Galway West TD Seán Kyne this morning launched the latest NUI Galway report as part of Ireland’s national maritime festival ‘SeaFest’.

Minister Sean Kyne, with Minister for Housing Damien English TD, launched Valuing Ireland’s Marine Ecosystem Services by NUI Galway’s Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) at the 5^th Annual Ocean Wealth Conference.

Bi-annual reports have been published on the economic value of Ireland’s ocean economy, valued at €1.8 billion or approximately 1% of  GDP in 2017.

This new research focuses on the ecosystem service benefits that society receives from Ireland’s marine environment.

Marine ecosystem services are provided by the processes, functions and structure of the marine environment that directly or indirectly contribute to societal welfare, health and economic activities.

These services are vital to ensuring blue growth in the ocean economy.

Factoring marine ecosystem service values into ocean economy account frameworks may help to ensure a sustainable ‘blue economy’ for Ireland by making sure that growth in the ocean economy does not exceed the carrying capacity of the marine environment.

While the value of some of these goods such as fish and aquaculture are somewhat easier to measure, the value of many other benefits such as carbon sequestration, waste assimilation and marine related recreation are often not captured by a price in any established markets.

However, without incorporating these values into marine planning processes, these benefits may be ignored or underestimated leading perhaps to suboptimal decision making.

The Marine Institute welcomed publication of the report on Ireland’s marine ecosystem service benefits with Dr Peter Heffernan, CEO, Marine Institute, commenting: “This assessment of Ireland’s marine ecosystem services and their value is an important step in incorporating ecosystem services into policy and decision making related to Ireland’s marine and coastal zones.”

Summary of Economic Contribution of marine ecosystem services:

• The provisioning marine ecosystem services of fisheries and aquaculture is estimated to be worth €473 million per annum to all fleets and producers operating in Irish waters. Seaweed harvesting is valued at €4 million and aquaculture at €150 million.
• The regulating and maintenance ecosystem services of carbon sequestration are valued at €815 million per annum, waste assimilation services €317 million and coastal defence services of €11.5 million.
• The cultural ecosystem services of scientific and educational services are valued at €11.5 million, and the added value per annum to housing stock of being at the coast (aesthetic services) is valued at €68 million. On an annual basis, recreational services provided by the marine ecosystems are estimated to have an economic value of €1.7 billion.
• Even though not all of the ecosystem services provided by the marine environment can be monetarized the report indicates that the value of those that can is substantial.

Dr Stephen Hynes, Director of SEMRU in the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway, said: “Blue growth is about fostering development in marine economic activities in such a manner that the long term ability of the marine environment to continue to provide ecosystem service benefits is not compromised. This is exactly what Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth: An Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland is aimed at achieving.  Knowing what those benefits are and what they are worth is vital for deciding on the best use of our marine resources and to ensure blue growth for our ocean economy far into the future.”

Until recently, very little information was available in relation to the value of the many services provided by the marine environment; services such as carbon sequestration, waste assimilation, coastal defence, aesthetic services and recreational opportunities that are provided by our marine ecosystems have by and large gone unvalued. Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth: An Integrated Marine Plan for Irelandhighlights as a key action the need for further research into generating “economic values of marine biodiversity and ecosystem services to ensure best practice planning and management of the ocean resource”. This report is a first step at filling this research gap.

Commenting on the significance of the report, Dr Micheál Ó Cinnéide, Director of the Office of Communications and Corporate Services at the Environmental Protection Agency, said: “This latest report from the two Galway based research clusters in NUI Galway and GMIT adds greatly to our understanding of the value of our Marine province. Anybody who was able to see the marvellous RTE documentary on Ireland’s Deep Atlantic in 2018 and who follows the pioneering work of researchers in the Marine Institute, Galway and Cork can appreciate that we are unlocking the treasures of our offshore world. As this report shows, the true value has to include the natural capital, economic potential, cultural and spiritual values. The EPA and the Irish Forum on Natural Capital looks forward to a wider national debate on safeguarding this priceless marine ecosystem for future generations.”

The Valuing Ireland’s Marine Ecosystem Services report is based upon research supported by the Irish Environment Protection Agency under Grant Award No. 2014-NC-MS-1 and on previous research conducted under the Marine Institute Beaufort Award.

Heatwaves go leor as the sun made a welcome return to Fulacht Fia Chairde Ghaillimh le Gaeilge.

Fulacht Fia Chairde Ghaillimh le Gaeilge saw Cairde and Stiúrthóirí enjoy a wonderful evening of music and food on Friday last June 22nd.

The event which was kindly sponsored by Cairde Ghaillimh le Gaeilge: Joyce’s Supermarkets, Stewart Construction and Sweeney Oil,  took place in the Galmont, Bóthar Loch and tSáille, Galway with a huge thanks being given to the sponsors.

The crowd in attendance on the night were treated to a wonderful atmosphere as they enjoyed the tasty food in the Galmont while being entertained by The Gypsy Jazz Trio.

