The cannabis plants were found during a raid on a house in Gort by gardaí from Gort and Loughrea on Friday.
No arrests have yet been made according to gardaí, and investigations are ongoing.
photo credit: An Garda Síochána
The drowning incident occurred when a man in his late 70s was out swimming at Blackrock in Salthill around noon on Friday, August 23 and got into difficulty.
A garda spokesperson said that his body was recovered by a lifeguard who was assisted by Salthill gardaí.
The man was taken from the water in Salthill to University Hospital Galway.
A post mortem examination will now take place and a file will be prepared for the Coroner’s Court.
A solution has been found for more than a dozen Craughwell based students who were unable to secure a school transport connection to Loughrea.
Minister Ciaran Cannon has confirmed that a new minibus service will connect Craughwell to Loughrea in the new term.
The Galway TD says he has been in constant communication with Education Minister Joe McHugh, highlighting the plight of parents and families who have been facing a lack of certainty for school bus places.
The Education Minister confirmed last week that he had formally asked officials in his Department to sort out a service from Craughwell to Loughrea along with other significant pressure spots around the county.
“I raised the issue of school transport system with the Department on many occasions. And I know that Joe McHugh did not want to see crisis after crisis in a number of hotspots,” said Minister Cannon.
“He wanted a relatively small increase in funding of €1million to prevent issues arising in the worst affected areas for secondary school students. The aim was to accommodate as many concessionary students as possible by putting on a bigger bus or altering a route slightly or changing a running order for buses.
“I was totally supportive of his call and I am glad that the Department and Bus Eireann recognised the urgency and the pressure for Craughwell students and their families. Minister McHugh was proposing solutions this as far back as March.”
Mayor of Galway Mike Cubbard said that an assessment of life buoys along the Corrib had taken place, leading to a large number of new ones being installed.
“Whilst up to now there has been 100 feet between life buoys, when the new ones are installed there will be a life saving buoy within reach right throughout the river bank,” Mike Cubbard said on Facebook.
“Also, areas have been identified to install LED lighting in areas known to have high foot fall therefore increasing the safety of walkways and hopefully preventing further accidents here.”
The Mayor added that he gave a commitment to work on preventing more incidents on the Corrib, and advance short terms measures as a matter of urgency, “These small steps are a start in that process,” he said.
Despite only running for a few kilometres between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, the River Corrib is the fastest flowing city river in Europe.
Much of the city’s nightlife also takes place in the area around the Wolfe Tone and O’Brien bridges over the river.
A petition calling for improved safety measures along the river has attracted over 45,000 signatures as of the time of this article.
Naval Service personnel from the ship’s crew will be taking members of the public on guided tours from 0:00-12:00 & 14:00-17:00 this Sunday, August 25.
The LÉ Samuel Beckett is one of four new patrol vessels build for the Irish Naval Service in the past five years.
The Samuel Beckett the first to roll off the line in 2014, followed by the LÉ James Joyce in 2015, and the LÉ William Butler Yeats in 2016 and LÉ George Bernard Shaw last year.
The modernised, Roisín Class ships are often called the playwright sisters because of their names.
Ships in the Irish navy carry out patrols of Irish waters to combat illegal fishing and smuggling, as well as taking part in humanitarian missions to rescue migrants at sea in the Mediterranean.
Yesterday the Samuel Beckett detained a Portuguese ship fishing in Irish waters illegally off the south coast.
@naval_service ship LÉ SAMUEL BECKETT (P61) has detained a Portuguese registered fishing vessel approx 200 nautical miles South of Fastnet Rock, on alleged breach of fishing regulations. #Security #defence #mission #SEA #maritime @DF_COS
Full note: https://t.co/JA8O2Sidxf pic.twitter.com/b8hLJhNh39— Óglaigh na hÉireann (@defenceforces) August 22, 2019
The Irish Naval service is currently in a recruitment drive to combat low staffing levels that currently stand at just under 1,100 people.
The Defences Forces as a whole have seen a crisis in recruitment and retention lately as pay levels have become insufficient for members to live on.
Full details of the careers available the requirements can be found at military.ie/careers/naval-service.
Mt Mono Trading is seeking planning permission for major internal renovations and the construction of an additional floor on the Eyre Square hotel.
The development will involve converting the leisure centre currently on the 5th floor into 13 new bedrooms, and the construction of a 6th floor with six guest bedrooms, a fire escape corridor, and plant areas.
