Galway In Days Gone By

Room for improvement

A special meeting of the Town Commissioners and Fairs and Markets Committee was held at Loughrea on Wednesday, 23rd inst., for the purpose of taking steps to improve the local fairs and markets.

Dr. A. D. Comyn, solicitor, occupied the chair and the following were also in attendance – Messrs. W. J. Duffy, P. Cahill, T.C.; J. O’Loughlin T.C.; P. Murray; M. Nynes; J. Greene; E. O’Dea; J. O’Connell; J. Finn; J. Cunniffe; J. J. Gurhy; E. Kelly; E. Morrissey; J. Corry; J. Donlan; M. Finnerty; etc.

The Chairman said, as they all knew, the meeting had been called to devise some means of improving the fairs and markets of the town of Loughrea and he thought they would all agree there was plenty of room for improvement.

In any remarks he intended to make upon the subject, he made them with one object in view, and that was the welfare of the town (hear, hear).

He did not want to introduce anything personal on the discussion, and he would ask any gentleman who wished to speak on the patter after him, as far as he (chairman) was concerned, to speak solely from the point of view of the town.

1950

Gaeltacht schools

“From a national and educational point of view, it is of the greatest importance that we build up and preserve the Gaeltacht, because it is from there that the true Irish national will emerge”

This statement was made by the Very Rev. M. Canon Brennan, P.P., presiding at a meeting of the Co. Galway Vocational Education Committee, of which he was unanimously re-elected chairman on Wednesday.

Canon Brennan said that although we had an Irish Government and a Minister for Education who was an Irish speaker and who was helpful in spreading the Irish language, the County Vocational Education Committee could not get the Government to accede to their wishes to provide more schools in the Gaeltacht and outside the Gaeltacht in the county of Galway.

Senator Martin Quinn said that the committee was not making as much progress as it would wish because they had not got the cooperation of the Government.

The Very Rev. Chairman said that Department Inspectors admitted the need for the schools but they were told that they were held up by insufficient funds. Huge sums of money were being spent on projects, which seemed to him not to be so essential.

Pictured: ACT OF GOD - Sandbags are placed to help prevent the flood waters getting into Emmanuel House at Clonfert in June 2010.