Speedie's Blog

Space Exploration exhibition at Computer & Communications Museum

2026-06-04T20:46:52.237+00:00

Well done to Adam Collison in the 14th year of THREESIS

2026-05-06T09:09:00.008+00:00

I was delighted to have been asked by Marina Ansaldo, PhD of the Vice President Office of Research & Innovation at the University of Galway to mentor Adam Collison, one of the finalists in this year’s Threesis, a competition for postgraduate researchers to explain their work in 3 minutes on 3 slides in front of 3 judges in a way that is clear, engaging & relevant to a lay or public audience
Adam is a final-year PhD student in Physics and his research focuses on evaluating the impact of energy retrofits on indoor air quality in public buildings, specifically offices and schools. He is passionate about his research. As he said himself “…What excites me most about my work is that air quality affects absolutely everyone, no one can survive without air, yet the factors that shape it indoors are poorly understood by most…”

Air quality is something that I too have a strong interest in, having being involved through Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics in citizen science projects such as 'The Air We Share' (part of decarbonising Galway)with Liz Coleman & Galway City Council.
At the Grand Finale yesterday, Adam came second in a very strong field.
So a big ‘Bualadh Bos’ to Adam for achieving Silver!! A well deserved award and recognition!
I ensured that I got my photo taken with him & Prof Donal Leech, Dean Of Graduate Studies!

Though not involved anymore in an organisational role, I have had a long association with Threesis having being one of its founding members in 2012 along with Ann Lyons, Dave Finn, Ena Brophy, Dr Lorraine Tansey, Louise Nolan, Ruth Hynes, Sarah Knight & Valerie Parker.
I got the idea for it from the national Thesis-in-3 that was then organised by SFI (now
Taighde Eireann) specifically for research centres personnel which had started in 2010, with the first winner being Eyal Oren from my own NUIG institute of DERI. I felt that we could do something similar in Galway & that ‘Threesis’ would be a catchy name!
The original committee, comprising a fantastic lively bunch of visionaries, agreed. But we expanded it to include both students & staff from across all disciplines, ensuring too that the judging panel reflected the wider Galway society. In the early years, we also hosted the finals in the city centre & soon got GMIT(now ATU) involved. In our first year (2012), the grand final (see right image on dual photo) was held in the Galway building of the local branch of Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. The audio-visual technical manager then & now was the highly professional Cormac Staunton
At the first final the 3 judges were Liam Bluett, Director of Ballybane Enterprise Centre; Frances Shanahan, RTE Journalist; & Prof Terry Smith, Vice President of Research at what was then NUI Galway

After 14 years, it's so good to see the University of Galway’s Office of Research & Innovation team keeping Threesis going from strength to strength. Maith daoibh!

JUST 3- a wonderfully successful Environmental Partnership between University & the wider Galway Community

2026-04-30T16:58:00.000+00:00

I was honoured to be with the wonderful International Student Officer Louise Kelly as we represented the University of Galway’s JUST 3 initiative at the finals of the all-Ireland Education Awards 2026 for the third level sector that was held last week in county Meath
We were present on the night in the companionship of a number of other great project nominees from the University of Galway, namely University of Galway Access Centre, Erasmus, PEP Project & University of Galway IdeasLab. It was the latter that ensured that Galway took home a top prize, being winners of the ‘Best Collaboration Award’ for its ‘Building the Empathy Studio Through Co-Creation & Collaboration’. So a big ‘Bualadh Bos’ to Natalie & team!
Though Just 3 did not win the ‘International Engagement Award’ this time around, nevertheless we were proud that it received national recognition as it provides a unique & meaningful opportunitiy for international students studying at our university to undertake weekly conservation activities in Terryland Forest Park alongside members of the wider population of Galway city. Volunteering activities include tree/wildflower plantings, removing invasive species, developing eco-heritage trails, restoring rural features, litter picking & introducing sustainable farming. There's also a very critical built-in social dimension to Just 3 as, after every group work activity, volunteers come together to share stories over coffee/tea & biscuits in a relaxed café setting. Participants gain essential social, health & environmental benefits from working with others in Nature.
So even though the international students may only be 2/3 academic terms living in Ireland, nevertheless their legacy is a lasting one. By planting trees & wildflowers in our city, they are putting permanent roots in Irish soil & helping make Ireland a better place for both people & for biodiversity.
The Just 3 intiative was founded in 2024 by Louise Kelly & myself assisted by the then Students’ Union President Dean Kenny (who designed the eye-catching poster), the university Society’s officer Rena Hughes, SU Environmental Officer Malena Thren & the then ALIVE Coordinator Dr Lorraine Tansey. So we were so delighted that the bubbly, energetic & ever-so-friendly Lorraine Tansey was present at the Education Awards to jointly receive the "Most Innovative Digital Transformation" Award for the StudentVolunteer.ie website. Though Lorraine is now helping in coodinating student volunteering nationwide in her capacity as Programme Manager at Student Volunteer Ireland, we in Galway are still benefiting from her efforts. For it is through the Student Volunteer website that students sign up for Just 3 in order to undertake Tuatha Terryland Forest Park activities. This registration process is coordinated locally by my good friend Ann O'Brien as the university’s Community Engagement Officer.

April – Another busy month mentoring Schools!

2026-04-30T16:56:00.003+00:00

Even with the long Easter holidays break for schools, Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics still managed in April to host, at the University of Galway's Data Science Institute (DSI), multiple primary, secondary, business and language schools as well as students from French & Swedish colleges for a combination of AI-themed Research Talks, coding workshops, and guided museum tours. We also provided STEM workshops/talks in classrooms from Abbey in south Galway to Creggs in north Galway and from Galway city to Ballinlough in county Roscommon.
A total of 15 events.

So a big thank you/Míle buíochas once again to my Insight Galway colleagues who made all of this school mentoring possible, namely Alan Reidy Andrew Simpkin, Alex Acquier, Duc-Duy Nguyen, Elizabeth Hunter, Erik de Jong, Finn Krewer, Ghanshyam Verma, Ifeoluwapo Aribilola, Jim Duggan, Kashif Shaheed, Majjed Al-Qatf, Muhammad Yasar Khan (PhD), Olusegun Agbabiaka, PhD, Umair ul Hassan, Ronan Timon, Shunmuga Priya MC and Yang Yang.

Ag tosú ar an gcéad lá de Bhealtaine, déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall an beagán Gaeilge atá agam a úsáid i mo chuid teagaisc i scoileanna i gCarna, i Ros Muc agus i gCathair na Gaillimhe. Tá súil agam go gcuideoidh sé liom feabhas a chur ar mo chumas múineadh trí úsáid a bhaint as an nGaeilge.

Galway city stakeholders united in demand for Corrib Cycling & Pedestrian Bridge.

2026-04-14T10:42:00.001+00:00

After a packed public meeting on the need for the long-overdue construction of a pedestrian-cycling bridge over the River Corrib, a multi-sectoral delegation was set up to meet with senior management in Galway City Council on the issue.

