Bionic Katie opens Christmas Market
Full to capacity is how organisers described the turnout for the opening night of the Galway Continental Christmas Market on Friday when Connemara woman Katie O’Halloran used her bionic arm to turn on the lights in her first public appearance since getting the limbs fitted in Boston.
Benefiting from crisp dry weather for most of the weekend, there were queues outside many of the in-demand chalets and for the children’s amusements such as the carousel and the giant slide.
The 23-year-old NUIG law graduate who is the first female and one of just 20 people to receive a bionic arm in America, where she underwent the complex procedure, had family and friends collecting at last year’s market to pay the €300,000 cost of the prosthetic limbs.
“It was the first time I’ve really worn my arms in public so I was a little nervous turning on the Christmas lights but it really was a fantastic evening for me and all my family.”
At a reception in the Meyrick Hotel, chairperson of the Galway City Business Association, Anthony Ryan, spoke about how inspirational Katie was. He had learned from a colleague where she did work experience that she did not let her disability hold her back, typing with her feet.
The businessman also outlined the measures undertaken by the organisers in order to protect against damage to the grass in Eyre Square, such as moving many of the heavier chalets to the concrete and directing footfall from the areas where the damage was most apparent last year.
The success of the market, now in its fifth year and officially the longest running Christmas market in the country, was dependent on the location and there was no better location that the heart of the city, he said.
Cllr Padraig Conneely, who has been a staunch critic of the way the market is operated, claimed it was breaching its conditions under the event licence by allowing a German discounter to take over several stalls.
“The spirit of the Christmas market is for local traders to promote their products as most of these traders would not have retail or commercial outlets in the city,” he stated. “Lidl is a multinational company with three commercial outlets in the city and it is not necessary to promote their products in the Christmas markets.”
Mr Ryan said the company which manages the event, Milestone Inventive, had been charged €30,000 this year to stage the event, which last year had cost them nothing.
“I’m not aware of it being in contravention of any conditions but it gave the operator of the market the chance to bring in some money to pay the big fee. It’s only a temporary measure over four days, it was very low key, it was presented very well and there was only a small logo over each chalet,” he said.