Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Time Gone By – A browse through the archives of the Connacht Tribune.
1914
Dock watch reported
At the Harbour Board meeting, the Harbour Master reported: “With great reluctance, I am compelled to bring under your notice the conduct of two of the dock watch, viz.: Pat Forde and Tom Burke, for absenting themselves from duty without leave. It would be quite impossible to exercise proper supervision and get the work done, if these men are allowed to absent themselves from duty.
Burke was absent 11 times from the 14th October to the 11th January and Forde was absent four times. I would respectfully request that these two men be required to live closer to the dock than they are at present. If the Board approve of the suggestion to make Lynch’s house habitable and compel these men to live there, it would save a lot of inconvenience.
The Harbour Master said that he had tried every means in his power to induce these men to be faithful to their work, but they failed to do so. His last resort was to report them. He appealed to the Board not to dismiss them, but to give another chance.
Mr Burke and Mr Forde were then brought befire the Chairman, who read out the report and asked them why they were absent, but they gave no excuse.
Chairman: The Board are very angry with you for behaving in this way, and they wish to inform you that they will overlook it on this occasion; but the next time you are absent the Harbour Master will dismiss you and then inform the Board. Look here, Burke and Forde, if you get this house, you will have to live in it. If not, you will be dismissed.
The Harbour Master said he would report all men for neglect of duty, but he would not dismiss them himself; he would suspend them.
1939
Severe weather
The severest weather conditions for over eighty years were experienced in Connemara during the past week. In addition to heavy snow and frost, the people of Connemara have to contend with a famine for turf, hay, oats, potatoes, milk and eggs.
Were it not for the large amount of employment provided under the various relief schemes, this winter would go down in history as one of the greatest hardships that ever befell Connemara. As things are, there has been a heavy death-toll among old people.
Free ride
Galway and Connemara Gardaí are anxious to meet a man who is reported to have obtained a free drive from a Galway hackney car owner last week. The man, who is stated to have been a native of South Connemara, approached the motor owner in Eyre Square and asked him to drive him to Carna. When the car arrived at Inver bridge, the passenger asked the driver to stop for a moment. He then left the car and has not been seen or heard of since.
Search continues
“We are now convinced that Patrick Folan has been drowned and that his body has been washed out to sea, and we have little hope of recovering the body although the search is still being continued,” Garda John McHale, Kilronan, told a “Connacht Tribune” reporter on Wednesday night.
Patrick Folan, who has been missing from his home at Kilronan since Friday, January 20, was last seen at about 7.30 o’clock that morning making his way along the top of a cliff on the south side of the island.
It is known that Folan was in the habit of descending this cliff to the foreshore to collect wreck. Part of a rope which was found by the Gardaí attached to the top of the cliff is evidence that he descended to the foreshore. A pair of pampooties found on the top of the cliff and a pair of trousers found among some rocks have been identified as being the property of the missing man.
A vigil is still being kept, day and night, along the seacoast. All the islanders who are now collecting seaweed along the shores are also keeping a sharp look-out for the body.
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
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.
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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