This group-comprising members with community, business, cycling, waterways, tourism, heritage and environmental interests- recently met with the council’s Director of Services Derek Pender and Project Engineer Micheál Cormican.
We were informed that, in spite of funding being withdrawn by the National Transport Authority (NTA) which had previously been committed and which could have meant the death knell for the construction of a bridge on top of the former Galway City-Clifden railway line, the council undertook immediate decisive action to secure the agreement of the national Urban Regeneration Development Fund (which was set up under the National Development Plan 2018-2027) for the local authority to progress the project through the relevant statutory planning process.

To continue with this process in a situation when there was no financial or policy support from the NTA, we were told that internally, the local authority has transferred the project from its NTA-funded office for Active Travel projects to the newly established office for Project Management and Capital Delivery.
We commend City Hall for taking this progressive course of action.

However it’s important for the general public to realise that the funding currently in place is to bring the project through the statutory planning consent process only and there is currently no funding model in place when this planning and design phase is completed. Therefore there is still a serious question mark over whether this bridge will ever become a reality.

Sadly we have been here before. In 1999 it was declared that this bridge, to be known as the Millennium Bridge, would be open to the public by December 2000 acting as a hub connecting to the newly opened Terryland Forest Park, to the nearby developing cultural district, and to a proposed series of recreational facilities and a network of paths along the River Corrib and canals. Through no fault of the council at the time the bridge did not come to pass.

Over a quarter of a century later though its importance as a vital piece of urban infrastructure has only grown in stature. For it would provide a safe active travel route connecting people on both sides of the River Corrib to their places of work (including the planned urban village to be built on what is now the Dyke Road carpark) and study as well as to hospitals, leisure facilities and areas rich in biodiversity. Futhermore it would, by directly connecting into the long overdue Connemara Greenway, dramatically boost sustainable tourism and bring huge economic benefits to the region west of the Corrib.

Support for the bridge includes Galway City Council, the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) Section of Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the University of Galway, community organisations such as the Galway City Community Network in the city and the Connemara Greenway Alliance in the county, heritage waterways advocates such as Corrib Beo, and businesses such as Aerogen, as well as multiple schools and health advocates.

In order to ensure that the bridge is built, a newly formed multi-sectoral grouping will, amongst other actions, be writing to all national political representatives for Galway West as well as to all candidates in the upcoming by-elections requesting their public support and asking to state what actions they can undertake to ensure funding is secured at a national level once the statutory planning process is completed. We realise of course that there is wide political support. But after so many delays over so many decades, we need at this stage firm political action for the construction of what will become a icon and a symbol of a new sustainable Galway.

Photo shows attendees at Corrib Bridge meeting in City Hall (L-R): Micheal O Cinneide, Jen Cunningham, Justine Delaney, Brendan Smith, Brendan Mulligan, Freddy Valla, Micheál Cormican and Derek Pender. Not in photo- Bernadette Mullarkey.

Google Glasses!

2026-03-31T18:17:00.005+00:00

A visiting German student at the museum today tries out the Google Glasses from 2014.

Why not come along to our fabulous technology heritage facility and try out these iconic glasses and mor of our latest additional artifacts this Saturday (April 4th)? We are open to the general public from 11am to 2pm.

Eircode: H91 AEX4

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1985806304112?aff=oddtdtcreator

61 schools & youth events organised in January-March 2026!

2026-03-31T18:02:00.004+00:00

Ever since our return from the Christmas holidays, it has been 'all systems go!' at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics as we continue to deliver a range of exciting & meaningful educational programmes both directly in schools & for those visiting the Data Science Institute (DSI) of the University of Galway.
Whilst our engaged research projects involve partnerships with businesses, local government, state agencies, health professionals, farmers & communities not only in Ireland but all across Europe, we have always since our inception given significant attention to our Irish school-going population not only in upskilling them in technology skills that fit within the educational curriculum; in providing role models in the form of young researchers; in making them aware of career opportunities over our multiple research fields which align with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); but also in making them as well as their teachers & parents fully aware of & how to counter the dark side of the Web especially now in an era of growing abuse of AI by major players.
Our educational activities range from coding, Virtual Reality & digital local heritage workshops, to Research Talks on AI & Data Science, to guided tours of the Computer and Communication Museum of Ireland and in providing age-appropriate presentations on Internet Safety.
From early Jan to end of March, we will have organised 61 events for schools, youth groups, after-school clubs & university societies (e.g. in Engineering, Computing & Innovation) in counties Roscommon, Mayo, Offaly, Galway as well as in Galway city. I myself also got the opportunity to travel overseas in my EPE role- this month and last I mentored in the island school of Inishbofin! Furthermore, we make certain that we deliver programmes to ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools’(DEIS) that have high concentrations of disadvantage.

Thanks to Insight Galway volunteers, we've ensured that our Educational & Public Engagement(EPEs) programmes are as strong in 2026 as they were in proceeding years, So a big thank you/Bualadh Bos to our researchers Abdul Wahid, Al Waskow, Alan Reidy,Alex Acquier, Carlos Tighe, Duc-Duy Nguyen, Ifeoluwapo Aribilola, Jefkine Kafunah, Katarzyna Stasiewicz, Gaurav Negi,Kashif Shaheed, Lucas Rabelo, Liz Hurley, Luke Porwol, Shakir Bilal, Janak Kapuriya, Jim Duggan,Jefkine Kafunah, John Andrew, Umair ul Hassan, Muhammad Sohaib Ayub, Muhammad Yasar Khan (PhD), Prateek Paul,Ronan Timon, Tunde Ajayi as well as to our great operations team of Brian Wall, Christiane Leahy-Coen, claire browne, Gerard Conneely, (PhD), Maria Smyth, Michelle Treacy & Tomas Grigas, PhD, PSM I
As always, I consider myself blessed to work alongside such colleagues who are prepared to give their time & energies to introduce their research to the wider community as well as in upskilling our youth in creative technologies

AI Research for the Good of People & the Planet

2026-03-30T19:13:00.001+00:00

Over 50 German students and their teachers from the Galway Business School (GBS) attended a special 'AI for Good' event in the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at the Data Science Institute of the University of Galway where they learnt about some of our ground-breaking research projects designed to bring benefits to humanity and to the planet.
In a time when aspects of AI and science generally can and are being used to inflict death and destruction on planet Earth, it is critical that we increase our efforts to support STEM programmes that are life-giving.
At Insight we have for many years mapped our research against the United Nations 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and organise activities to make the public aware of our work especially by engaging with schools, communities, businesses and policy makers.
So a big thank you/Míle buíochas to my fellow colleagues at Insight DSI for giving presentations to the visiting German students and making themselves available for questions, namely Elizabeth Hunter on 'Computational Modelling to Predict the Spread of Infectious Diseases'; Bharathi Raja Chakravarthi on 'Inclusive AI'; Prateek Paul on 'Incentive Alignment in Data Sharing Ecosystems'; and Jefkine Kafunah on 'AI, Big Data and Data Analytics for the AgriFood sector'.
After the research talks, I gave the young people an overview of the history (with a Galway & Ireland flavour!) of computing and communications technologies before providing them with an immersive guided tour of the computer museum.

