CITY TRIBUNE
School principal departs after 40 years with host of fond memories
The pupils of Scoil Éinde in Salthill have bid a fond farewell to their principal as Michael Gallagher waved goodbye to the school he has dedicated over 40 years of service to.
Much respected in the community, Michael says he felt the time was right to pass on the mantle of running the school in which he has taught since January 7, 1976.
Originally from Belmullet, the man who students described as “the best principal ever” embedded himself in Galway life and has become an esteemed figure following the transformation of a school that had severely decreasing numbers before his appointment as principal in 2009.
According to Michael, he recognised upon taking the role eight years ago that his primary task would be to bring Scoil Éinde back to a position of respectability in the community.
“Our numbers had gone seriously down and I suppose we were at a crossroads really so there was a bit of work to be done.
“That was the one thing I was conscious of when I was appointed, that would be the first task – to up the numbers and try to make the school attractive again,” says Michael.
In this, he was hugely successful and the school once again found its place at the heart of the community – with many believing that this was down to the leadership and commitment of Michael.
Of course, the man himself modestly says that it is a combination of the work of the staff at the school, a commitment from parents and the changing face of Salthill as young families started to move back into the area.
Reflecting on how this lifelong relationship with education began, Michael explains that it was never part of any master plan to become a teacher.
“I did consider teaching but I don’t know if there was any moment where I decided I actually wanted to be a teacher.
“I got the points in the Leaving Cert and I did the interview for St Pat’s in Drumcondra at the time and I was offered a place – I think I just fell into it really,” he laughs.
If it was a case of falling into it at the beginning, it was never something he tried to escape from and following his graduation for college, he set to work in Saggart, Co Dublin.
Three months later, he moved to Scoil Éinde and the rest, as they say, is history.
In his career at the school, Michael developed a relationship not only with pupils and parents, but with colleagues, too – something that he says he will miss most as he spends more time walking the Prom and honing his golfing skills.
He says that together with the staff of the school, he had a “sense of happiness” in the school.
“If you set an example and treat children with respect, that is huge and I think that if you give it, you get it back – I would like to think that I contributed somewhat to that,” he says.
Of his days at Scoil Éinde, a few of his proudest achievements include setting up school tours abroad in the 1980s at a time when this was pioneering – as well as the smaller every day things that have resulted from his work.
“It is lovely when you are walking in town and a past pupil that you haven’t seen in maybe thirty years comes up to you – you feel that at least they are still willing to say hello to you, so you couldn’t have been that bad.
“It is great when you see past pupils and you hear of them doing this and doing that and you feel that I might have had some little part in shaping that – a very small part, but at least you feel you were part of it some place along the way,” he says with a smile.
Michael feels that he is leaving the school in a good position and believes that his successor will have the opportunity between now and September to plan and take the school to the next level.
“I have enjoyed it – hopefully, I have helped children along the way and the children would have good memories of their time in school and that they have enjoyed it.
“I hope that they felt happy, secure and comfortable there, that they were encouraged and I would be happy to think that was part of my legacy in the school.
“The school will go on to be bigger and better and there are great people there. They will always have a great interest in the children, great parents and a great school – it will always be very close to my heart,” says Michael.
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.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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