Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1920
A shoneen town
Strong comments on the apathy of Galway to the Gaelic revival movement were made by the Rev. M. Griffin, C.C., St. Joseph’s, at a meeting of the Galway branch of the Gaelic League in the Town Hall on Friday night.
The principal business at the meeting was in connection with the securing of sufficient funds to repair the premises in Market-st., recently acquired by the branch at a cost of £175, for the purpose of turning them into a suitable hall.
Father Griffin, who presided, said it would cost £600 to repair the place thoroughly. They had got the house at a cheap price, and they had been offered £300 for it, but they were not going to sell it.
They wanted to make a decent Gaelic League hall of it, and they were now going to put it up to the people of Galway and ask them would they subscribe for that purpose.
They expected that everyone interested in the Gaelic movement would help them to get that £600. Those who had money should subscribe, and those who had not money should work towards getting some for them.
When they had the hall fixed up, they would hold classes for teaching the language, and ceilidhthe. The big thing was to get the money.
“If we were getting up some Shoneen hall,” continued Father Griffin, “we would get the money easily for it, and our won people would support it, but when you go around collecting for the Gaelic League, if you do not get a slap in the face, you will get something as bad. It is common for some people who talk a lot to do nothing. There is none of that kind with us to-night, thank God, but the likes of them are in it, rather big men who at present are supposed to be favourable to the Irish movement but who do nothing for it and who give it no support. We will put it up those people now.”
Strive for peace
Galway lies this week under the shadow of an appalling and unparalleled tragedy. We are surfeited with stories of horror from all parts of Ireland. They come daily, and sometimes they come in clusters.
But none of them has touched us so nearly as the tragedy at our own doors. Twenty-four hours ago Galway was one of the most peaceable cities in the world. All classes lived in amity and friendship. From Midnight to dawn on Thursday morning all was changed.
The incident at the railway station which resulted in the death of a young citizen and an English policeman was the prelude to a night of horrors before which all decent men must stand appalled.
We have no wish to pile on the agony. We do not think anything can be gained by this. A naked recital of the facts is bad enough in all conscience. In the face of them, every calming influence must come into play, every person who can appeal to men’s hearts and consciences must exercise his or her influence in the direction of peace.
Peace! What a hollow mockery there is in the sound? Yet surely the night of Ireland’s sorrow must lift ere long; and it is the duty of all men with human hearts who claim to guide their actions by justice to hasten the dawn.
At the moment extremists on both sides strive desperately for the mastery over the torn and bleeding body of a distracted land. A powerful Empire looks on cynically, whilst it stifles every effort at statesmanship, bars every road to peace, and relies more and more on naked militarism.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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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.
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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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