Worth remembering that once there was a US President that stood up against Zionism, was a genuine peacemaker & did not use his office for personal gain.

2026-03-02T18:47:00.004+00:00

Jimmy Carter did so much during and after his term as US President which brought benefits to the world and truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize when it was eventually awarded to him in 2002.

He was not perfect but Jimmy was a deeply religious man who actually tried to live by the basic tenets of Christianity and, unlike Trump, used his public status not for personal wealth but to promote peace.
In fact he was the antithesis of the present day US President who is the personification of 5 of the 7 deadly sins that I was taught as a child in Christian religious class to beware of namely: pride, greed, lust, envy and wrath.

Among Jimmy's achievements:
-Helped mediate peace between Egypt and Israel through the 1978 Camp David Accords.
-Was the first President that called for a Palestinian homeland.
-Began the transfer of ownership of the Panama Canal from the USA to the country of Panama.
-Established Human Rights as an important element of U.S. foreign policy.
-Introduced energy conservation for the first time as a key element of US policy and established the Department of Energy.
-Spent decades after his Presidency personally helping to build houses for the poor, funding disease eradication programmes and undertaking diplomatic peace missions across the world.

I will never forget his interview on BBC Newsnight in the early 2000s when he warned the world of the dangers of the Israeli right-wing Zionist wealthy lobbyist group known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), mentioning how they had corrupted US politics, saying that one could not successfully run as a small town sheriff in the USA if they were up against you. He correctly stated that they were a barrier towards achieving a just peace in the Middle East.

The Nativity of Jesus could never have happened in 2026

2026-02-22T20:05:00.005+00:00

Photo from the 'Vatican News' media

Earlier this month the Galway Advertiser newspaper published my letter entitled "The Nativity of Jesus could never have happened in 2026."

I, as with the vast majority of the Irish people and indeed of the whole world, am horrified by the utter brutality of the Israeli occupation forces (both the military & the colonists) in the West Bank and Gaza and had to 'put pen to paper' once again.

But I was inspired also by Pope Francis's inauguration during Christmas 2024 of the "Nativity of Bethlehem 2024" scene placed in the Vatican which featured the baby Jesus lying on a Palestinian keffiyeh. The scene was crafted by Palestinian artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi from Bethlehem and featured olive wood figures of Joseph and Mary with the infant Jesus swaddled in a black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh. It gave due recognition to the present day sufferings of the Palestinian peoples whether they are Muslim, Christian or secular.

My letter below:

The Nativity of Jesus could never have happened in 2026

It was only a few weeks ago on January 19th that Christmas Day was celebrated amongst the oldest Christian communities in the world, namely in the Middle East. It got me to reflect on the story of the Nativity or birth of Jesus and its significance in the 21st century.

The story is well known. Joseph walks alongside his heavily pregnant wife Mary sitting on a donkey as they journey across difficult terrain from their home in the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Joseph’s ancestral home of Bethlehem in Judea to register for a census required by the imperial Roman authorities. Once there they found there was no room available to rent for their stay. So they had to make do by taking shelter in a stable amongst animals where Mary subsequently gave birth, laying the new born baby in an animal feeding trough (manger). Singing angels appeared in the night sky and asked shepherds looking after their flocks of sheep in the hills above Bethlehem to go to the stable where the baby Jesus lay. Nearly two weeks later three magi or priests from lands far to the east of the Jordan River followed a star to Bethlehem to present gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the new born infant and family. As a result of their visit though, soldiers later came to Bethlehem to carry out the orders of King Herod (the ruler of the Roman vassal state of Judea) to kill all baby boys under the age of two in order to stop the fulfillment of a prophesy that one of them would become a future "King of the Jews". To save Jesus from certain death, the family fled Judea and took refuge in Egypt. They only returned to Nazareth after the death of Herod.

In spite of the poverty and terror in the ‘Holy Land’ during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius and his local client ruler King Herod, it is unlikely that the Nativity could occur in 2026.

For a Palestinian Arab from Nazareth would be generally forbidden from traveling to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank even if it was his ancestral home. The same holds for Palestinians going in the opposite direction. Even if they managed to get a permit from the occupying military power, they would have to go through multiple Israeli checkpoints, a eight metre high separation wall as well as encounter illegal settlements and their armed Jewish residents who are increasingly and violently taking over Palestinian lands (against international law) through attacking, evicting and killing the indigenous population. Where Palestinians have being forced by an Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide to escape to nearby Jordan or Egypt they, unlike the family of Jesus who temporarily fled to Egypt to save their lives, would be able to return to their homes, which more than likely would be occupied by Jewish colonists.

Nor would the three Magi ever be allowed access to Bethlehem in order to give gifts to a new born child. It is probable that the Magi were members of the Persian priestly caste of Zoroastrianism, then the main religion of the Parthian Empire centred on what is now Iran (formerly Persia). Few if any Iranians today would be allowed to visit Bethlehem by the occupying state. Nor would frankincense and myrrh and be so readily available as gifts. Grown primarily in war-ravaged Somalia and Yemen, the frankincense and myrrh trees are facing major threats from climate change, over-exploitation and population growth.

The heavenly sounds of angels singing have been replaced by the sounds of armed drones.

But there are other aspects of Palestine/Israel in 2026 that evokes the story of the Nativity. As in the time of Jesus the people of Palestine use donkeys to transport people and goods, this time though in Gaza to flee Israeli bombardment.

Whilst Jesus was born in an animal’s stable, today so many Palestinian women in Gaza give birth in the unsanitary conditions of tents made from plastic and tarpaulin as their homes and hospitals had been deliberately destroyed by the Israeli military.

Shepherds like those that came to worship Jesus at his birth still live in Bethlehem but their lives, lands and sheep are threatened daily by armed Zionist colonists.

The narcissism and tyranny of Tiberius and Herod emulates in so many ways that of Trump and Nethanyahu, both groups of rulers accepting or implementing a collective slaughter of civilians.

Two thousand years after Jesus, Christianity faces extinction in the land of its birth due to colonisation and ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Christian and Muslim populations in the occupied West Bank and genocide in Gaza.

Jesus message of peace and ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ in 2026 is more important than ever before

Galway’s Role in introducing Science into the Irish Primary School Curriculum, 2002-2005.

2026-02-10T22:19:00.005+00:00

As part of last Nov’s Galway Science & Technology Festival I organised a very special event in the Galway Education Centre with its director Liam Mitchell. Bernard Kirk my good friend & internationally renowned educationalist, acted as Master of Ceremony.
The occasion was a re-launch of science films made by the children & teachers of 35 Galway city & county primary schools involved in the Fionn School Science project, an inspiring pioneering government-funded initiative that operated from 2001/2002 to 2004/2005. As well as the viewing of the project films, there was an exhibition on the night comprising equipment, media coverage, awards & even science exhibits made by the young participants all those years ago.

Fionn led the way in successfully pioneering the introduction of science into Ireland’s primary school curriculum by having participating schools make a series of highly informative child-centric science & technology online videos during the period 2002-2005.

