We must support the leaner and more efficient Aer Arann

The news that came out of the High Court yesterday afternoon that there is a reasonable chance of Aer Arann surviving is one that should be welcomed most especially here in the west. Our local airport is dependent on Aer Arann for giving us the type of connectivity to the major UK and Irish cities that a major city like Galway needs.

The airline which suffered losses of more than €18 million in the past 30 months, applied to the High Court for examinership on August 26 last with the result of Mr Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton being appointed interim examiner.

Mick’s spirit will live on in Druid

Tonight when the floors of the Druid Theatre in Druid Lane fall silent, and when the last vestige of light is squeezed out by the arriving night; and when the last lock has been bolted, there will be heard a cough, a clearing of the throat and that chuckle, the head thrown back, and an “arragh shure.”

A little bit of the company’s history died this week with the passing of Mick Lally — a cue taken well before it should have been delivered, but in a week in which the company had excelled itself with its fantastic production of the anti-war play The Silver Tassie.

Rearing children to be sacrificed on our killing fields

While you are reading this and seeing the mere words that lie on this page, several families in Kerry are going through an unimaginable grief. They are numbed by the events of yesterday morning; they are shivering and shaking as their bodies try to absorb the enormity of it all; the hugs and handshakes meaning little as they nod in an automated response; the realisation that after rearing children from the cot to the threshold of their own independence, that all they had hoped for their children has been taken away from them.

The families of Ireland are sick and tired of rearing children to be sacrificed on the killings fields that are our roads. Too many hearses have made slow, thoughtful, journeys, because other vehicles did not. Too many siblings are pictured tear-filled, shocked that their brother/sister has been taken away from them, disrupting the natural order of human mortality. Too many school photographs and sports team photographs from this decade will include people who did not live to make it through to minor or senior.

More Editorial

• We must support the leaner and more efficient Aer Arann
• Mick’s spirit will live on in Druid
• Let’s not have petty war over German market
• Ivor’s biggest sin — getting caught
• Thursday morning coming down...
• Many families are fearing the coming winter
• If only replaying life would solve all our ills...
• Don’t hit the disabled while bailing out the bankers
• London calling — a century since a monarch’s visit — Mind the gap
• Blue Flags reveal a community’s eco ethos
• We can’t depend on ‘gut instinct’ to protect us from the health service
• Let our natural beauty shine through this summer
• Galway could be be ‘managerless’ for six months
• When people power meets petrol power
• Is Cam/Clegg relationship manna for political idealists?
• Is taking Tuam’s archbishop the last straw?
• Clash of the ash could cost us cash
• Cregmore crash could have been horrific
• Let's Do It…..Connacht
• Let us not lose Galway-ness
• Jumping headfirst into middle age
• Toddler death was every parent’s worst nightmare
• End of the Teo show as Eamon gets a proper job
• Reshuffle leaves us distinctly underwhelmed
• Snakes and rape victims being told to go quietly — nothing’s changed
• Who can we now trust in the Church?
• The Boy With The Dragon Yahoo and other Swedish things
• Tis great to be thick and poor again.
• The times we live in
• Irish politics is a bit like The Sopranos