Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1918
Cowardly conduct
Entering the house of Patrick Burke, farmer, Kilcoona, two armed and disguised men demanded from his sister, the only occupant, where her brother’s gun was, one of them at the same time sending two bullets through the roof.
It would appear that the outrage occurred on Friday evening last at about 7.30.
Becoming terrified, the girl directed them to the adjoining room. Failing to find any arms, they returned and threatened her, whereupon she collapsed. Apparently becoming alarmed, the raiders decamped; but before they left, a third armed and disguised man, who had kept guard by the door whilst they were inside, discharged his own gun into the kitchen where the solitary girl was.
Kilcoona lies midway between Headford and Clonboo, but off the main road. The scene has been visited by the County and District Inspectors and the local police, but no trace of the raiders has been found.
1943
Shortage of turf
While the citizens of Galway would welcome the removal of the unsightly turf dump from the park in Eyre Square, they feel that a more opportune moment could have been chosen for disposing of this miniature mountain of fuel. Just now there is a very appreciable shortage of turf. The new crop will not be available for some time – the exact period depends upon the weather. The turf is in the bogs, but it cannot be got out of them at present owing to flooding.
According to our Connemara correspondent, there is a veritable fuel famine in the midst of the Connemara bogs. Many of the people living in the big turf areas would have had enough good turf for their own use if they had not sold it all last year at the earliest possible moment. It is an ironic commentary on our turf control arrangements that there should be this shortage in the midst of plenty.
In these circumstances, we consider that exportation of the turf dump in Eyre Square is a matter not to be decided upon lightly. The turf was stored there as an emergency supply for Galway, and it looks as if the emergency were at hand.
Salthill Pier
A pier built on Palmer’s Rock would act, it is said, as a breakwater to prevent the flooding of hotel basements and other premises on the front at Salthill. The owners of the places affected believe that unless something of the sort is done without delay, their premises are in danger of being undermined by the sea.
Already, they have suffered serious damage as the result of this winter’s floods which, they assert, have been worse than any previously experienced.
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.
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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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