I was delighted to see so many fellow veteran STEM & Science Festival stalwarts in attendance as well as so many of the great teachers I had worked with on the Fionn projects all those years ago.

We were also honoured to have present at the event the family of the late Noel Treacy TD who, as Minister for Science, Technology & Commerce, secured the government mandate & funding for Fionn. Noel was one of the most ‘lets get things done’ politicians that I ever had the privilege to work with.

Over the last few years I spent much time searching for & gathering up these films that were on old VHS tapes, DV cassette tapes & DVDs in order to digitise them & make them available online once again after a gap of nearly 20 years for the benefit of present & future generations.
With over 110 videos digitised & to be made available shortly on the BEO heritage website (provided by Insight Centre for Data Analytics in association with University of Galway and the Heritage Office of Galway County Council) they show the children of Galway city & county schools of nearly a quarter of a century ago as vanguards in bringing science into the Irish Primary Educational Curriculum which occurred in autumn 2004.

Many of the themes of these films include topics so relevant to today’s educational world e.g. air quality, waste management, biodiversity restoration, peatlands, reforestation, heritage protection, water pollution, renewable energies, communications, optics, circulatory system, geology & farming.
Nor surprisingly these videos became a valuable online resource for schools nationwide over a number of years. Furthermore, for 4 consecutive years the Fionn schools also formed the major educational component of the annual exhibition of the Galway's Science Festival which was held during this period in Salthill(Leisureland & Galway Bay Hotel). Up until 2001, there was usually only one school having a stand at its exhibition finale. In 2002, there were 28 Fionn schools exhibiting & their presence remained constant for the following 3 years & beyond.

Encouraged by Jimmie Browne I applied for & was appointed coordinator to help develop, under the stewardship of the Galway Education Centre, what turned out to be an innovative & pioneering project. It was my first re-entry into Irish education after a gap of over 10 years which included spending a few years working outside Ireland & in other sectors within the country.

Bernard at the time was Director of the Galway Education Centre with Ciaran Folan as its technology advisor. Both powerful STEM advocates. The project was also generously supported by Jimmie Browne, Pat Morgan, Tom Hyland (RIP), Simon Lenihan, & Malachy Thompson in their capacity as members of Galway Science & Technology Festival committee.
Our remit was to help in what was really a RE-introduction of science into the primary school curriculum after an absence of nearly 80 years. For it was taken out to make way for the Irish language soon after the foundation of the Irish Free State.
We knew that teachers already had a packed daily schedule, providing a wide range of subjects as well as sport, health & social activities. Now they were expected, with very few additional long-term resources, to become familiar with & embrace a brand new & very important subject, one that was expected to help shape the country’s economic development.
Understandably there would be resistance from some within the teaching profession.
A difficult challenge lay before us.
Still we planned to capture the imagination of both teachers & children.
Our aim was to make science exciting, fun, hands-on, using high tech, easy-to-embrace, inclusive, relevant to their everyday lives, cross-curriculum, involving the whole class or school that they would enthusiastically want to sign up to as a pilot school!
So at the start of the 21st century, we came up with something completely different from anything that had gone before...(Part 3 is next post)

At a time (early 2000s) when the public perception of a scientist was oftentimes of someone who was male, old, grey-haired, ‘nerdy’ and dressed in a white lab coat, we adopted a logo (designed by Lol Hardiman) for Fionn that portrayed a happy boy and girl dressed in colourful clothing trying out science experiments together.

In an era before broadband, smart phones and social media immersion, we gave participating schools their first ever laptop (Apple iBook- Macbook's predecessor), their first ever high speed digital phone line (ISDN), their first ever hand-held video camera, their first movie editing software (iMovie) and their first training in video production in order for them to make a series of child-centric films every year for four years related to science and technology but also taking in other aspects of the school curriculum such as languages, music, history, geography and art. The completed films each year were hosted on a Department of Education website as well as on a specific Fionn website (developed by Diarmuid O’Riordan) that gave schools their first ever presence on the World Wide Web. A 'Directory of Science Experts' was compiled comprising scientists and other STEM advocates from NUI Galway (now University of Galway), GMIT (now Atlantic Technology University, Galway Atlantaquaria, Coillte, Teagasc, Western Health Board (now [Health Service Executive, the Western Regional Fisheries Board (now Inland Fisheries Ireland) and elsewhere who were available to support schools with their Fionn projects. We also funded artists Martin O'Ceidigh, Lol Hardiman, Diarmuid Mullen and Podge Daly to provide artistic mentoring to the schools for their projects.

Not surprisingly Fionn projects won many local and national awards and acted as a catalyst in the establishment of a Schools category within the inaugural Galway County Heritage Awards (now the Cathaoirleach Awards) launched in 2003 by its awesome Heritage Officer Marie Mannion.

Fionn’s legacy is a proud one. For I sometimes meet teachers, scientists and engineers who tell me that a Fionn science project inspired or reinforced their interest in what became their future careers. And today science is a key subject taught in all of the 3000 primary schools schools in Ireland. As the old proverb states, “Mighty oaks from small acorns grow”.

Photo on left shows my son Dáire at a Fionn stand in the Galway Science Fair 2003.

Photo on right shows Laura Porter (teacher & science advocate at New Inn National School) proudly pointing to herself on a Fionn film from 2003 when she was a senior infants class pupil at Ballymana National School. With Laura is Anne Murray, manager of the Galway Science & Technology Festival. Photo taken at the Fionn Science Films Launch.

We are living in an Age of Empires

2026-01-04T14:59:00.003+00:00

The US government's illegal war on Venezuela was never about drugs or democracy.

It was always about oil and regime change.

Trump has made it quite clear that he does not care what Greenlanders, Canadians, Panamanians and Venezuelans think. For in his imperial mindset, their country’s natural resources belong not to them but to the USA (i.e big American corporations).

Imperialism is back with a vengeance. Trump wants total control of the Western Hemisphere; is happy to allow Netanyahu to integrate and colonise the Palestinian territories and control Lebanon; and for Putin to recreate the Tsarist Empire with puppet status and assimilation awaiting Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

International Law and the United Nations have being totally ignored by the USA, Russia and Israel.

As with Israel's genocide in Gaza and increasing colonisation of the occupied West Bank, the EU will behave spinelessly and will do absolutely nothing of substance to hold the USA to account.

With China expanding its territorial ambitions in the seas bordering Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and having economic control over so many countries, we are sadly returning to an Age of Empires with their ‘Spheres of Influence’ where ‘Might is Right’ and small countries exist only to serve the Big Powers.

Born in a stable then, Born in a tent today.

2025-12-31T19:32:00.006+00:00

As a Catholic Christian I celebrate at Christmas the nativity (birth) of Jesus.

