Connacht Tribune
Galway In Days Gone By
1918
Shot at by men dressed as women
One Sunday evening, at about 5 p.m., a boy named Patrick Ryan, son of Mrs. Ryan, Main-st., Loughrea, was fired at by two unknown men on a farm known as the Forde farm at Earlspark – recently the subject of litigation in the High Court – but fortunately escaped uninjured.
The assailants, who were dressed in female attire, with straw ropes tied around their feet, discharged one shot each at a distance of about twenty yards at young Ryan, and then fled. The police are making diligent inquiries into the affair, but so far no arrests have been made.
The farm on which the outrage was committed is being held in trust for the Forde minors and is at present under the supervision of the Ryan family.
Dangerous scourge
The alarming extent to which the influenza epidemic is spreading out to be taken as a serious warning by those who have so far escaped the scourge. In many instances, neglect to treat the outbreak seriously has ended fatally, and not a few deaths that have occurred in the West of Ireland are directly due to influenza.
1943
Ban on harvest amusements
During the agricultural debate in the Dáil, Mr. P. Beegan pleaded for the suspension of all public amusements during the “Harvest Season”, from July 20th to September 20th, so that farmers might concentrate upon harvesting.
He would have dance halls closed on week nights and open on Sunday nights only until an hour after midnight. In addition, he would ban horse-racing or dog-racing during the period mentioned.
“We all know,” went on the Deputy, “that there is such a craze for dancing and amusement all over the country all the year round, every night of the week, that it is interfering with the working capacity and usefulness of large numbers of young people in town and country.
“We all know that, no matter what they may pretend, those people are unable to work the next day after a night’s dancing. The fact that they are contemplating going to a dance disturbs their interest in their work and when they return out next morning, they are unable to give attention to what they are doing for the day.”
Another suggestion by the County Galway farmer deputy which found scant support amongst his colleagues of the Fianna Fáil party was increased remuneration for farm labourers during harvest periods.
New bus depot
Arrangements are nearing completion for the transfer of the Great Southern Railways road passenger services depot in Galway from Victoria Place to the railway station. A new waiting room and public inquiry office have been provided on the station platform and all ’buses plying to and from Galway will use the main entrance to the station platform as the terminus for journeys.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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A tune composed to celebrate the twinning of Eyrecourt in south-east Galway with Gouesnach in France is to feature in a new film.
Written by Niall Crehan, ‘The Eyrecourt Jig’ made quite a splash when it was released in 2013 and is still popular in music sessions up and down the country.
Niall had been commissioned to write the tune for the 20th anniversary of the twinning of the two villages, Eyrecourt and Gouesnach.
So, when he had a small part as a fiddler in a TV film called Royal Rendevouz, he started playing the jig.
The producers were so impressed, they added it to the movie soundtrack and it will appear in the credits.
Niall is a member of a celebrated traditional Irish musical dynasty hailing originally from County Clare.
He is the youngest son of whistle and concertina player Vincent Crehan and nephew of renowned fiddler Junior Crehan.
Niall and his brother Kieran ran the Dublin shop Crehan Musical instruments until his early retirement.
Now living in Kildare, Niall is a cousin of publican Mick Crehan, who runs the renowned folk pub in the west end of Galway, The Crane.
Niall and the large army of musicians in the extended family are regular guests.
His brother Dermot got music playing parts on films such as the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and he managed to get Niall onto the likes of Downton Abbey.
This latest TV project is the latest foray into the world of film, explains his son Brian.
The story centres on an American chef who is invited to an Irish manor to cook a feast in order to convince the matriarch not to sell the home.
It premieres on Sunday, February 26 at 9pm on the E! Network starring Isabella Gomez, Ruairi O’Connor and Ronan Raftery.
A county councillor has launched a stinging criticism of Oireachtas members for their repeated failure to attend County Galway Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meetings.
At a meeting of the JPC on Monday, Cllr Michael ‘Moegie’ Maher (photographed) said he believed it was time the three TDs on the committee decided if they wanted to remain, or give their place up to someone who would make use of it.
“I am asking the Council to write out to our Oireachtas members and ask them do they want to be on this JPC or not, and if not, let someone else be on it,” blasted the Fine Gael councillor.
This followed repeated non-appearances from TDs representing the Oireachtas on the committee – the three representatives are Deputy Noel Grealish (Ind), Deputy Anne Rabbitte (FF) and Deputy Catherine Connolly (Ind).
Cllr Maher said the JPC, which sits around five times per year, was deliberately held on a Mondays to facilitate Oireachtas members who were in the Dáil later in the week. He said there were issues being raised regularly that required raising at a national level and it was incumbent on national representatives to bring those matters back to Dublin.
One such issue was the use of CCTV in the pursuit of illegal dumpers and travelling crime gangs, said Cllr Maher who is Cathaoirleach of the County Council.
“I would like our members of the Oireachtas to be taking the message back on CCTV,” he added, as representatives locally were getting no further as a result of data protection laws.
None of the three Oireachtas members were present for this week’s meeting. Chair of the JPC, Cllr Jim Cuddy, confirmed he had received an apology from Deputy Catherine Connolly.
The new Chief Executive of Galway County Council is set to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Liam Conneally, who is Director of Services for Economic Development at Clare County Council, is understood to be the preferred candidate following an interview process and has been offered the post.
His appointment will have to be ratified by councillors at an upcoming meeting of Galway County Council.
He will replace Jim Cullen, who was Acting CE for a number of years.
The last permanent CE of the local authority was also a Clare native, Martina Moloney who retired in 2014.
Since then, Kevin Kelly initially and then Jim Cullen have been acting in the roles.
According to his LinkedIn page, Liam Conneally was a senior planner at Limerick City and County Councils for almost three years before taking up the Director of Services role in Clare in 2016.
He was educated at University of Limerick and Queen’s University Belfast.
A native of Ennistymon, he is steeped in the GAA.
“He’s done a very good job in Clare; he’s very dynamic and forward-looking, he will be a good choice for Galway County Council,” said a source familiar with Mr Conneally, and the interview process.
Government completed a review in 2021 about whether it was going to appoint someone permanently into the CE role, which was filled on a temporary/acting basis for almost nine years.
It’s understood that officials in Dublin had delayed filling the role as they wanted to push for an amalgamation of both Councils.
The amalgamation, however, was rejected by local politicians, and has since been put on the back burner.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, is due to retire this year. It’s understood his deputy CE, Patricia Philbin will take the role in an acting capacity until an interview process is completed.
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