At the event, Bernadette Mullarkey, Cathaoirleach Ghaillimh le Gaeilge extended a warm ‘céad míle fáilte’ to the newly elected Mayor of the City of Galway, Cllr. Niall McNelis. She also thanked all of the funding organisations who have supported Gaillimh le Gaeilge over the years.

Gaillimh le Gaeilge’s main support comes from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, through the National Lottery.They are also supported by Galway City Council and Cairde Ghaillimh le Gaeilge through the Galway Chamber.

This support is essential for the organisation to maintain their various bilingual services and practical supports for those who wish to use the Irish language in their daily businesses and organisations in Galway City.

Cathaoirleach Ghaillimh le Gaeilge also thanked the media for their support chun ‘scéal’ Ghaillimh le Gaeilge a choinneáil i lár an aonaigh and praised the businesses who bring the Irish language to life in the city.

“Tá obair dhátheangach den scoth ar bun agaibh sa chathair agus tréaslaím libh as sin.

“The work that you are doing is creating a fantastic synergy in the city, which makes Galway unique and different. This will be vital in 2020 when we will be the European Capital of Culture.”

Gaillimh le Gaeilge would like to thank everyone that attended and would like to say a special ‘míle buíochas’ to the sponsors of the Fulacht Fia. Buíochas to all of the staff at the Galmont, who provided fabulous food and especially to Colm who provided an excellent ‘Seirbhís trí Ghaeilge’! They also kindly sponsored ‘Deoch an tSamhraidh’ for all of the Cairde.

Among Cairde Ghaillimh le Gaeilge in attendance were: David Hickey, President of Galway Chamber, Alan Esslemont, Ardstiúrthóir TG4, an Dr Aodhán Mac Cormaic, Stiúrthóir na Gaeilge, Emma Dillon-Leetch from the Connacht Hotel(Gradam 2018 winner), Éamon Ó Cuív TD, Galway City Councillors; Cllr Dónal Lyons, Cllr. Pádraig Conneely, Cllr Terry O’ Flatherty, as well as Declan Varley Group Editor of the Galway Advertiser and Bernadette Prendergast, Galway Bay FM.

The Fulacht Fia offically concludes Gaillimh le Gaeilge’s social/networking events until September and provides the organisation with an opportunity to say a ‘míle buíochas’ to all their ‘Cairde’ and to all those who have supported the organisation over the past year.

Don’t forget that Gaillimh le Gaeilge is available to assist you to incorporate the Irish language into your business FREE OF CHARGE. For more information contact eolas@gleg.ie or 091 568876

€748,279 in funding has been granted to arts organisations and festivals in Galway  by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

The funding comes through the Arts Council under its 10 year strategy, ‘Making Great Art Work’.

The organisations in Galway receiving funding include established arts centres and organisations such as the Galway Film Centre, the 126 Gallery, the Galway Music Residency, Decadent Theatre Company as well as international and prestigious festivals such as the Cuirt Festival of Literature and Tulca.

This investment of almost three quarters of a million euro recognises the talent of the artists of all types in Galway and the contribution which they and their organisations make to communities across Galway city and county and beyond.

The ‘Making Great Art Work’ scheme from the Government-funded Arts Council will support a wide variety of arts including literature, music, theatre and drama, film and the visual arts.

Galway is synonymous with the arts through its organisations including the Galway Film Centre and the 126 Gallery and through national and international festivals such as Cuirt, the Film Fleadh, the Clifden Arts Festival and the Galway International Arts Festival.

I’m also encouraged by the support for the Irish language with funding for Irish language publisher, Futa Fada and the Doire Press in Connemara.

This funding will provide invaluable support to the artists, the organisations and the festivals so that they can continue to make great art in Galway for the benefit of local people, local communities and visitors to our city and county.

Galway Film Centre – €30,000.00

Crannog Magazine – Literature(English) €10,000.00

Cúirt Intl Festival of Literature – €90,000

Doire Press – €60,000

Futa Fata – €20,000

The Galway Music Residency – €52,000

Clifden Arts Society – €11,000

The Journal of Music – €45,000

Decadent Theatre Company – €190,000

126 Artist-Run Gallery – €25,279

MART – €35,000

Tulca – €180,000

Deputy Hildegarde Naughton told Galway Bay FM today that Galway has the lowest availability of office space in Ireland.

County Galway has a vacancy rate of less than 6% and the Fine Gael TD says that a lack of office space could negatively impact the economy with companies opting to expand in other counties.

Deputy Naughton said: “We need to ensure that we have adequate prime office space, located in the city, and we really need to start thinking about innovative ways of doing that and planning for future office space as well as maybe bringing old buildings back into use.

“Otherwise, we’ll lose out on these jobs –  we’re reaching almost full employment at 5.3% unemployment, so it’s a very positive time but Galway needs to capitalise on this.”