Amendments will also be made to the ground floor layout to reconfigure the bathrooms and create a fire escape corridor, as well as converting a window at the southwest side of the ground floor into a doorway.
Another fire escape corridor will also be inserted into the fourth floor of the hotel as part of this project.
The proposed extension will be renovating and building on top of the modern concrete framed extension to the historical building which currently makes up the leisure centre.
According to the planning application “The only proposed works in the vicinity of the historic fabric consist of minor alterations to the ground floor and fourth floor to allow for fire safety routes”.
The impact on the protected structure from adding new bedrooms to the modern expansion would be “imperceptible” the application states.
An architectural conservation report for the hotel was submitted with the planning application.
Galway City Council is due to make a decision on this planning application by September 23.
Season 24 of Ros na Rún will debut on TG4 on September 3 at 8:30pm where viewers can learn the fate of the Daly sisters and Mack left dangling at last season’s end.
Can Katy convince her distraught father, John Joe she’s not insane, that it’s her sister Dee who’s coercively controlling her for revenge?
Meanwhile, Jay’s paternity hangs in the balance and viewers will eagerly watch for Mack’s reaction and moves this season.
The Daly family are ultimately being torn apart, as a forlorn John Joe becomes more distraught at his daughters situation.
Ros na Rún has always been a leader in the portrayal of the reality of life in rural Ireland and never shying from the challenges of society and this season is no different.
Modern financial realities like strains of online shopping, another addiction in our society, will be key features of this season.
But other stories will dive into age old conflicts like our need for identity, or finding our birth family, while other characters will become parents.
Old characters return to the village and are set on vengeance which will pose real live and financial challenges to Tadhg, while new characters will be making their debut creating new chapters for many characters including the loveable Bobbi Lee.
The poisonous and conceited Andy will continue to create turmoil and manipulate lives as will Dee, viewers will see Bernie and Johnjoe fighting with their consciences to do right by their families.
Frances is not without torture this season and it’s not just from Tadhg, while Malachi will bridge the gap of kindness for a time with her!
Love, romance, anger, dirty deals, revenge will all form a key role this season with laughter, comedy and much irony at the essence of the storylines.
These are just some of the tales of tangled lives which viewers will get to enjoy in the coming season of Ros na Rún.
Season 24 also welcomes new series producer Marion Ní Loingsigh to the helm of the successful Irish language and rural based soap opera.
“I’m delighted to be back on set at Ros na Rún after a departure with other Irish TV Productions,” says Ní Loingsigh.
“Ros na Rún is the biggest Independent TV Production outside of Dublin with an excellent cast and crew, all of the latest technology in TV production and robust and honest storylines so I’m thrilled to have this opportunity.”
Looking forward to a strong season ahead she said, “we’ll welcome many new characters this season and engage in highly emotive and challenging storylines which will certainly excite our core audience both at home and abroad”.
Ros na Rún returns to TG4 on Tuesday, September 3 at 8:30pm and Thursday the 5th for the Autumn and Winter season with an omnibus on Sundays at 7:30pm.
For more information, log onto www.rosnarun.com or follow Ros na Rún on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Galway Imam Ibrahim Michael Noonan says he has sent a tweet by former journalist Gemma O’Doherty to a solicitor, accusing her of defamation.
Gemma O’Doherty, whose YouTube accounts were recently deleted for violating its policy on hate-speech, posted the tweet to her 31,400 followers earlier today.
It said: “An Iman [sic] in Galway has said a 12-year-old can be physically and mentally suitable for marriage. In your opinion, is this paedophilia?”
The tweet included a poll, in which almost 2,000 people have voted.
In response, Ibrahim Noonan, who is the Imam of the Ahmadiyya Maryam Mosque in Galway, said: “I have sent this and your tweet to a solicitor for defamation and that you were the cause of me being insulted on social media. And I will be writing to Irish government to have your licence removed.”
The Imam was then bombarded with tweets from anonymous far-right Twitter accounts.
Last month, Masjid Maryam was the subject of a severe amount of criminal damage in an attack that saw windows smashed in, personal items tossed outside, and damage to the prayer room and the office of Imam Noonan.
After the attack on the mosque, Imam Noonan said: “I saw my office where I work, my private library of over 2000 books destroyed, my family photos abused and thrown outside, the Tricolour insulted. It was this that broke my heart.
“Whoever did this, I really feel sorry for you, only in time will you realise how foolish you were and how you insulted this great nation or ours.”
