Archive News
January 20, 2011
Date Published: {J}
1911
Sunday drinking
At Oughterard Petty Sessions, Thomas Fahy, Angler’s Hotel, was prosecuted by D.I. Woods for a breach of the Licensing Act by keeping his premises open for the sale of intoxicating liquor on a certain Sunday recently.
Mr. Daly, solr., appeared for the defence, which was that drink was sold only to bona fide travellers, and that a Mrs O’Connor came in while a bona fide traveller was taking out his horse which was not in contravention in the Act.
The magistrates dismissed the case.
Mr. Woods: On the score of the law, sir, I think the decision is wrong, and I would ask you to state a case.
Mr. Daly: I would ask you not to state a case; not until you cool a little.
Mr. Kenny: It is cold enough already.
A magistrate: You have the right of appeal.
Mr. Woods: We have the right of mandamus; we have no right of appeal.
Chairman: We have come to the conclusion that Mrs O’Connor didn’t go there for drink at all.
Mr. Woods: This would affect the action of the police in regard to every house in Oughterard.
Mr. Daly: If you have the courage to go to the Court at all, you will be fired out.
Mr. Kenny: It is pleasant to hear of a fire even.
1936
Galway Airport
At a meeting of Galway Urban Council, the secretary read a letter from the Galway Chamber of Commerce suggesting that the Council should appoint two delegates to join with the Chamber in a deputation to the President of the Executive Council so as to place before him the claims of Galway as a transoceanic airport, as well as claims to have a share to the new Irish air services.
It had at Oranmore, a distance of a few miles out, land which would be made available for use as a first class aerodrome with very little expenditure. It could be regarded as a valuable adjunct to the port and would be greatly appreciated by the travelling public.
Cleaning streets
Mr Corbett: Can anything be done about cleaner streets in Galway. They were not up to the mark during Christmas time. A lot remains to be done about the lights and the cleaning of the streets; there is really something missing. There are several lights in the wrong places and those that are in the right places are poor lights. We should have a conference with the E.S.B. We are paying a lot of money. The chairman of the Urban Council said it had not been consulted by the E.S.B. regarding the position of the lights.
Port development
Galway City and County united on Tuesday to set before President de Valera at Government Buildings its desire for the development of Galway City and its port. The deputation was the most influential and representative which Galway has ever sent to the capital, and the President was greatly impressed and said he could not but feel impressed with the case put up setting out the desire of the people of Galway to give every help.
Stress was laid by the deputation on the big scheme on which the substantial sum of £200,000 was being expended for the development of the port. When completed, it was pointed out, the popularity which Galway enjoyed as a port of call for transatlantic liners would be increased.
The President, it was stated, was impressed by the case presented to him and by the enthusiasm of the people of Galway to develop their city and port, and promised to give every point submitted to him his very careful consideration.
Storm damage
A fierce storm accompanied by heavy rains swept over the Loughrea district during the weekend. The lake adjoining the town rose several inches and flooding to a large extent took place throughout the district. Trees were also blown down over a wide area and outhouses stripped of slates. Stacks of hay and straw were scattered and boundary walls razed to the ground.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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