News
Students shed new light on fallen Galway hero
A group of young Galway students are shedding new light on a local war hero who gave his life almost exactly a century ago on the Green Fields of France.
The history pupils at Galway Community College have delved into the world of the early twentieth century to uncover the life of Claregalway brothers Martin and Bernie Fahy, as part of their Leaving Cert project.
September 26 marked the 125th anniversary of the birth of Bernie Fahy, who worked in the tunnels for the New Zealand army before he was sadly killed in action by an artillery shell in France in 1917.
His brother, Martin Fahy, was in active service with the IRA before drowning during the Civil War in January 1923, at just 29 years old.
Bernie Fahy in full uniform.
And in the strangest twist of fate – as the brothers were fighting for two opposing forces – Bernie visited Martin while he was incarcerated in Wales alongside Michael Collins, where the conversations that took place can only be imagined.
There is some confusion over when Bernie was actually born, with some New Zealand records stating September 26, and other war records showing it was June 24, but one thing that is certain is that he was born in 1890. The sixth of eight children, Bernie set off to New Zealand to visit and aunt before joining the New Zealand army.
Cathy Fahy visited the grave at Arras in Northern France, where she was shocked to discover her great-granduncle had his own beautifully kept grave and headstone – a rare occurrence during that period of time.
“I live two doors down from his original home, I’m the only family member left on the homeland,” she said.
“We heard very little about Bernie Fahy in the family; even my mother wouldn’t have . . . just little snippets of information, but very little, whereas we would have heard lots about Martin.
“Both brothers met in 1916 when Martin was incarcerated in Wales. Bernie would have come from New Zealand and travelled by ship all the way with the rest of the tunnellers up to Southampton, I think.
“He had a week or two off so he went to visit his brother; you can only imagine, one dressed in British military uniform and the other one in jail because he was fighting against them.”
One of the last letters from Bernie was written in the trenches on a small piece of notepad size paper with scrawled handwriting, much different to his previous neat and cursive hand on March 16 1916 – a mere five weeks before his death.
The letter to his ‘dearest mother’ read: “If it’s not too much of me to ask you, you might send me a pair or two of homemade socks. They would do just the thing for this damp. Hope I’m not asking too much of you. Well, I must say goodbye. Goodnight, lights out. Best wishes from your son, Bernie Fahy.”
Through the research carried out, the family have since discovered that they have more relatives in New Zealand when they found out that Bernie’s aunt, whom he had visited, had given birth to an illegitimate son before joining the nunnery.
“The can of worms just started opening,” said Cathy, on the new discoveries that keep on coming about Bernie.
Galway Community College Head of History Philip Cribbin heard about the story by chance on his way up to a camogie final in Dublin, conversing with his neighbour Cathy who he discovered was a great-grandniece of Bernie.
“I just thought it was a kind of an interesting story; how somebody could actually go from Cregboy to New Zealand, return to Britain and then go to France and die there,” he said.
“I thought it was a very simple way to explain to the class as to the divisions and tensions of the time.
“Our missionary statement here in the history department is ‘bring history to life’ and so this is basically what we’re doing, we’re making it relevant, making it real for them, and personalising it,” he added.
During a recent commemorative ceremony, the class planted a tree with Bernie’s great-grandnephew Sean Fahy, where some of the students dressed up in costume and one recited a Siegfried Sassoon wartime poem.
A group of students also made two wooden plaques dedicated to Bernie and one of them was left on the Fahy family grave in Claregalway as a memorial.
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
