Galway was clearly saying no to something – but what was it?

It was shortly before lunchtime on Sunday that the raggle-tag band of protestors made their way across from the Cathedral towards the Salmon Weir Bridge – almost sheepish for the paucity of their numbers behind a banner that simply proclaimed ‘Galway Says No’.

No more, no less, no other posters, no chanting – just a small silent group of grown men and women, all with serious faces, united behind the notion that Galway was saying no.

What Galway was saying no to was unclear, because that was their only banner – an off-white message on a raggedly black banner, supported by two poles that may well have, in a previous life, served as sweeping brushes.

They were few in number but that’s not a crime – quality over quantity any day, I’d say – but what they were objecting to was a matter of pure conjecture.

Given that this was the day that marked ‘Sir’ Alex Ferguson’s final game as manager of Manchester United, had Galway quietly taken a vote to object to his departure?

Were we, as a city and county, rising up in protest at Brendan Howlin divulging his opponents’ Garda files?

Had we decided to make a belated stand on our fishing rights, the CAP negotiations, North Korea’s missiles, the World Cup going to Qatar, Rory McIlroy representing the UK at the Olympics?

There were loads of things that Galway might say no to – too much rain, an increase in the price of the pint, social welfare cuts, dangerous driving, boorish behaviour, college students holding parties in residential areas – but you have to make it clearer if you want to gain public support.

One might surmise, in the current political climate, that this group of Galwegians were either saying no to abortion or the right to choose.

You might also think that, because they appeared to be departing from the Cathedral, they were against the right to choose, but then again all sorts of protests and celebrations have their genesis in the Cathedral car park, so perhaps that wasn’t their message at all.

The only thing those drivers held up by their protest knew for sure was that they were against something and they purported to represent the rest of us in this determined stance.

The king of saying no was Ian Paisley, but when he told us that Ulster was saying no, we knew what he was talking about. Maggie Thatcher was equally clear when she answered in the negative – but Galway is not renowned for saying no to much at all.

We’ve never said no to a festival in our lives, or a bar extension, or the craic, or a half-day.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.