The story is well known: Joseph walks alongside his pregnant wife Mary on a donkey across difficult terrain on their journey of c140km from their home in the town of Nazareth in Galilee to his ancestral home of Bethlehem in Judea in order to register for a census required by the Roman authorities. Once there they found there was no room available to rent. So they managed to take shelter in a stable for animals where Mary subsequently gave birth laying the new born baby in a manger (animal feeding trough). Nearly 2 weeks later three magi or priests followed a star to Bethlehem from the lands of the Parthian Empire where they gave gifts for the baby Jesus. Later soldiers carried out the orders of King Herod the Great (the ruler of the Roman vassal state of Judea) to kill all baby boys under the age of two to stop the fulfillment of a prophesy that one would become a future "King of the Jews".

That was over 2000 years ago. Yet the story of Jesus resonates today in the land of his birth. Pope Leo, the spiritual leader of Catholics, correctly gave a modern reference to the nativity when he said in his first Christmas sermon that the story of Jesus being born in a stable showed that God had “pitched his fragile tent” among the peoples of the world. He was alluding to the fact that nearly 2 million Palestinians in the land of Jesus’ birth live today in cold, hunger, squalor and without the basic necessities of life such as clean water, sanitation, education and work, confined largely to hastily erected tents immersed in floods along a seashore battered by the winds and rain of vicious storms after their homes, neighbourhoods schools and workplaces were systemically destroyed by an Israeli military using an estimated total of 200,000 tonnes of explosives, which is equivalent to the total energy of approximately 13 Hiroshima-type nuclear bombs.

But in spite of the poverty and terror of the Holy Land during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, it is unlikely that the Nativity could occur today. A Palestinian Arab from Nazareth would be generally forbidden from traveling to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank even if it was his ancestral city. Likewise for Palestinians going in the opposite direction. Even if they managed to get a permit from the occupying military power, they would have to go through multiple Israeli checkpoints, a 8 metre high separation wall as well as encounter illegal settlements and their armed Jewish residents who are increasingly and violently taking over Palestinian lands, attacking, evicting and killing the indigenous population. Where Palestinians have being forced by an Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide to escape to nearby Jordan or Egypt, unlike the family of Jesus who temporarily fled to Egypt to save their lives, they would never be allowed to return to their homes, which would be given to Jewish colonists.

Santa Gets a Special Gift for Christmas!

2025-12-26T20:18:00.004+00:00

Yesterday, I spent my first Christmas Day away from home in Galway city since my time living in Iceland as we enjoyed a fun-packed joyful festive time with our daughter-in-law Michelle's family in Westmeath.

Taking on the role of a jolly Santa Claus for the day, it was though myself that received the greatest gift of all when I got to hold our granddaughter Grace in my arms and lull her to sleep.

Admittedly, as you can see from the photo, Grace looked somewhat shocked when she first saw my bearded face! The two fine lads in the photo are my sons Shane (Grace’s dad) & Daíre, & the lovely lady is my wife Cepta

2005-2025: From BEBO to Snapchat- Different Social Media, Same Story

2025-12-23T19:20:00.004+00:00

The first few years of the 2000s was the era of the Blogs (free, user friendly & easy to set up websites). 2005 saw the sudden rise of what we then referred to as ‘online social media’ heralded by the arrival of ‘Bebo’, and the growing popularity of ‘MySpace’, ‘Orkut’ etc. 2007 witnessed the launch of the iPhone with its apps and touchscreen. Within a few years, especially when broadband became almost nationwide by 2011, the ‘smart phone’ became an indispensable part of our daily lives. Whilst hand-held technology has brought so many transformational benefits, nevertheless the built-in addiction of many of its social apps has also made us as users become ‘slaves to the machine’ and victims of the most vile hate never imagined in previous times.

From 2005, I myself readily embraced social media and connected online not just to friends from my everyday world, but to those I had not seen for decades as well as to people worldwide that I never met in the real world but who shared the same interests as me. It was so empowering!!

However I also very soon witnessed a scarily darkside of the Web, as I encountered (as did millions of others) the new phenomena of cyberbullying, aggressive misogynistic pornography, racism, hate and violence which through these popular social media sites entered my home, my workplace and the schools I taught in.

However no-one in 2005 and for years later was talking about these issues especially to children, teenagers and parents. So I sought the permission of the management of my scientific research institute (DERI) in what is now known as the University for Galway if I could-as well as upskilling and increasing awareness amongst the public of the power of the Web in order to help transform particularly our youth from being ‘digital users’ into ‘digital creators’- to talk to parents, teachers and youth about the negative aspects of the web and what precautions needed to be undertaken. This request was readily granted.

I was probably the first ‘expert’ in Ireland to raise these concerns.

In 2025 I am still providing, through my education and public engagement role at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics, advice and guidelines on Internet Safety to schools’ communities.

The social media providers and game sites may have changed over the last 20 years but the same issues of concern still exist. Though the Irish government has finally after a delay of decades implemented stronger more targetted legislation over the last few years, nevertheless at some levels the problems have got even worse. This is primarily because so many of the US-based Big Tech corporations are resisting legislation in Europe and elsewhere that aim to have social media/game sites provide better safeguards in order to protect users especially children and to eliminate the spread of lies. These businesses are putting profits and ideology before the welfare of ordinary people.

In my sessions I always adopt a holistic approach geared of course to the age and background of the audiences, be they first year children in primary school or parents of second level students. For parents this means appreciating the great positives but also the negatives of the Web, the realisation that addiction is built into social media/games, the need to set good example to our children in terms of our own usage, in having the ‘big chat’ with our children on the subject and thereafter in keeping the lines of communication open, in understanding the role of social media influencers, in appreciating the physical/mental health benefits of the Great Outdoors, and the importance of demanding appropriate legislation that is acted upon.

Whilst realising that putting in place meaningful age restrictions on the use of social media age is not the be-all and end-all in keeping our young people safe online, it is most definitely an important part of the solution. So I am a big supporter of the Australian government’s recent banning of social media for under 16s. For it is helping to let pre-teens and early teens experience a childhood free from the hate, vitriol, misogyny and fake news that is more and more being encountered online as well as encouraging empathy and more meaningful real world relationships.

From late January I will be sending our partner schools practical guidelines on reporting online abuse/bullying and putting in place parental controls.

Finally I was thrilled that earlier this year I gave my first Internet Safety session to the teenage girls and teachers of Loreto convent secondary school at Rumbek in South Sudan. This was possibly one of the first such themed sessions ever to take place in sub-Saharan Africa.

Photo from the Galway City Tribune 2013.

Galway Science & Technology Festival, Part 2: ‘The Future was Yesterday’ at the Computer Museum

2025-12-19T16:10:00.006+00:00

The largest crowd ever to visit the Computer & Communications Museum at the University of Galway occurred on the last day of the Galway Science and Technology Festival, and represented an appropriate finale to a 2 week programme with the theme of ‘Then, Today & Tomorrow’.
Under the ‘The Future was Yesterday’ banner, we showcased decades-old equipment & processes that are considered the latest cutting edge technologies such as robots, AI, 3D, Virtual Reality, online learning & gaming.
These included:
-19th century global communications (Morse Code) system in action that represented the birth of the ‘Global Village’
-sensor-based robot (inspired by R2-D2 of Star Wars!) which took part in Galway city’s 1984 St. Patrick’s Day Parade
-1970s AI-based tabletop computer chess set (inspired by a 1969 episode of Star Trek)
-1990s Virtual Reality headset
-1990s Flight Simulator
-1989 Immersive Technology Game glove
-1950s-1970s 3D image devices and 3D magazines
-1982 ‘remote working’ computing device
-1960s children’s Science Fiction device that inspired the mobile telephone
-an exact replica (made by Neal White & Tina O’Connell for the 2013 TULCA Festival of Visual Arts) of the first telecommunication satellite known as Telstar which in 1962 pioneered live global television & which is stilling orbiting the Earth!

