Galway In Days Gone By

Away with the tinkers

At Ballinasloe Petty Sessions, Mr. P.J. Connolly, School Inspector, summoned Patrick Finnerty for not sending his step-son to school.

Finnerty said the boy was young and was very wild, and that he had no control over him. He goes away with tinkers and stops with them for six weeks at a time.

When he went to chastise the boy, he was prevented from doing so by the mother.

Sergt. O’Neill said the young fellow used to run away from home, and was a very bold boy. An order was made that the boy attend school, and the police were told to keep an eye on him, and to have him committed to an Industrial School if necessary.

There were several other similar cases disposed of, and like orders made.

The Chairman commented strongly on the conduct of parents, and said it was very hard for the teachers to keep up the results when the children were not sent to school.

Mr. Connolly should keep an eye on these people, and the magistrates would deal severely with them the next time they were brought up.

Liam Mellows rally

On Sunday last, what was intended to be a rally of all Irish Volunteers in South Galway, was held at Athenry, totalling about 700 men. Notwithstanding the deplorable state of the streets, which were almost ankle-deep in mud, the Volunteers were in excellent spirits.

There was a great influx of visitors apart altogether from the Volunteers, and there must have been a couple of thousand persons present.

The meeting was opened by Mr. Joseph O’Flaherty, Loughrea who said they were assembled there to welcome Liam Mellows back from his prison cell. When he beheld the vast assemblage of the sturdy and stalwart men of Galway he had no fear at all for the future of their country (applause).

For organising and drilling the Irish Volunteers, the British Government through its myrmidons in Dublin Castle, and with the assistance which the police could render to the competent military authorities, proclaimed his friend, Mellows, guilty.

At no period in her history had Ireland prouder or more patriotic sons that she had today, and Liam Mellows was one of them.

Rev. Father Connolly, Ballinasloe hoped that the British Government would take up more men and imprison them, because that would be sowing the seed, and they would reap the crop in time (applause). Fr. Connolly then went on to prove that all nations, including Ireland, had a right to drive out the invader from their country.

At this point our representative, who was standing beside the platform, was ordered to cease his note-taking, as it was alleged to be an infringement of a rule laid down previously that the meeting should not be reported.

At the same time, an effort was made to snatch his notebook by three or four pairs of hands. They did not succeed, however, in getting the book.

1940

Men wanted

Our columns nowadays contain many references to the activities of the Local Security Force in different parts of the West. It is very gratifying that so many hundreds of men have responded to the nation’s call to her sons. It would be infinitely more gratifying if we did not realise that the numbers enlisted represent only about twenty-five per cent of the men who should be in the ranks.

Last Sunday, the members of the Galway L.S.F. attended their first church parade. They mustered virtually in full strength and presented a very smart and soldierly appearance. Their fellow townsmen who lined the streets to see them march past had every reason to feel proud of them.

But some two thousand of those spectators had no reason to feel proud of themselves – they should have been in the ranks, not hurlers on the ditch.

Proportionately, Galway has made a poorer response to the call than any other large centre of population in the country.

As a matter of fact, the smaller towns have made the best showing up to the present. With populations of only between four and five thousand Westport, Ballina, Castlebar and similar centres can boast of nearly half as many men in the L.S.F. as the capital of Connacht has recruited.

Ballinasloe has beaten Galway shamefully with a muster-roll of 500 out of a population of less than six thousand.

His Lordship the Bishop of Galway told the men at last Sunday’s church parade that they could ask and receive God’s blessing because they had responded to the call of the lawful authority of the country in the defence of justice.

It is sad, indeed, to have to record that the call has fallen upon so many unresponsive ears in this ancient city of the West.

Although we have made special reference to Galway City and have praised the response of smaller towns, it must not be thought that there is not room for improvement in many quarters. Even the town with the largest muster, so far, can and should do much better.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.