BRADLEY BYTES: We hosted Galway 2020 ECOC and all we got was a steel orb!
Six years on from the disaster that was Galway 2020, and the ‘legacy’ orb has finally appeared in the city.
The piece, commissioned by Galway European Capital of Culture, has been hidden away in storage since 2020.
Now it’s a central feature of the refurbished public park at Woodquay.
It was one of seven steel orbs specially commissioned to commemorate Galway 2020 ECOC.
They were designed by artist Jacqueline Pyle and created by English-based The Fire Pit Company.
Each piece was created based on site visits to Athenry, Ballinasloe, Clifden, Portumna, An Spidéal, Tuam and Galway City.
The pieces are unique to each area and depict the landscape and heritage of each place. They also include poetry from a local poet or a poet relevant to the particular area.
They were supposed to be central to the weeklong opening ceremony of Galway 2020, in February of that year.
Each sphere was lit as part of fire festivals or mini opening ceremonies in each of the six towns. They were to be carried to Galway City for the main opening ceremony at the Swamp in the Claddagh on February 8 but it was cancelled due to a storm.
Galway 2020 committed to displaying them in six county towns and the city as part of its “legacy initiative” but Covid-19 delayed that process.
The rusty steel orb that appeared in Woodquay recently serves to highlight how there hasn’t been much else from Galway 2020 in terms of legacy.
Yes, there was a new Gaillimh typeface or font that in theory will stand the test of time but doesn’t appear to be used by anyone. And we got new 2020 ‘colours’ too.
But, much like the ‘I visited X and all I got was this lousy t-shirt’ t-shirts, Galway people are entitled to ask if the orb is the only visible legacy from ECOC 2020.
The legacy that everyone wanted from Galway 2020 – investment in cultural spaces – hasn’t materialised.
An Post has pledged to build a civic arts space at a building it owns off Williamsgate Street. This is a welcome commitment that has been announced several times by local politicians without any progress on the ground.
An Post was contacted by this newspaper last week for an update on the delayed plans, but at the time of going to press there was no substantial response. No answer is an answer.
Galway 2020’s legacy, much like the ECOC event itself, continues to disappoint.
SF’s internal strife
The sensible strategy for Sinn Féin in the Galway West Bye-Election would have been to run a Conamara-based candidate.
Mairéad Farrell, the sitting Sinn Féin TD in Galway West, is based in Galway City, and so too was their candidate Mark Lohan.
Therefore had Lohan won the Bye-Election, the theory was that retaining two seats in the subsequent General Election would’ve been extremely difficult.
Much better to have a candidate in the city and one in Conamara – notwithstanding Farrell’s popularity in Gaeltacht areas – if Sinn Féin was hoping to win and retain two seats in Galway West.
That makes sense. And it’s easy to see why some members of the party in Conamara were not happy with Lohan as the candidate. His geographical location in Menlo, but also his lack of Irish, did not sit well with them.
Fair enough. But the problem with the arguments made by Kevin O’Hara and Máirín Mhic Lochlainn – who faces disciplinary action for being outspoken during the Bye-Election campaign – is that Mark Lohan was democratically selected.
That’s where their narrative starts to unravel. Lohan was not imposed on the local organisation by the leadership or so-called shadowy figures in Belfast. The local organisation chose him.
Lohan put his name before a SF selection convention and won. The members of the party in Galway West were aware of his lack of fluency in Irish, and his geographical location, when they picked him to contest the Bye-Election.
The rebels claimed Farrell swayed a sufficient number of members to back Lohan at convention but isn’t she entitled to? That’s democracy.
Not accepting the will of the party – as expressed by the majority of members who attended and voted at convention – comes across as sour grapes.
Browne-d off!
Galway City Council recently added new road markings, including a yellow box, to Browne Roundabout.
A welcome addition, no doubt, but not sufficient. It’s nearly two and a half years since Galway City Councillors approved proposals to make the Newcastle roundabout safe.
National funding was allocated to design new pedestrian and cycle crossings on three arms of the roundabout – at Seamus Quirke Road, R338, and University Hospital Galway Access Road.
But still we await progress on the ground at what is a dangerous junction for people walking, cycling or in wheelchairs or mobility scooters. Will it ever happen?