Search Results for 'Joe Cunningham'

In the 1940s the seeds of great social change were sown in Ireland; Irish society began to “feel the full force of the cold blast of social change”. In 1940s Ireland, the State gave no assistance to the out-of-school education of young people. The need to provide social and recreational activities for young people was enormous. The Jesuit Community responded to this need by setting up Our Lady’s Boys Club in 1941, which began to provide organised recreational activities to the youth of Shantalla, Bohermore, Claddagh and ‘the West’.

Helen Ogbu was formally endorsed by the Labour Party at a heavily attended selection convention this week, to chants of “Gaillimh Abú, Gallimh Ogbu” by almost 100 supporters.

SIPTU’s Manufacturing Divisional Organiser, Neil McGowan, has called for workers’ rights and the right to unionise to be central to the debate in the upcoming General Election at the Union’s Manufacturing Division Biennial Delegate Conference in Galway last week.

“There is nothing as Galway as Our Lady's Boy’s Club,” was how our president Michael D Higgins described OLBC some years ago at a function in the Columban Hall. It is more than 80 years since it was founded and it is the longest-running youth club in the country. It was set up by Fr Leonard Shiel SJ at a time when there were was a lot of grinding poverty in Galway and no recreational facilities or extra-curricular activities for young people in areas like the Claddagh, Bohermore, Shantalla, and ‘The West’. The club provided these and has been a source of guidance and inspiration to thousands of young men and boys since, especially those from a working class background. From that first day of nervous membership, right through their teens, and even after they had taken up the challenges of adult life, the spirit and watchful eye of the Club is ever with them.

“There is nothing as Galway as Our Lady's Boy’s Club,” was how our president Michael D Higgins described OLBC some years ago at a function in the Columban Hall. It is more than 80 years since it was founded and it is the longest-running youth club in the country. It was set up by Fr Leonard Shiel SJ at a time when there were was a lot of grinding poverty in Galway and no recreational facilities or extra-curricular activities for young people in areas like the Claddagh, Bohermore, Shantalla, and ‘The West’. The club provided these and has been a source of guidance and inspiration to thousands of young men and boys since, especially those from a working class background. From that first day of nervous membership, right through their teens, and even after they had taken up the challenges of adult life, the spirit and watchful eye of the Club is ever with them.

There was a huge turnout of long serving union activists and members, that gathered at the event in the lovely spring sunshine for the launch of SIPTU’s Welcome Centre on Moneen Road in Castlebar.