Galway In Days Gone By

Developing fisheries

The report of the annual meeting of the Lough Corrib Fisheries’ Association will be read with regret by all who are interested in the development of one of the primary sources of our wealth; for it registers once more the grievance of the lack of interest of the Irish Ministry of Fisheries in the work that this admirable voluntary organisation is doing.

In the annual report of the association for 1923, it is pointed out that the Minister of Fisheries, notwithstanding earlier promises, informed the management committee on October 17 that the annual grant would not exceed £50, an increase of £15 on the old grants..

As a result, “the services of one part-time bailiff were dispensed with, the smallest possible close-time staff was appointed, and the wages of each bailiff was reduced by £1 on the wages paid in 1922.”

The caustic comment is added: “It was with great difficulty, therefore, that the work of the association was continued during 1923, and the hopes of which were foolishly entertained at one time that a native Minister of Fisheries would take a keen and active interest in the preservation of our free public fisheries have been dispelled.”

Pictured: An early voter receives her election papers from Mr Christy McGuinn, Newcastle, Presiding Officer at the Convent of Mercy Polling Station, Galway on June 28, 1967. Also in the picture is Miss Carmel O'Flaherty, Dominick Street (poll clerk).