Visitors also got to see probably Ireland’s oldest computer (from 1965 & on loan from Michael Jordan); how school-going teenagers in Galway during the early-mid 1980s (before invention of the World Wide Web) used what we now refer to as ‘cloud computing’, ‘online dating’ & ‘social media’; a robot (2016) called Mario that acted as a companion to people with dementia (from Prof Dympna Casey of UoG's School of Nursing & Midwifery).

Insight’s Conference Room was transformed into a Reading Room for 1950s/1960s children’s popular Marvel, DC & Eagle comics in which the stories of today & tomorrow were told yesterday (on AI, robotics, benefits & darkside of technology, space travel, oceanic pollution, environmental damage).
There was also on show the latest technology, used as part of the city’s decarbonisation zone, of a multiscreen Dashboard to monitor air quality at multiple locations as part of Galway City Council-led ‘The Air We Share’ project which includes Insight as a partner.
One of the most popular exhibits on the day was a 1970s era public telephone kiosk. Thanks to the technical wizardry of Liam Krewer & Aisling, & using my vintage vinyl record/CD music collection, we set up a ‘Dial-a-Song’ system. It facilitates the user dialing 4 digits between 1955 (birth of rock & roll!) & 2000 on the rotary phone to listen to a particular piece of music from that particular year!

Thanks to the volunteers from the museum board & Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics who acted as guides on the day.
Next public opening date: Sat Jan 24(11am-2pm)

Galway Science & Technology Festival 2025, Part 1: School Tours

2025-12-01T17:35:00.007+00:00

We at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at the University of Galway were pleased to deliver a packed programme of activities for this year’s Galway Science & Technology Festival.

Happily returning to work after some time out due to a health issue, I helped coordinate busloads of children and teenagers from schools in visiting the Data Science Centre to experience coding workshops and the hands-on fun environment of the computer and communications museum. The secondary school student visitors also benefited from presentations delivered by our researchers highlighting their work which is mapped against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the delights of interactive sessions in our Virtual Reality Lab.

Such was the demand from schools in Mayo, Galway city and county that we had to put on extra visits after the festival ended!

We also collaborated with TCD and the UoG School of Computer Science to deliver a series of Pytch coding workshops at the Galway Science and Technology Festival Exhibition Day as well as with Róisín Birch and the team at the University of Galway Access Centre in our ongoing support for the critical DEIS schools based Uni4U initiative.

So a big thank you/Míle buíochas to the Insight volunteers who mentored and presented on their research, provided coding or VR workshops or guided tours of the computer & communications museum, namely Abdul Wahid, Carlos Tighe, Duc-Duy Nguyen, Janakkumar Kapuriya, Katarzyna Stasiewicz, Kashif Shaheed, Hoang Long, Prateek Paul, Simanta Sarkar, Tomas Grigas and Zeeshan Malik.

Margaretta D'Arcy- feminist, Irish republican, internationalist, socialist, artist, environmentalist, anti-war activist, anti-imperialist campaigner.

2025-12-01T17:33:00.005+00:00

So many warm loving tributes have been paid by so many people to the great and unique Margaretta D'Arcy over the last week that I agree wholeheartedly with.

The last time I met this iconic inspirational woman was a few weeks ago at one of the weekly Thursday 'Campus Anti-Genocide' protests she regularly took part in which were held to highlight the University of Galway's unacceptable refusal to cut its research links with the Haifa-based Technion university that has strong links to the Israeli military industrial complex.

The first time I met her was in the late 1970s when I was a student union activist impressed by her and her late husband John Arden as they promoted the British "7:84" left wing political theatre group to the students of what was then the University College Galway (UCG). The group's name came from the fact that 7% of the population of Britain owned 84% of the country's wealth. She was then and always remained a fiery passionate left-wing idealist who stayed true to her radical beliefs.

Over the decades she was always on the front line standing up against oppression and for justice both in Ireland and elsewhere.

Galway and the world will be poorer for her departure.

2025-10-01T17:47:00.000+00:00

Well done to Hannah Einbinder, who is one of many Jews worldwide of all ages and backgrounds publicly condemning the genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state. They have the courage, the moral integrity and the commitment to justice and human rights that Ursula von der Leyen and the European Commission lacks.

The silence of the EU hierarchy and the national leadership particularly of Germany, Hungary, the Baltic states and Italy on the non-stop destruction of Gaza and the occupied West Bank that we see on our screens daily since 2022 has been deafening.

Europe has the economic power to help stop this genocide but deliberately chose not to do so. For the EU is Israel’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 32% of Israel's total trade in goods with the world in 2024. 34.2% of Israel’s imports came from the EU while 28.8% of the country’s exports went to the EU.

As someone that has worked across Africa, the Middle East and Central America, I recognise that the EU has totally lost the morale high ground and is looked on as a hypocrite by peoples everywhere.

No more can it lecture others about human rights when it has for decades turned a blind eye to the illegal barbaric military occupation, settler colonialisation and destruction of the mosques, churches, schools, hospitals, farms and homes of the Palestinian people. Now it watches genocide taking place, led by racist and religious fundamentalists, near its borders and decides to do nothing of real game-changing significance.

The Boys are Back in (Carrick) Town!

2025-08-18T21:54:00.010+00:00

On the weekend before last there was a reunion of my 1975 Leaving Cert class from the Patrician High School in Carrickmacross, county Monaghan.
It was, as Thin Lizzy use to sing, a case of “The Boys are Back in Town”! For we had such great fun together and it really felt like it was only yesterday that we all left the High School for the very last time after completing our Leaving Cert exams.

After the Leaving Cert, our career paths went in many different directions including into farming, the trades (plumbing, electrics), medical, business, construction, army, priesthood, engineering, teaching, law and scientific research. Some stayed in Ireland, some emigrated. To me, in spite of Ireland being in the 1970s a very poor country with a large uneconomical small-farming base, there were better options being considered by young people, in the sense that we understood that not everyone needed to possess what was then a traditional largely 'lecture hall' based academic degree (without real world practical experiences) to secure a job. The mass exodus over the last few decades away from farming and the trades professions has created an unsustainable society where many individual citizens are also sadly dis-empowered unable to fix a leaking pipe, repair a tyre puncture or wire an electrical plug.

