Byrne (1917-2004 ), for decades a senior nurse in the Regional Hospital (now UHG ), lived her entire life on Henry Street and nearby on St Mary's Road.
A senior trade union official with the INMO and a member of the Western Health Board, she was elected to Galway Corporation in 1967, serving 18 years as a city councillor.
She was the first female to run for the Dáil for Fianna Fáil in Galway West as running mate for Jonny Geoghegan and Bobby Molloy. The campaigner for orphans, and victims of domestic violence, made history in June, 1975, when she became the first woman to be elected Mayor of the City of Galway.
She was re-elected mayor in 1984 to oversee Galway's quincentennial celebrations, and laid the foundation stone for City Hall on College Road in 1985.
The motion to name the playground was proposed by City Central ward Councillor Frank Fahy (FG ).
"She was most definitely 'the boss' in the Regional in those days, and I'd guess there was no MRSA there on her watch," Fahy told the Advertiser. "It think it is right that we honour her, especially as it is also the 50th anniversary of the UN's International Woman's Year in 1975 which was a watershed for discrimination against women."
