1926

Poverty plight

One hundred and five households in Galway Union area and 42 in Ballinasloe are in receipt of Home Assistance, and but for the benevolent work that is being done by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which distributes from £10 to £12 weekly in Galway, the plight of not a few homes would be pitiable indeed.

The truth is that a great section of the labourers in western districts are dependent upon casual work. A decade or two ago, before the days of the Dole, they could eke out a penurious existence.

Today, with the cost of living vastly increased and with the general standard appreciably raised, they find themselves in sorry case when the sources of casual employment become dried up.

Respectable men in Galway today, too proud to reveal their poverty to the world, are actually subsisting upon the charity of well-disposed comrades. This condition of things is not an aspersion merely upon the Government of the country, but upon the people of the towns, and upon the public representatives who spend their time talking politics and creating unnecessary legislation while people starve.

1951

DIY housing

A splendid example of self-help on the part of a number of Galway tradesmen in tackling their individual housing problems was disclosed at a meeting of Galway Corporation on Thursday when a proposal for the acquiring of a site for a group of sixteen houses was approved.

Introducing two spokesmen representing the tradesmen, the Town Clerk, Mr. S. Gillan, said that the group was composed of carpenters, plasterers, electricians, plumbers and one Civil Service clerk who was acting as secretary and accountant.

The proposal was, he said, that the Corporation would acquire the necessary land by agreement and lease the individual sites to the tradesmen at a ground rent of £5 per annum, which had been calculated to cover all the expenses of the Corporation in the transaction. The Tradesmen would form their own Friendly Society and obtain the usual grants and loans for the purpose of building the houses.

Mr. Gillan said that the tradesmen had failed to get houses to rent and decided to build for themselves. They found, however, that prohibitive prices demanded for sites in Galway made it impossible for them to acquire the necessary land.

Knowing that the Corporation had powers to acquire sites for building purposes, they approached the County Manager and found him anxious to do anything he could to help them out.

Pictured at Glenlo Abbey Hotel in August 2005 for the launch of the programme of shows to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the refurbished Town Hall Theatre were, from left: Ollie Jennings, Sawdoctors Manager and a Galway International Arts Festival founder, TG4 presenter Padraic Breathnach, also a founder of Macnas, and Fergal McGrath, Manger, Druid Theatre Company. The theatre marked its 30th anniversary last weekend.