I was born and lived in Dublin until I was 12 years old where my dad worked on the CIE buses and my mom had a grocery store. In my final months at primary school, my parents decided to reclaim the rural life of their childhood and we moved to my mom’s home town of Carrickmacross. I was heartbroken, having to leave the up-tempo urban lifestyle and all my childhood friends to move to rural Ireland. Though I would have known county Monaghan well from visiting the country cousins for ‘working on the farm’ summer holidays, nevertheless it was a culture shock for me when the smells and sounds of cattle, pigs and farmyard poultry replaced the familiar sounds of seagulls, crashing waves and boats of the Irish Sea as well as the buses, trains, parks and busy shopping streets of our capital city. I expected that I would never settle down on ”the stony grey soils of Monaghan” (to quote local poet Patrick Kavanagh).

How wrong was I!
For within days of moving to Carrick and starting school, I felt so at home, adopted quickly and made friendships that would last a lifetime. Though we as a collective have met rarely over the decades, nevertheless when it does happen it is always joyful as we happily reminisce about the days of our youth. We all agreed last weekend at our reunion that we never had a bad day in the High School run by the Catholic religious order of the Patrician Brothers, who also operated the BISH in Galway city.
A lot of scandals have come to light since the mid 1990s about the clerical sexual and violent abuse in Ireland towards children and young people during the 20th century. Yet thankfully none of us had encountered this at the High School where the teaching staff (except maybe one or two!) were excellent educators and the Brothers operated what we would now view as a very liberal regime for its time. Furthermore the progressive Christian teachings of giving active respect to others of all backgrounds, especially those who were suffering and in need which we were taught then, I have tried to live by ever since.

“The Times they were a changing”
Impacted by the rise of a distinct ‘youth culture’ in music, fashion, beliefs and politics worldwide, we often looked, behaved and had values so different than that of our parents. A generation gap was opening up in this era. For it was the time of ‘flower power’, civil rights’ struggles, liberation movements and teenage rebellion. As a young idealistic lad, I believed the then Labour Party leader when he promised that Ireland in the 1970s would be socialist and that the old conservative clientelism politics would disappear for ever. The conflict and war in Northern Ireland was literally on our doorstep in Carrickmacross and some of us knew people actively involved.
We were probably the first generation in Ireland to be able to holiday on a tiny budget across the continent of Europe and further afield, travelling by boat and train (Inter Rail), and staying in hostels where we would meet, socialise and be influenced by teenagers from different cultures and nationalities.

It was a wonderful time to be young and to be in school! Our class produced the first regular school student newsletter, set up the first student representative council, introduced soccer into the school (the ‘ban’ by the GAA against soccer, rugby and hockey only officially ended in the early 1970s), and held the first all-out student strike/boycott. We were allowed to dress how we wanted (e.g. long hair, platform shoes or sneakers, paisley shirts and bell-bottom jeans), play basketball, volleyball, soccer as well as Gaelic sports, organise chess evenings after school hours and a weekly leisure afternoon with table tennis, pop/rock music and reading activities. Quiz tournaments regularly brought us through British Army checkpoints over the Border to schools in Armagh. ‘Hops’ (discos) were held in the local community hall organised with the convent girls where we danced to the Glam Rock sounds of T-Rex, Slade, Suzi Quadro, Sweet and Dave Bowie. We had the school's first ever ‘tuck shop’ that opened daily selling sweets and soda drinks. The school invited girls in for the first time (female students from the ‘Tech’ next door who would come to us for French and Maths and we would go to their school for metalwork and carpentry). Teenage boys and girls could met up for coffee or a ‘mineral’ (lemonade, orange) after school or in the evenings at the local café.

Carrick had its own cinema then that was showing the latest Hollywood blockbusters (Kung Fu movies with Bruce Lee, American Graffiti, Earthquake, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Last Picture Show, Poseidon Adventure, Soldier Blue, James Bond…). Happy Days!
At the Reunion on Friday in Markey's Carrickmacross we hosted a display of memorabilia from the 1970s- playing LPs on a record player from Neil Young, Horslips, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Diamond, Byrds, Dylan; viewing old school books such as Buntus Cainte, ‘Explorations’, ‘Soundings’ and Peig Sayers; as well as ‘Shoot’ soccer magazine and comics such as DC’s Superman, Marvel’s Avengers, TV21’s Captain Scarlett, Thunderbirds and Star Trek; and writing with chalk on a big blackboard. My favourite item though was the portable battery-powered cassette recorder. For it was myself that introduced this revolutionary music device to the school! We used it to often secretly (under the desk!) record the teachers in the classroom, record (illegally) music from BBC’s Thursday’s night’s Top of the Pops and from LPs onto blank tapes. We also joined an UK-based music library club where we monthly obtained on loan rock/pop albums on cassette that we recorded (illegally again!) before returning by post mail.
Sadly a number of our former classmates are no longer with us. So we paid quiet respect for Brendan L, Brian, Mark, Padraic, Paul and the others who have passed on.
The next morning we visited the old school with its prefab (which was our first year classroom) still standing to happily reminisce even more.
And then in the afternoon I travelled by train to Dublin with my brother Michael Smith and my son Shane to watch Leeds United play AC Milan at a capacity-filled (51,000!) Aviva stadium.

Leeds back in the top English league and playing against a top team from Italy- it was just like the old days!!!
Finally a big ‘Bualadh Bos’ to Peter Callan, Pierre Finnegan and Owen Finnegan for organising a memorable school reunion. Looking forward to the next one already!!

p.s I am on the far right of the top photo taken in our Biology Lab during our Leaving Cert year. We are all holding the lab's poor unfortunate plastic skeleton!
I am second on the right of the bottom photo taken at our reunion proudly wearing my 'Rod Stewart on Tour' teeshirt!

Journeying through a Hidden Ireland of picturesque landscapes & fascinating histories

2025-07-30T12:10:00.004+00:00

Journeying through a Hidden Ireland of picturesque landscapes & fascinating histories

In an effort to introduce many of my university colleagues at DSI/Insight and my fellow volunteers at the Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park who may not be familiar with the rich heritage of Ireland, I organised for their benefit a series of summer excursions to parts of rural Galway that are ‘off the beaten track’. That is, destinations that are not on popular tourist trails.

Yet they are undoubtedly fascinating and beautiful places in my humble estimation.

The first excursion was on Saturday July 20th.

1. Our first stop was to the lovely wooded hill of Knockma, supposedly the birthplace of the legendary Queen Maeve of Connacht and where there are many pretty wooden sculptures of animals and mythological figures. Actually it was a lot busier than I expected with locals and people from nearby Tuam enjoying its walking hill trails.

2. Then it was onto Monivea Woods where we visited the neo-Gothic castle-like mausoleum with its ornate marble Christian chapel and eerie crypt. It was completed in 1900 to serve as the final resting place of the British diplomat Robert Percy Ffrench within the demesne of his Irish landed estate by his daughter Kathleen de Kindiakoff with monies provided from her mother's aristocratic family estates along the River Volga in Tsarist Russia.

3. From there we went to the nearby Eddie Ned’s pub for lunch. A fine hostelry, it is located in the in the picturesque little village of Monivea that still bears the characteristics of its linen industry and colonial plantation past.

