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Galway woman’s new book ‘infused’ with her native city
A Galway born Professor, writer and theatre aficionado has just released her first novel entitled ‘Girls Will Be Girls’.
Prof. Emer O’Toole who studied English and Philosophy at NUI Galway, now teaches Irish theatre, film and performance at the School of Canadian Irish Studies, at Concordia University in Montreal.
She left Galway after her Arts degree to pursue further studies at Trinity College Dublin. In 2012, she completed a PhD at Royal Holloway College at the University of London before moving to Canada.
She is scholar of theatre, film and performance, whose research examines the various influences that inform performances of Irishness in a globalized and globalizing world. These influences include things like economics, politics, history, race, gender and class.
She has dropped her anchor in Canada it would seem. “Montreal is a beautiful city, with a good arts scene and a vibrant grassroots political culture. My French is improving slowly but surely. I’m delighted to have landed in this part of the world, and I hope I’ll be here for a very long time,” she told the Galway City Tribune.
Prof. O’Toole loves her life across the Atlantic, finding her work incredibly rewarding. “My students are incredible – passionate, smart, opinionated, hard-working, and creative. You wouldn’t believe how much they love Irish theatre! My colleagues are forward-thinking, interdisciplinary, supportive and great auld craic. It’s just a lovely place to work,” she explains.
She does, however, reveal her deep gratitude for access to the arts in Galway as a reason she is performance scholar now.
“I probably wouldn’t be a performance scholar without the practical theatre-making training given to me by the fantastic folks of Galway Youth Theatre, and the exciting three years I spent studying English and Philosophy at NUI Galway. I think of GYT and NUIG with immense gratitude.”
Prof. O’Toole’s book Girls Will Be Girls is an “accessible and fun book explaining the academic ideas around gender and feminism” according to the author. It is an insightful look at themes like structure and agency, and how cultural conditioning shapes how we behave as humans.
The first three chapters of her book are based solely in Galway. This clearly evidences her roots to the region. “Galway infuses Girls Will Be Girls – from childhood summers in Connemara, to boogying with my beors at Strange Brew.”
She builds on this by saying “The first three chapters of [the book] are set in Galway: I sketch the ways in which a West of Ireland childhood and young adulthood conditioned me into gendered beliefs and behaviours.”
Emer O’Toole gained notoriety after an appearance on ITV’s This Morning show in which she discussed feminism and the idea of body image. She appeared on the show having gone 18 months without shaving and famously asked live on air: “Will I get my pits out for the lads?” referring of course to her arm pits.
This highlights that she has never been one to conform for conformity’s sake. She is opinionated, intelligent and funny to boot.
Prof O’Toole, however, has many other strings to her bow. She also writes a column for The Guardian, and it is clear talking to her why writing is such an important part of the person she is.
“I love writing the way some people love playing football, cooking or making music. I’ve always written. I’ll always write. I write because when I don’t I feel like my head’ll explode and the tiny, untamed thoughts therein will go running through the streets screaming, stamping and biting misogynists.”
When drawn on what she enjoys writing about she is frank and honest, like we’ve come to expect from her columns in a sense.
“When it comes to subject matter, I care deeply about equality of gender, race, class, ability and sexual orientation. I teach in an Irish studies department, so I’m immersed in Irish art, politics, history and sociology, and think and write about Ireland all the time.”
The subject matter she deals with in her columns is both broad and diverse. She has covered topics like polyamory, feminism, BDSM, terrorism and even Garth Brooks!
The idea of equality clearly resonates with her, discussing the upcoming marriage equality referendum she was unequivocal: “I think it will pass. It’s so important for Irish society. It’s Ireland’s opportunity to prove that it loves all its citizens equally.”
She thinks the next major step in Irish society is to legislate for “safe, legal abortions”. Ireland’s march towards progress she attributes to “the unflinching work of liberal activists.”
For her, Ireland has come on in leaps and bounds in the past decade or so. However, she does concede that “we’re a nation of eye-rollers”.
“Sometimes when I’m home I just want to stop a conversation and say ‘careful now, if you roll those eyes back any more, your irises’ll disappear into your sockets altogether’.”
For her, the changes coming to Ireland aren’t enough to tempt her to return to the blustery windswept shores of Galway. “I’m never coming back to live in the West of Ireland. In Galway, men talk and women are talked over. Respect to the wonderful Westie women speaking up, speaking out, and trying to create change, but I had to leave to find my voice.”
That is not to say that she is entirely disparaging of the City of the Tribes. “I miss Galway all the time. I love that you can’t stand on Cross Street for ten minutes without someone casting you in a play or roping you into a puppet-making workshop.
“I love how laidback Galway is – everyone has time to stop and chat. When the sun comes out, the whole city’s smiling. It’s where my family and many of my best and oldest friends live. Of course, I miss Galway.”
When asked what she misses most about Galway, she gives a simple one word answer “my Mum”.
You can follow Emer on Twitter @Emer_OToole and her new book ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ is available at most good book stores.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
