Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1917
Blown to atoms
About half-past five on Friday afternoon, the shock of what appeared to be a terrific explosion a considerable distance off was heard in Galway. It shook windows and doors, and many people mistook it for distant thunder.
At that moment nine men – peace-loving Connemara peasants and farmers – were blown to eternity on the seashore and Loughanebeg, about four miles beyond Spiddal and over sixteen from Galway, owing to the explosion of a German mine which they had fished ashore.
Hundreds of people from the surrounding districts visited the scene on Saturday, and a number of University students and others actually cycled all the way from Galway. Some of them took away gruesome relics of the tragedy.
As showing the superstitiousness of the people, or else the state to which their nerves have been reduced by the terrible ordeal through which they have passed, it may be stated that many stories are told of strange, wailing sounds from the sea – sounds like the Banshee call – the night preceding the occurrence.
After the inquest on Saturday evening, the remains were taken for internment, three coffins being provided. The assemblage of Connemara peasants, who formed the cortege, crowded the roadway for a considerable distance, and formed a most imposing sight. The anguished keening of the bereaved as they followed the remains, made an eerie accompaniment as the procession moved solemnly along, and lent a more poignant note of sorrow to the terrible tragedy. Many of the boys killed were the sole breadwinners of their relatives.
1942
Water supply danger
An annoying feature of Galway Corporation discussions is their inconclusiveness. They begin definitely enough, but they have a disconcerting habit of tailing off vaguely, leaving even the members themselves not always certain as to what happened.
This regrettable vagueness was very much in evidence at the discussion on relief schemes last Thursday. The alarming fact emerged that a breach in the Terryland embankment would endanger the water mains to the city. This, one might imagine, would rouse all the members of the Corporation to the necessity for immediate and decisive action in connection with the embankment.
But the discussion strayed off the embankment, strolled along the Promenade at Salthill, looked in at the public parks and considered the possibility of a new promenade from O’Brien’s Bridge to the Salmon Weir Bridge.
The upshot of it all was that “it was decided to renew their efforts to have the Drainage Trustees call a meeting to give the Corporation permission to undertake the improvement of the river embankment and to consider alternative schemes at a later meeting”.
If the condition of the embankment is a menace to the city’s water supply there should be no question of alternative schemes until it is repaired and the menace removed. The Borough Surveyor says that the menace exists and he expressed the view that “the strengthening of the river embankment should get first consideration”.
Sixth time Mayor
Ald. J.F. Costello, P.C., H.C., was unanimously re-elected Mayor of Galway at the annual meeting of the Borough Council to-day, and the gold chain of office was formally placed on his shoulders by Ald. Miss Ashe, who proposed the re-election of Ald. Costello and said that he had come triumphantly through a trying year.
The interests of Galway and its citizens, and especially the interests of the poor, were always before his mind and he was in all was a worthy Mayor of Galway.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
1923
Gloom after war
The special correspondent of the “Independent”, who has been writing of the aftermath of civil war in the West, notes that a feeling of apathy, due to the uncertainty of events, exists amongst the sorely-tried people of Connemara; that politics are referred to only with disgust and that not more than fifty per cent. of the people would vote at a general election; that poverty and unemployment are rife, and there is a growing tendency towards emigration; and that there are bitter complaints of the huge impost of rates and taxes.
It is only too true that there is enough of material for the pessimist to brood over, and that a feeling of gloom permeates country towns. But it is a poor tribute to patriotism that has survived such horrors to encourage this gloom.
It is the duty of all of us to get this pessimism out of the national body and to rid ourselves of the notion that we have not enough Christianity and moral sense left to restore our people to cheerful and ordered progress and industry.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Peace negotiations
As we go to press, An Dáil is discussing the Peace negotiations between the Government and Mr. de Valera. It was announced on Wednesday for the first time that such negotiations were begun following Mr. de Valera’s “cease fire” proclamation of April 27, and that by the 30th of the month Senators Andrew Jameson and James Douglas were asked by him to discuss proposals.
They said it was for the Government to discuss; they could only confer. Into the ensuring conferences the Government declined to enter personally, but on May 3 the senators placed before Mr. de Valera the Cabinet’s terms, which were that future issues should be decided by the majority vote of the elected representatives of the people, and that as a corollary and a preliminary to the release of prisoners, all lethal weapons should be in the custody and control of the Executive Government.
Mr. de Valera relied to this on May 7 with a document in which he agreed to majority rule and control of arms, but added that arms should be stored in a suitable building in each province under armed Republican guard until after the elections in September, that the oath should not be made a test in the councils of the nation, and that all political prisoners should be released immediately on the signing of this agreement.
“You have brought back to us,” wrote President Cosgrave, “not an acceptance of our conditions, but a long and wordy document inviting debate where none is possible”.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
1923
State of the parties
Speculation as to parties after the next Irish elections is exceedingly interesting, especially in view of the enlarged franchise.
In Dublin, the view appears to be held by a number of people that Labour will make a great bid for power.
Dublin, however, has a curiously insular habit of thought where matters that concern all Ireland and in which Ireland has a say are concerned. We hope this insularity will rapidly disappear under the new conditions.
The country as a whole is backing the Farmers’ Party, and has not the smallest doubt that it will be the strongest combination in the next Dáil, and that it will oust the purely political parties, the one because it has resorted to force, the other because it has been compelled to use force to supress force, and the Labour Party because Ireland feels that at the back of its policy lurks the danger of Communism.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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