4. Our next stop was to the historical Castle Ellen, the home of the amazing 89+ year old Michael Keaney who happily showed us around his historical mansion and secret gardens which were built in 1820. This historical house was the birthplace of Isabella Lambert, the mother of arch-Unionist Edward Carson, a member of the British Imperial war cabinet in World War 1 and one of the founders of Northern Ireland which led to the partition of Ireland in 1921.

5. Finally we visited the woods and walked the trails beside Woodlawn House (which sadly is not now publicly accessible). Originally built in the 1760s with its 26 bedrooms, walled garden, courtyard, gatehouse, gardener's house and artificial lake, it was the home of Baron (Lord) Ashdown and was one of the finest houses of the landed nobility during the British colonial period.

A Transformation of Galway City that has captivated the heart of a President.

2025-07-11T18:50:00.008+00:00

With so much hate, brutality, misogyny, racism, greed, nastiness, environmental destruction, conflict, war, ethnic cleansing and genocide taking place across the planet today, it is important more than ever to highlight and to celebrate 'good news' stories, especially when it involves individuals and communities in Ireland and elsewhere who are giving their time and energies to try to make a difference and by doing so bringing positive change to their societies and indeed the world.
Galway and Ireland as elsewhere is full of examples of such dedication and campaigning where what seems impossible can sometimes become possible as a result of individuals coming together to form active communities. "In Unity there is Strength" or as we say in Irish "Neart le chéile".
This has been the life long message of our President, Michael D. Higgins. He is one of those selfless visionary people who consistently speaks up for the oppressed, highlights injustice and applauds those who are trying to make a difference. He is an inspiration and is someone that regularly challenges us also to speak out and come together to do better for the greater good of society and indeed the planet. Unlike a growing number of political leaders internationally who preach hate, sow division, turn a blind eye to evil and who make personal profit and secure power out of what should be 'public service'.

June 6th was one of the proudest days of my long life. It was when my good friend and our great President with his equally inspirational wife Sabina came to Galway to celebrate 25 years of the community-local authority partnership success story that is Terryland Forest Park. In the mid 1990s, the park was a dream that become a reality because of individuals demanding better, and then coming together as campaigning communities to convince local government and others of what was needed in urban Galway.
Thanks to the Connacht Tribune - Galway City Tribune for publishing my article on the celebratory day itself, and on the history, the present and future of what was labelled the"Green Lungs of the City" and the "People's Park" when it opened in the year 2000. As I state in the news piece, there are challenges and so much more has to be done to fulfill the hopes and dreams of its founders and its army of present volunteers.
But there has been so much which has been achieved that the people of Galway city of all ages should be proud of and their role in creating something that is truly beautiful and important- As the opening paragraph of the article states:
"The President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins was beaming with pride last week as he looked around at a landscape totally transformed in the heart of Galway City. “This is the Galway we want,” he enthused to a large crowd gathered in Terryland Forest Park. Where once he remembered there were barren fields, rubble and a litter-strewn river surrounded by barbed wire fencing, he now witnessed a wonderful mosaic of woods, meadows, wetlands, pasture, orchards and karst limestone outcrops populated by a diverse range of native fauna, flora and fungi. A green oasis in an urban environment serving as an ‘ecological corridor’ for wildlife connecting the vast Corrib waterways on its western boundaries through the city to farmlands on its eastern side."

So may I give a heartfelt 'Bualadh Bos' (round of applause) to those that made June 6th such a morale boosting event- including all in Galway City Council, Claire Power and all the team at Áras an Uachtaráin, those from the schools, the universities, the workplaces, the arts, the community and voluntary sector, the park founders and of course the hardworking members of the 'Green Army' (aka Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park).

Here's to the next 25 years!!

Small Schools -the Heartbeat of Rural Ireland.

2025-07-04T17:24:00.002+00:00

Providing Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) projects to small rural schools is a key priority of our Insight Educational & Public Engagement programme.

So during May-June, we continued delivering a series of coding workshops to primary schools in Abbey, Ballinlough, Creggs and on the island of Inishbofin.

With the ongoing closure of village post offices, shops, Garda stations, hostelries and the decline in the traditional parish church attendance (which provided opportunities for local people to meet up weekly) as well as the economic difficulties in maintaining full-time family farming, it is the village school that acts as the heartbeat of the Irish countryside.

In spite of the severe challenges/threats of the present, I am optimistic that a sustainable technology-supported organic-based mixed agricultural sector with a Circular Economy process will be the future of the Irish countryside providing in the process quality products and healthy foodstuffs for the nation’s population and overseas markets.

So it is essential that in the interim local country schools are nurtured in order to keep the spirit of community alive in rural Ireland.

Finally, what I also love about visiting these schools is that more and more I met children whose older siblings I mentored, or even sometimes teachers that I taught science and coding too when they themselves were children in primary schools!

May-Jun: Educating Teenagers on the Good & Bad sides of Web Technologies.

2025-07-02T09:04:00.006+00:00

The school year ended on a very busy note for my colleagues and myself at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics in the University of Galway as we continued to introduce teenagers to our pioneering research and in upskilling them on the positive benefits of web technologies through workshops on creative coding and hands-on smart tools such as Virtual Reality, environmental sensors and citizen apps.

But once again I devoted a lot of time in making our young people aware and prepared, through Internet Safety sessions, of the dangers that exist in social media and gaming by educating them on cyberbullying, online misogyny, porn, hate, violence, racism, fake news and addiction.

In May, I spent multiple days giving Internet Safety sessions to the first and second year students of the BISH in Galway city and to those in both the junior and senior cycles of Coláiste Cholmcille in Connemara. These presentations always include insights into using social media/gaming positively, and Wellbeing elements such as on the importance of a good night’s sleep, spending time in the real world with friends, getting out into a natural environment or undertaking outdoor sports.

As always these presentations are two-way, for I also learn a lot from the young people themselves as they make me aware of problems or sites that they encounter which I personally may not have yet come across. So I always come away better informed allowing me to constantly update my content.

In a time of AI which brings huge benefits but also dangers, regulation of the Web is now needed more than ever before. Governments have to stand up to the mega tech giants and protect their citizenry. People come first.

Shades of Early Science Fiction

2025-06-03T14:57:00.005+00:00

What looks like a piece of equipment from a 1930s-1940s science fiction 'Flash Gordon' or 'Buck Rogers' film has taken up residency in the Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland located at the University of Galway and supported by my workplace of the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics.

Designed and made by Pat Murphy in 1987 as his final year project for the B.Tech in Education at Thomond College (University of Limerick), it is actually a computer desk housing a Commodore 64 microcomputer, monitor, tape deck and a library of cassettes. The 64 was then one of the world's top selling computers in the business, educational and domestic markets.
But this wooden unit is more than just a computer desk- it is a beautifully crafted structure combining practicality with artistic design which I am sure was inspired by early science fiction.
Pat is still teaching carpentry as part of Construction Studies in a Dublin secondary school.
Photo shows a very happy John Murphy (Pat's brother) standing beside this desk just after he got the computer, tape deck and monitor fully operational.
We thank Pat and John for loaning this exquisite piece of equipment to the museum.