By Avril Horan

A life-changing work accident altered the trajectory of David Collins’ career – from carpenter to Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council.

In 2001, he fell from the first floor of a building, shattering four vertebrae in his lumbar spine, leaving him in a body cast for a year.  The Turloughmore native was a carpenter by trade and spent over a decade working in America, before the accident forced him to stop and rethink his career path.

“I was doing carpentry and fell from the first floor. It was just one of those things. I was in a body cast for a year,” he recalls.

Unable to return to physical labour, he turned instead to community development.

“When you are incapacitated, you don’t know what you are going to do,” he explains.

“I went back to college and studied Community Development and Social Studies. I really loved it – supporting people, making communities better.”

That pivot marked the start of a new journey that would eventually lead him into politics and to his role as Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council.

He grew up in a bustling home in Turloughmore as one of nine children.

“It was a lovely childhood,” he says. “There were nearly two generations of us, with nine of us in it, five girls and four lads.

“Some of my older siblings were off married by the time I was born. I have a brother who is 21 years older than me. He was in England when I was growing up. When he came back, I was in America. We missed each other. There was a gap of eight or nine years between the youngest three. We had great craic on a small family farm.”

Tragedy struck when his parents, Máirtín and Ita, both died in their early seventies – an experience he describes as “a big shock.” Two of his sisters also died in their sixties, events that profoundly shaped him, and his outlook on life.

Like so many of his generation, he had emigrated to America when he was 19 years old.

“I had a car and a job in Ireland, but I didn’t have ten pounds left at the end of the week for anything,” he says.

America offered opportunity and adventure, and he spent the next twelve years there, travelling and working in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.

“I took a chance,” he says. “I was never going to come home. My life was in America. I loved it and I loved the lifestyle.”

But fate intervened when his father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“They only gave him a couple of months to live, so I said I’d come home and spend a few months with him,” he explains.

“He lived for eleven months, and I never went back to America. I became settled here again. Things happen for a reason.”

That homecoming laid the groundwork for his political career. He first tested the waters as an Independent candidate in 2004, before being elected as a Fine Gael Councillor in 2019. It wasn’t without its challenges.

“I was getting my legs in under the table, figuring out who’s who and what’s what,” he says.

“It was a brand-new structure for me. And then eight months later, COVID hit.”

Like many newly elected Councillors, he found himself trying to build relationships through screens.

“It was tough,” he continues. “That face-to-face meeting is huge to build relationships in any job. We didn’t get that opportunity. We were the front face of the pandemic for a while. It was a really difficult time.”

Housing and infrastructure are two key issues that concern him as Cathaoirleach, especially for rural towns and villages. The pace of change, he says, can be frustratingly slow.

He is frustrated at Uisce Eireann and cites a need for policy change at national level.

“Sometimes the speed of getting things done, the bureaucracy of it, it’s hard,” he admits.

“One of the biggest challenges for rural areas like Turloughmore and Lackagh is housing. Because of the wastewater infrastructure policy set out at national level, it’s impossible to develop these villages and towns. We should be investing in them.

“Developers can’t go in and build houses because there’s nowhere to hook up to. And there’s a huge demand. We saw it in Claregalway, where there were 44 affordable houses and over 200 applications. People want to live where they grew up.

“There are ways and means of doing this. If people can stay in their own locality, they’ll keep the schools open, keep the shops and businesses going.”

He warns that Galway’s economic growth and quality of life are at risk without the outer bypass. Not only that, but infrastructure deficits will have an impact on direct foreign investment.

“Unless that outer bypass happens, we’re in trouble,” he explains.

“It’s massive, not just for the city, but those travelling into the city. It’s eventually going to choke. If we can alleviate that, we will thrive, but it is a big thing.

“People from Athenry or Turloughmore will travel to Athlone or Limerick because it’s easier than tackling Galway City’s traffic gridlock. There are no traffic issues in those towns. They can get in and out fast.

“Housing and infrastructure are going to stop foreign direct investment coming into Galway. Companies will ask – ‘where are we going to put the people, and how are they going to get to work?”

Despite the challenges, he is still optimistic and driven. One of his key goals as Cathaoirleach is to improve how Galway County Council communicates with people on the ground.

“We provide 1,100 different services, but most people wouldn’t know that,” he says.

“We launched a new website, but we need a better communication strategy, so people know what support is available. I’d like my legacy to be that if a person needs help in the County, at the push of a button they know where to go and who to call and how to get it.

“I’d like to think I was fair to all Councillors of Galway County Council and that I represented Galway nationally and internationally to the best of my ability. I would like to think that I showed up, praised, supported, and promoted all the groups and individuals I met in my year as Cathaoirleach.”

Outside politics, his grounding comes from family – his two sons, Diarmuid and Tiernan and wife Lorraine – and his love of sport.

Younger son Diarmuid (14) is heavily involved in GAA and rugby. He plays with the Galway U-14 hurling and football teams, as well as with Turloughmore and Claregalway. He also plays rugby with Monivea. Tiernan (26) is a physiotherapist with Connacht Rugby and the Corofin Senior Football team.

“They’re very sports orientated,” he says.

“I love seeing that, as they are always keeping fit and looking after themselves. They’re always telling me to mind myself too. And they will be able to look after me in my old age when I start creaking.”

Once a keen underage hurler and footballer with Turloughmore and Galway, golf is now David’s sport of choice, though time for it is scarce since taking on the Cathaoirleach’s role.

“My head is spinning with the workload,” he says. “But I absolutely love getting out to all parts of the County to see the great work being done by volunteers.

“I’m proud to be a public representative. I am proud to do that job. We are there to help, support and guide people as best we can. We’re trying our best all the time to support people. That’s all we can do – try our best.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.

Pictured: David Collins celebrates his return to Galway County Council, with his family at the Local Election count centre. Photo: Gerry Stronge.