Footballers and activists have called for Twitter to clamp down on anonymous accounts in recent days, following racist abuse directed at Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba.
Stricter verification processes could decrease the number of anonymous accounts being created by a handful of users.
PPI Ignite @ NUI Galway will host a seminar for researchers, academics, healthcare professionals and all with an interest in hearing about the importance of the voice of the patient in healthcare research, particularly health economics research on Friday, August 30.
Public and Patient Involvement is increasingly recognised as an essential component of health research, carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public.
Health Economics provides a framework for thinking about how society should allocate its limited health resources to meet people’s demands and needs for healthcare services.
The rationale for involving patients and the public in health economics research is that it promotes research quality and relevance to service users.
Supported by the Health Research Board, people attending the seminar will hear about Public and Patient Involvement from various different perspectives, including why we should have PPI in our health economics research, the researcher’s perspective, and the patient’s voice in healthcare.
It will also look at the current state of PPI in Ireland and how its practices can be improved on headed forward.
Dr Michelle Queally, Lecturer in Economics said “We are very much looking forward to this seminar where we will open discussions around Public and Patient Involvement in health research, particularly health economics.”
“We will be discussing how to build partnerships that allow the public and patients to influence the health economics research we conduct and also how we might evaluate this involvement.”
“Our overarching aim in this seminar is to show how health economics research might be informed by PPI,” she added.
“We will hear from health economists’ experiences of PPI through case studies, reflect on our learnings, and make suggestions for future research practice, and frameworks that we can apply in order to evaluate what contribution PPI has made to a specific project.”
The event will take place in the Institute for Lifecourse and Society (ILAS), North Campus, NUI Galway from 10:30am-3:15pm on Friday, August 30.
Key speakers on the day will be Dr Conor Teljeur, HIQA, will talk about how PPI fits into the health technology assessment processes in Ireland, and the challenges.
Kristina Staley, Director of TwoCan Associates will talk about patient involvement in research that benefits the researchers, by informing their thinking and plans, leading to better research and meets the needs of patients and carers.
Andy Gibson, Associate Professor in PPI at the University of West Leeds will talk about involving the public in health research to ensure that research questions and outcomes reflect the issues that matter to patients and the public.
Liz Goodwin, economics researcher at the University of Exeter will talk about a particular example of involving people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in health economics research.
And Dr Rebecca Kandiyali of Health Economics Bristol will talk about lessons learnt from her own experience of PPI in trial-based economic evaluation and future directions for research and practice.
Dr Michelle Queally, Health Economist, NUI Galway will talk about PPI in health economics research and lessons learned from two case studies.
For full seminar details and registration visit: www.eventbrite.ie and type in ‘Public and Patient Involvement’.
That’s according to Sinn Féin’s Education spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, who accused the actions of Fine Gael and the HSE as amounting to “Groundhog Day” as the government cut off employment opportunities for newly-graduated nurses as part of their recruitment ban.
He directed the blame at the government and the HSE while further accusing them of “driving young nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals to emigrate.”
The Cork man claimed that it was “even more bizarre” due to there being no equivocal freeze on the employment of agency or temporary staff.
He stated that this is despite the fact that the practice of employing agency and temporary staff has “cost the health service €2.1 billion since Fine Gael took control of the health service in 2011.”
Sinn Féin’s Galway West General Election Candidate Mairéad Farrell also voiced her strident disapproval of this apparent recruitment ban, claiming that UHG is “in need of nurses and it makes no sense to turn away highly-skilled, well-trained graduate nurses.”
She called for the “recruitment ban” to be overturned when it came to full time staff and decried that it made no sense to implement a recruitment freeze in the midst of a recruitment and retention crisis.
Farrell proclaimed that there is a variety of areas where “savings can be made, and the waste of financial resources can be tackled”, but she emphasised the importance of the employment of full-time medical staff.
Love Island star Maura Higgins has a jam-packed schedule in Britain at the moment, but that hasn’t stopped her from returning home to Ireland for a a few days.
The Longford native enjoyed a mini-break in Kinvara in the past few days, with some of her close friends.
She stayed at Fallon’s B&B before leaving to continue with her busy schedule.
Maura posted an Instagram story to her 2.3 million followers on Tuesday, with the caption: “Ireland, I’m home,” in front in front of a sign for Dún Guaire Castle.
The 28-year old was an Islander on Season 5 of the revived series of Love Island.
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She entered the villa on Day 10 and came fourth place alongside Curtis Pritchard on Day 58.
