Children are victims of mankind’s cruelty

Thu, Apr 18, 2013

It is not right that children fail to outlive their childhood. Their young legs should in an ideal world, enable them to run free, to find wonderment in the environment that is their playground, to leap with their imaginations into the recesses of their young minds, as yet untainted by the cynicism of adult life. And this imagination and carefreeness should come with the love and care of those who are charged with shaping the environment in which they grow.

Appreciating the value of life

Thu, Apr 11, 2013

In a week in which the news seems to focus locally on the reasons for lives lost and internationally on the mocking of some of someone who has passed on, the value of life seems permanently at the core of our minds.

Dignity of lives lost should not be forgotten in circus

Thu, Apr 04, 2013

Next Monday, a circus will descend on Galway. Media of all hue and definition will head west for a hearing that will be seen to set the agenda for a debate that has long divided this country. For more than a week, the focus of the country will be on the deliberations of a coroner and his witnesses in a case which has brought Galway to the attention of the world.

Cyprus and the two Popes have made us believe that anything can happen

Thu, Mar 28, 2013

We are truly living in unbelievable times. In a world with two popes where foreign governments can plunder your life savings and where the Government can tell you to give up your job if they determine that it is not worth your bother, it is easy to get up and believe the first thing we are told each morning.

Food festival copperfastens Galway’s unique culinary culture

Thu, Mar 21, 2013

Next Thursday the second Galway Food Festival gets under way in the city. A mere twelve months ago, the first installment of the festival was greeted with bemusement by those who would not have immediately associated Galway as being one of the most foodie places in the country. This was Galway of the arts, of the culture, a place more associated with the craic than the cuisine. But how wrong all of that was.

Will the greenway be our green shoot?

Thu, Mar 14, 2013

One of the upsides of the ‘we are where we are” scenario that has engulfed this country for the last few years is that it is forcing more and more people to look for opportunities in the sea of adversity in which we are all floundering. One of these opportunities has come to Galway in the past 48 hours with the news that a greenway trail for cyclists and pedestrians from Oughterard to Clifden has been approved by An Bord Pleanála.

Celebrating the wonders of women 

Thu, Mar 07, 2013

Tomorrow women around the globe can raise a glass to themselves and toast International Women's Day. Whether a homemaker, mudwrestler, or international diplomat, women may still be underestimated, but crucially they no longer underestimate themselves. 

New approach to Rag Week revelry is welcome

Thu, Feb 21, 2013

The students of Galway are currently drinking their way through the traditional, if unofficial, Rag Week.

Pope’s resignation will change how we view work and ageing

Thu, Feb 14, 2013

Little did he know it when he made his surprise announcement on Monday morning, but the decision of Pope Benedict to retire may have a profound impact on how the world views work and ageing. It was a brave decision, given that he is in a post which has traditionally only been vacated in the event of a papal death, the ultimate job for life. It is a decision that can be viewed two ways by those of advanced years — it can be seen as a sense of empowerment at being able to control one’s working life at a late age, or it could be demoralising because it represents a stark reality that at some stage, people just have to stop working merely because their bodies no longer allow them to continue.

Empathy delayed is empathy denied

Thu, Feb 07, 2013

In an Ireland in which the only colours were black and white, when even the sunshine seemed a distant grey, hope was a rare commodity. And for those who were robbed of their innocence by circumstance and robbed of their freedom by a lack of compassion, days like this week must have seemed a million years away. When life seems on the verge of beating you down, you fall back on family, friends, beliefs, and authority figures.

The end of the innocence

Thu, Jan 31, 2013

After all is said and done, after every last eulogy is recited, after every representative pays his respects, after every bit of shock etched on our furrowed brows falls away, then and only then, will two little children begin living a life with a large void in it.

From spellbinder to outsider

Thu, Jan 24, 2013

Being an altarboy was the nearest we got to showbusiness in South Mayo in the 1970s — The rota for an altar boy in those days would be one week doing Last Mass, one week doing Second Mass, and the third week doing First Mass which would also mean you were on duty for the daily morning and evening masses for the week ahead. The week when you were on fulltime was great as it felt like a night’s run in the Gaiety.

Getting through the longest month

Thu, Jan 10, 2013

It's a long wait from mid December until the end of January. A long time between wage packets for those lucky enough to have wage packets. At the start of this New Year there are not many families who are not feeling the pinch . To pretend otherwise would be to ignore the reality that is life in Ireland this winter. The country is full of households where the heads are just above water but where there is an intense amount of frantic paddling underneath.

Bringing manners back into the social media conversation

Thu, Dec 27, 2012

Social media can be a wonderful experience. It allows those who do not have a voice to have a voice. It creates links and new communities that pave the way for new sorts of communication. It allows businesses and organisations to communicate directly with their customers and members in ways that would have been deemed impractical in the past. It also gets people using the medium of language in order to praise, to encourage, to support, to embolden people who need emboldening, to vocalise causes that might otherwise remain silent.

Let the light in, as the days get longer

Thu, Dec 20, 2012

At the start of this year, we knew that Galway would for a short while anyway, attract the eyes of the world; that the name of the city would feature across the pages of the top newspapers, that it might just grab a few minutes at obscure hours for sports-mad insomniacs. We knew that the city would be the location for an event that would make headlines — up until November, we thought that this would be the Volvo Ocean Race, but it was not to be.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help this Christmas

Thu, Dec 13, 2012

In all of our communities right now, there are husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, who have lost their jobs and are wondering how they are going to make it through the winter and out the far side. They know that there are just 10 days until Christmas yet they have never been as badly prepared as they are this year. Thousands of homes will experience a Christmas the likes of which they have not experienced for some years.

Don’t deprive our children of the light of hope

Thu, Nov 29, 2012

In just six days time, we will find out the extent of the effect of what is likely to be the most harrowing budget in living memory. Although kiteflying about the repercussions has been limited this year, stifled no doubt by the ongoing and unexpected abortion debate, there is no doubt that there is a fair degree of negative apprehension about the contents of Michael Noonan’s briefcase next Wednesday afternoon.

The sad reality of a dream shattered

Thu, Nov 15, 2012

This morning, as you read this, wherever you are in the world, a man is broken, inconsolable, shattered. He is a man around whom a maelstrom of controversy has erupted in the past 48 hours. A man who just a few days ago was unknown to many of us, but who has been thrust into the limelight by a personal tragedy, the horror of which we can only try to imagine.

Don’t let complacency be a further rebuke to victims of Letterfrack

Thu, Nov 08, 2012

There is a sadness that envelopes anyone who takes the time to stroll around the former industrial school at Letterfrack. The sculpture in memory of those who suffered there in the adjacent church is also a silent reminder that screams out at us in a way the children who were incarcerated there were unable to do. In the dark days of the fifties, sixties and seventies, when hope was in short supply in Ireland, it was even less in abundance for those who were placed there often through no fault of their own, abandoned by the State to become the sexual and physical playthings of a brutish regime.

The Irish-American vote

Thu, Nov 01, 2012

The Irish-American vote used to be a sure thing. If you were Irish-American, you voted Democrat. It was as simple as that. When I was growing up in 1950s Chicago, Republicans were like another species. An analogy from Baseball. As a Chicagoan, you supported either the White Sox or the Cubs. It was a tribal thing. My family were White Sox fans. So I was a White Sox fan. Cubs fans, on the other hand, were weird. Why would anyone support the Cubs? In much the same way, Republicans were weird too. Why would anyone support the Republicans? If you were Irish-American, even to pose the question bordered on the ridiculous.

E-paper

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