & communities in Africa. It is an honour to be able to help such an visionary individual who brings hope to so many people in need in Zambia & who inspires so many others in Ireland to give their time, energies & funds for needy causes