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Last week, it was revealed that the Government broke the law with its handling of the controversial public services card according to a new report by the Data Protection Commission
The findings of the report were damming stating that there is no legal basis for any public body other than the department of employment affairs and social protection to use the public services card.
The report also cited the illegality of the blanket and indefinite retention of data from people applying for the card, and criticised the government for inadequate transparency on the issue.
The Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon outlined her concerns in relation to a schedule published by the Department of Employment Affairs website in 2017.
It listed a wide array of public sector bodies that were “very imminently” requiring a public services card as mandatory in order to secure services.
This included, among other things, registering for a driver theory test, renewing a passport, making an appeal in relation to a school transport system and applying for an education grant.
But the Data Protection Commission has said that the card should only be required for social welfare payments, and nothing else.
Speaking on RTE Radio One The Independent TD said the Government of having a draft report of the DPC’s findings since August of last year, but extended requirements for the card anyway.
“That in itself tells me something,” Catherine Connolly said, accusing the government of trying to introduce “identity cards by stealth”.
The government patronised the Public Accounts Committee when they said that “they knew best and we were raising matters that were irrelevant that we were making a big deal out of nothing,” she added
“The Department of Social Protection intends to incur costs of up to 60 million on issuing cards up to 2017.
“We are now in 2019 and i have no idea how much money has been spent on the issuing of cards to date.”
“There may well be arguments for identity card but they were never discussed in the Dail and were denied by the Government” she continued.
She added that the retention of documents for an indefinite duration in the past scheme had “serious implications for our democracy.”
When a person applies for social welfare they are required to provide identity documentation, utility bills of proof of address, have a high quality photo taking and have their signature recorded.
Due to the fact the Minister does not issue a card until they are satisfied as to your identity, the Data Protection Commissioner confirmed that there is no basis for retaining this personal data indefinitely.
The Data Protection Commissioner has called on the Government to delete the supporting documentation which they obtained on those applying for social welfare.
The Government has been informed that it needs to delete data on 3.2 million citizens who were issued with the card.
They have also been ordered to stop issuing new cards for the purposes of individuals availing of other services.
The most ovecrowded hospital in the country is University Hospital Limerick with 56 patients on trolleys.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation keeps a daily count of the number of patients on trolleys in Emergency Departments and overcrowded wards in Irish public hospitals.
According to the INMO there are 419 patients on trolleys in hospitals today.
Pest control experts Rentokil have said that Galway makes up 7% of all rodent call outs they receive in Ireland, trailing behind only Dublin (24%) and Cork (11%).
Worryingly, the number of rodents finding their way into people’s homes and businesses has exploded this summer, with Rentokil saying that call outs between May and June of 2019 are up 102% on the same period last year.
To combat this the Pest control business is launching a new service called PestConnect, which is meant to monitor and contain rodent activity round the clock using mobile connected technology.
PestConnect is a system of devices that detect, capture and/or humanely kill a variety of rodents using a combination of traps, bait stations and monitoring units.
The devices were developed using Rentokil’s unique technical capabilities and in-depth research into pest behaviour, and have infrared sensors that can detect a pest and activate a trap or allow access to bait.
Once the devices send a signal, a Rentokil technician attends the site to identify the origin of the infestation and implement the Integrated Pest Management programme.
“PestConnect is an extremely useful tool for businesses to ensure they stay pest free,” said Dr. Colm Moore, Area Technical Manager for Rentokil.
“Rodents are a real threat to the hygiene of a premises, and we expect to see a further increase in callouts later in the year when rats and mice begin their migration indoors to escape colder temperatures.”
He added that using modern solutions can drastically cut down on the time between the beginning of an infestation and its extermination, “Early detection and prevention is always better than a cure.”
In order to prevent rodent infestations in your home or business people are advised to:
He praised the move as resolving the situation where 300 home owners were left at the peril of unexpected costs for retrofit projects while contractors were exposed to an environment of uncertainty where jobs could be at risk.
It was unacceptable that people who had applied to the pilot scheme and suffered costs as a result, should be suddenly “left in the lurch,” Seán Canney said.
Deep retrofitting fits in with the Government’s Climate Action Plan for 500,000 homes to achieve a minimum Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2 by 2030
The Galway East TD stressed the need to move the process along “as soon as possible.”
The pilot scheme for deep retrofitting provided for 50% funding for upgrading homes to an A BER with up to 95% funding available for low-income households.
