Plan for Salthill garden to honour organ donors

Date Published: 05-Jun-2012

By Cathy Donohue

Plans for a National Garden in Commemoration of Organ Donors to be located in Salthill Park are officially underway after the Strange Boat Donor Foundation presented their proposal to the City Council on Monday last.

“We are absolutely delighted to have the support of the City Council and it was a great opportunity to present our proposed national garden at the Strategic Policy Committee meeting last Monday,” said Martina Goggin.

Martina and her husband Denis set up Strange Boat Donor Foundation after the untimely death of their son Éamonn in a road accident in 2006. His wish was to have his organs donated and afterwards his parents became more aware than ever of the importance of this process.

“It is a great consolation to think that your loved one has helped other families. We set up the Strange Boat Donor Foundation specially dedicated to this cause and, as time went on, we saw there was a need for a tangible place associated with organ donation.”

And so the National Garden of Commemoration & Thanksgiving was born. “There was no such place in Ireland so we decided to set up a national garden. We looked all over the country but then decided, why not Galway? We live in Spiddal and believe Salthill is ideal; we were given the green light for the project in 2010 depending on various conditions. We are now in partnership with the Council as we work on the planning process.”

Director of Transport and Infrastructure at Galway City Council Ciarán Hayes supported the project fully, pointing out that the Council hopes to advance plans on the garden by the end of this year.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with the foundation in bringing the garden to fruition. It’s an innovative scheme to have a reflective garden concentrating on the circle of life and we certainly welcome the proposal.”

The garden will consist of a central stone area surrounded by vegetation, together creating the symbol of the hawthorn flower which is traditionally associated with healing of the heart. There will be pathways, stone seating and an elevated area overlooking the sea, all of which will provide room for rest and contemplation.

Another unique feature is that the garden will feature stones from each of the 32 counties of Ireland, thus representing donors from every corner of the country. The Strange Boat Donor Foundation hopes to source stone tablets from each of the five continents.

“We are actively involved with Ellis Island in New York at the moment and there will be an event in September symbolically presenting the stone tablet, hopefully this will raise awareness and much needed funds,” said Martina.

Funding is currently the biggest issue and although the foundation has a number of events in the pipeline they are encouraging anyone with any interest in the subject to get involved.

“The subject is relevant to so many and we would like people to get involved in any little way at all. Éamonn’s friends have planned a table quiz and dance night in Monroe’s next Friday, June 8. We also have a series of concerts planned and are open to the possibility of corporate sponsorship.”

As Salthill Park is open to the public the national garden is in a vulnerable position regarding the threat of vandalism, but Martina is hopeful that people will respect what the garden stands for.

“We want this garden to be accessible to the public, not locked away and only open at certain times. If you were to listen to your fears you wouldn’t do anything. This is a garden to represent everyone and we hope that because of the nature of the garden it will be quite inspirational to anyone who goes in there, a sanctuary for people.”

Like Mr Hayes, Martina is hopeful that work on the garden will either commence by the end of this year, or early 2013 at the latest.

“Put it this way, we hope that by this time next year the garden will be open,” she added.