CITY TRIBUNE
Descendants of drowned fishermen remembered 100 years on
The descendants of two Bearna fishermen who drowned 100 years ago will this weekend unveil a stone to commemorate the tragedy.
William ‘Liam’ Gill (75) and Peter Faherty (54) both drowned when their currach overloaded with herring sank 80 yards from the shore near the pier.
Cáit Fagan, a descendant of both men, is a member of a committee of relatives who commissioned a stone memorial which will be unveiled at Céibh Bhearna at a ceremony at 3pm on Saturday, October 22.
The stone was carved by Dennis Goggin and Ray Flaherty and was salvaged from Bearna Pier.
Fr Michael Brennan will bless the stone and historian Cormac Ó Comhraí will recall the story of the tragedy. They will then visit the grave.
“Michil Frank always said Peter [Faherty] was a hero because he saved him . . . they were found on Friday the 13th,” said Cáit Fagan.
“It would give you a better understanding of the kind of house my dad (Seán Fagan) came out of. My grandfather never saw his father, and then my grandmother’s [Kathleen Faherty, who married John Fagan] father [Peter Faherty] drowned when she was about ten.
“So it would give you a better understanding of the kind of horrors they were brought up in. It was very sad,” added Ms Fagan.
On October 12, 1922, three men; Michael ‘Michil Frank’ Coyne (40), William ‘Liam’ Gill (75) and Peter Faherty (54) went herring fishing off Bearna Pier in a canvas currach.
Mr Coyne, who could not swim, survived, but the two swimmers, Mr Gill and Mr Faherty, both drowned according to stories that have been passed down the generations through word of mouth, and from a Connacht Tribune report into their inquest.
The trio set out at 4pm and returned with a boat load of herring at 10.30pm, which they unloaded.
They got tea and a change of clothes at the Gill home at Ahaglugger and went back out for another fishing trip at 11.30pm.
Because they caught such a big load of herring on the second trip, they decided to bring it ashore at the beach below Bearna Pier known as Poll Mór.
About 80 yards from shore, their currach sank and was face up in the water; a southerly breeze prevented them from floating out to sea.
The three men were more than 45 minutes in the water, holding onto the boat.
Peter Faherty and Liam Gill had learned how to swim in the Royal Navy. Michael Coyne (sometimes spelt Kyne) could not swim, so Peter put an oar under him and brought him to shore.
When they reached the beach, they could hear Liam Gill shouting that the boat had overturned, and Peter went back out to help him.
Both men got tangled in herring nets within 80 yards of the shore and drowned.
Michael Frank said he could hear screaming but then all of a sudden it was silent. According to locals, Michael Frank suffered as a result of this extremely traumatic experience and was left with a shake in his hand for the rest of his life.
The next day, George Mór Conneely, who lived at 5 Pier Road, found their currach at Lena Riabach, about a mile from Bearna Village between Mags Boreen and Silver Strand. He pushed the currach away and found William Gill’s body.
Michael Lynskey, a cousin of both deceased men, identified the bodies.
An inquest was held the next day in Bearna, which was a traumatic experience for Julia Gill (muddy) who lost her father and husband, the two breadwinners of the family, and had to raise six daughters and a son on her own with no income.
According to the Connacht Tribune report into the inquest, a jury returned a verdict of accidental drowning.
“The evidence disclosed the fact that the two men could have been easily saved if they thought there was any danger,” it read.
The tragedy left scars on the community and the wider Gill family. Out of that Gill household there are three well-known Bearna families – the Fagans, the Greaneys and the Fahertys.
Many of the Greaneys; Peter and Eugene in Lacklea, Tommy and Mary and Detta in Derby are still alive.
Seán Fagan is at Freeport and his sisters, Patricia and Nancy are in the UK; and those still alive from the Faherty family or the Ó Fáthartas are Seán in An Spidéal, Dedo (Peadar) in Indreabhán, Peig (Margaret) in Oughterard, and Jude in Gort.
Cáit Fagan, whose great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather died 100 years ago, said it was a “very sad” story but she was proud that the three families had come together to commemorate the drowning tragedy.
■ All are welcome at Bearna Pier on October 22 at 3pm.
(Photo Kathleen Faherty (1912-1991) who was married to John Fagan, and lived at Barna Pier, is photographed here (seated with a cross in her mouth) with her sisters Mollie, Eileen and Bridie. Their father Peter Faherty and grandfather William Gill drowned on October 12, 1922).
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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