However there was in anger in many sectors last week when it was announced that the scheme had run out of money with no prior warning, and hundreds of applicants were left in limbo.
This week, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton announced that all applications for deep retrofitting that were received by the July 19 deadline for the pilot would now be processed and that those applications would be assessed and honored in line with the existing terms and conditions of the scheme.
It was revealed that the rule which stipulated that all retrofitting under the scheme should be completed by October 2019 would not now apply.
Minister Bruton announced the establishment of a task force led by the Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment Mark Griffin to advance the plan to retrofit 500,000 homes.
The task force will contemplate grouping deep retrofits in the same area together, smart financing options and easy-method repayments.
It is envisaged that a pilot scheme would operate in both an urban area and a rural area in 2020.
The Tight Alright device is a wireless, pressure sensing device worn on the leg, which continuously monitors sub-bandage pressure during compression therapy, aimed at helping the millions of people worldwide with venous leg ulcers.
Venous leg ulcers are chronic wounds that stem from venous insufficiency, a medical condition affecting the circulation of blood to the lower limbs.
The tiny valves that normally force blood back up towards the heart no longer function, causing blood to pool up in the legs, and the veins of the legs become distended, making fluid build up in the lower limbs.
FeelTecht has been presented with an EIT Health Headstart award worth €50,000 to advance the development of a new treatment device for this.
FeelTect founder and CEO, Dr Andrew Cameron said this award will have a huge impact on their ability to bring Tight Alright to the market.
“The funding provided by EIT Health will allow us to progress the miniaturisation of Tight Alright to a truly wearable product,” the first outside of a clinical setting he added.
The money will also be used to further their clinical validation of the device, initial results of which were supported by Health Innovation Hub Ireland.
“We have planned our first clinical study involving VLU patients with our clinical collaborator, Professor Mary-Paula Colgan in St James’s Hospital,” Dr Cameron said.
He added that after having the prototype validated by the wound care team at Galway University Hospitals, they are ready to take the next step in using it to benefit patients.
FeelTect came from the BioInnovate programme at NUIG, where Dr Cameron saw an unmet clinical need in the treatment of leg ulcers together with co-founder and CÚRAM investigator, Dr Georgina Gethin.
It began as an Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund project within the Duffy Lab in the School of Medicine at NUI Galway, where the proof-of-concept research and development was conducted.
The team is currently in discussions with potential partners and has launched a seed round for fundraising to support the progression of Tight Alright into clinical practice.
“It’s very exciting to see the first commercial product from our labs at NUI Galway move closer to the clinic,” Dr Georgina Gethin.
“Through Enterprise Ireland’s initial support and now with EIT Health Headstart funding we plan to continue the clinical validation of the Tight Alright technology and move it close to positive outcomes for patients with venous leg ulcers.”
Compression therapy is the gold-standard treatment for venous leg ulcers to help overcome the venous insufficiency and restore blood flow.
However it is ineffective if applied too loosely, and dangerous if applied too tightly. Yet studies have shown that even experienced wound care clinicians can find it difficult to get the right level of pressure.
Despite major advances in certain wound care areas, such as regenerative medicine, moisture balance, infection management, and tissue oxygenation, the basic tools for compression therapy have been largely untouched by disruptive innovation in recent decades.
FeelTect aims to change this through the digital capabilities of modern medical devices such as those developed at the CÚRAM Centre.
The EIT Health Headstart competition finals saw 22 finalist teams of medtech start-ups from across the UK and Ireland pitching their technologies to a panel of investors, healthcare professionals, and medtech experts.
The incident happened on Monday morning on the 64 route between Derry and Galway, about an hour after the bus left Sligo.
Passengers were concerned but nobody was injured in the incident.
Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Transport Marc Mac Sharry said there could have been fatal consequences if the door had come off at speed while the bus shared the road with other vehicles.
Deputy Mac Sharry said: “Bus Éireann have been less than reassuring about this incident. I believe they should give more details and give clarity to their customers that this is an isolated problem. They should also clarify how often the safety of vehicles is assessed and if they are aware of other problems on similar routes.
“Bus Éireann must not dismiss this as a ‘mechanical fault’, and if necessary, a full fleet assessment should be carried out. Was this mechanical fault known and if so, why was that particular bus used on the route if there were concerns?”
That’s according to Fianna Fáil TD Anne Rabbitte, who said the regulations will require new staff ratios which in some cases are double what most afterschool services are operating at.
