Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley

Management at University of Galway has asked staff to “politely correct” anyone who uses “older or incorrect versions and abbreviations” of its name.

Pól Ó Dochartaigh, Deputy President and Registrar of University of Galway, or Ollscoil na Gaillimhe (formerly known as Queen’s College Galway; University College Galway, or UCG; and National University of Ireland Galway, or NUIG) made the plea in an email issued to staff earlier in May.

“Almost inevitably in Ireland, a tendency in some quarters has arisen to seek to bury the name behind letters, an action which defeats the purpose of our carefully researched rebranding decision,” he said.

That research, he said, showed that its key strength was that it was a university, based in Galway, “a city that evokes immensely positive feelings nationally and globally.

“It is important therefore that all staff use the new name in full, in either language”, he said.

“We are not ‘UG’, or ‘UoG’, or ‘UofG’ or OnaG, or any other such contraction,” Mr Ó Dochartaigh stated.

“When others mis-spell or foreshorten names, whether personal or institutional, if it isn’t an honest mistake then it is disrespectful, and it is common practice to politely correct the mistake in a reply.

“Only the most obtuse individuals would ignore such information and persist with incorrect usage. I would ask all staff to own and use our new name, and to politely point out the new name to anyone, internal or external, who uses older or incorrect versions and abbreviations,” Mr Ó Dochartaigh said.

The directive, emailed to staff, comes months after the university spent some €500,000 on rebranding itself to University of Galway or Ollscoil na Gaillimhe, names which the university said had no abbreviations.

(Photo: Deputy President and Registrar of University of Galway, Pól Ó Dochartaigh).

This is a shortened preview version of this column. For more Bradley Bytes, see the May 26 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.

From this week’s Galway City Tribune –  City councillors have claimed they have been kept in the dark about plans to provide temporary shelter to International Protection applicants.

Galway’s Oireachtas members – TDs and senators – were briefed by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (CEDIY) about plans to accommodate over 300 asylum seekers in converted offices in Ballybrit (pictured).

However, councillors said they did not get the same briefing. Instead, they were given a shorter, separate statement from Galway City Council confirming the Ballybrit plans, but without any detail.

It was also confirmed to councillors that the Department was in talks to provide accommodation at a B&B on College Road, and at 13 apartments in Doughiska.

The Dept told TDs and senators their “support in assisting the positive integration of International Protection applicants to the community is greatly appreciated”.

But councillors willing to do likewise – to assist the integration of these people into communities – claimed they are hampered by an information deficit.

Councillor Alan Cheevers (FF) said Doughiska is Galway’s most diverse community. “We pride ourselves in our area on integration, but the communication has been very poor,” he said.

He said he sought information about where the nationality of applicants who will be living in the Doughiska apartments.

“If there are 50 Ukrainians or Syrians, for example, can we put the resources in place such as translators to help these people?

“The ARD Family Resource Centre at the Cumasú Centre is going to need additional resources. That’s why consultation and engagement with local councillors is needed,” he said.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the May 26 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – More than a quarter of teens in the city have been ‘drunk in the last month’, while vaping has overtaken smoking as the more common vice in young people according to a new survey.

These statistics were revealed by Planet Youth this week, an initiative of the Western Region Drug and Alcohol Task Force, which surveyed 754 15- and 16-year-olds in 11 schools as part of a citywide study.

The results showed that 26% of respondents in the age category had been drunk in the previous month; 18% of city teens do their drinking in a friend’s home; and 16% of them reported being drunk by the age of 14.

Some 11% of those who were drinking alcohol had got it from a parent, while a further 7% had secured it from a friend’s parent. Results showed that those whose parents disapproved of drinking were almost three-times less likely to get drunk.

When it came to the use of illegal drugs, 16% of post-Junior Cert students said they had tried cannabis.

Of more than 750 respondents, 16% were daily vapers versus 6% who said they were daily smokers.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the May 26 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.