The East Galway TD believes the new regulations on all afterschool services were introduced without properly consulting the providers of these important services.
“She is expecting them to be able to find and employ a huge number of additional employees before the new school year begins in a number of weeks,” said Deputy Rabbitte.
“Given the shortage in qualified childcare employees it’s a hugely unreasonable ask.”
Many afterschool services take place in national schools, allowing kids to do their homework, unwind with their friends and participate in afterschool activities.
Deputy Rabbitte said that while having the highest standard of care is important, she believes a common-sense approach is needed.
“These children will be leaving classrooms where there would have been a teacher-student ratio of 25:1. What the Minister is saying is that there should then be an afterschool ratio of 12:1. This also puts some of the after-school activities in jeopardy.
“The Minister is taking a nonsensical approach in imposing the same restrictions whether it is junior infants, or sixth class students being looked after. Their care needs are clearly very different, and a one size fits all approach is not in anyone’s interests.
“The recent RTÉ investigates programme on the Hyde and Seek creches really hit home the need for high-quality, trustworthy and affordable childcare. We also learned that parents are severely restricted in their childcare choices. If afterschool services are forced to close it will restrict them even further,” she added.
Now in its second year in Galway, the BIG Leaders Summit is an event that aims to develop the next generation of managers and leaders to ensure future success in this era of unprecedented change.
This full-day event is on Tuesday, September 10 in the Ardilaun House Hotel and will give the opportunity to take a step back and learn from experts about the latest trends, strategic issues and the key success factors for businesses in Galway now and in the future.
There will have a mix of keynote addresses, panel discussions, and opportunities for both 1:1 discussion with an expert presenter and also networking with other attendees.
This will event provide the perfect forum for emerging business people and managers locally to create synergies and forge ties with others.
BIG Leaders has been created by Galway Executive Skillnet, a local training network for small, medium and large businesses in Galway city & county.
Galway has been widely reported as the best place to live in Ireland, but Carl Blake, Network Manager of GES says “we now need to ensure that Galway is also ‘the place to work in Ireland’.”
“To achieve this aim we need strong successful businesses, with strong successful teams, managers and leaders,” he added.
Speakers on the day will include Paul Healy, Chief Executive of Skillnet Ireland Sinead Heneghan, CEO of the Irish Institute of Training & Development (IITD); Petal Pilley, CEO & Artistic Director of the award-winning Blue Teapot Theatre and Felim McDonnell, CEO of ICE Group, who recently introduced the ground-breaking 4 Day Week.
The keynote presentation will be from ex-professional rugby player and adventurer Damian Browne, who will share his insights into how resilience, focus and goal-setting can turn the seemingly impossible into possible.
This event is open to all businesses from self-employed to SMEs to multinationals, starting from 9.30am, finishing at 4:00pm with lunch included.
Places are limited, so to find our more on the BIG Leaders Summit and to buy your early-bird ticket at €75, check out galwayexecutiveskillnet.com
The Heritage Week event was the culmination of a summer of work under the ‘Reading Your Local Landscape’ training course which was held at the centre between April and July.
Funded by Galway County Council and Creative Ireland, in association with Mountbellew Heritage and Tourism Network, eleven participants received training in all aspects of built, natural and cultural heritage over the course of four months.
The aim of the course was to enable the local participants to identify, examine and record the heritage features of the Mountbellew area through a combination of paper research and fieldwork.
Projects were undertaken after intensive skills training and a range of field trips to local heritage sites.
These included the development of a heritage trail and biodiversity action plan for Mountbellew, and the creation of a tour itinerary to guide visitors around Carrownagappul Bog Bog, where Galway’s Living Bog Project is based.
Audiences were presented with the fruits of their labour on Friday morning.
Marie Mannion, Galway County Council Heritage Officer said ‘the value of this training course can clearly be seen in the calibre of the work presented by the course participants and the participants have made a very valuable contribution towards creating a greater awareness and knowledge of the rich local heritage of the Mountbellew area”
The course was created and delivered by Zena Hoctor, Heritage Specialist, who is based in Kinvara Co. Galway, and covered geology, biodiversity, architecture, archaeology and local culture.
Galway County Community Archaeologist, Dr. Christy Cunniffe led a number of archaeology and cultural heritage field trips.
The outcomes of the course complement the aim of the Creative Ireland Strategy to enable citizen engagement and mainstream creativity into the conservation of local heritage, through community collaboration.
Heritage Week will continue with events taking place throughout Galway city and county until Sunday, August 25.
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