Every School to plant trees during Galway Science Festival!

Thanks to the generousity of Aerogen, the Irish medical tech company, every primary and post primary school in Galway city and county will be offered a free tree pack, consisting of four different native Irish species, as part of next month's Galway Science and Technology Festival. Our theme for 2019 is Climate Action and we want to ensure that all our young people will be given an opportunity to play their part in saving the planet and in understanding the science behind Climate Chaos.

So the proposal is that the schools will plant the trees in their grounds or locality at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month (11am, Nov 11).

Each school will be asked to photograph or film the planting (or of the trees after planting) and post onto online social media. The best three images/films will be awarded €200 vouchers for Dangan Nurseries (to buy more trees and flowers for planting!).

Through this wonderful initiative which feeds into the National Park Strategy for Galway, the young people of our city and county will be active participants in tackling climate chaos and enhancing biodiversity.

Call to Galway youth to turn Climate Protest into Climate Science

We are asking Galway’s children, youth and schools to consider transforming the enthusiasm and concern that was so obvious at last month’s Climate Strike protests into meaningful sustainable scientific climate action themed projects for showcasing at November’s Galway Science and Technology Festival, in order to increase public awareness on the dangers of, as well as the solutions to, global warming and the mass extinction of species.

The children of the world have spoken and the adults of the world need to heed their warnings. But as the sixteen year old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has stated over and over again, ‘Listen to the Science’. The theme of the annual Galway Science and Technology Festival taking place next month is ‘Climate Action’. So, as part of this two week long event, we are calling on all of Galway schools to open their doors to their communities and to display their Climate Change-related projects during this period.  Every one of the almost three hundred schools in the city and county are undertaking at least one wonderful scientific project  that is directly or indirectly related to the twin global dangers of climate chaos and biodiversity loss .  With the message of ‘Think Global, Act Local’, these may include a study of a local bog, turlough, river or seashore; the implementation of pro-recycling waste management system in a school; the development of a school organic garden; the monitoring of local air quality;  a long term study of the causes of changing weather patterns; the planting of a woodland or bee-friendly wild flower meadow; an analysis of renewable energies; the hosting of cycling and walking initiatives; a  review of how to one’s lifestyle more healthy.

But we are also asking schools to consider reaching a wider audience by exhibiting on Sunday November 24^th in NUI Galway when over 22,000 visitors attend Ireland’s largest one day science and technology fair. This event also hosts a fantastic range of exhibits from world leading Galway-based corporations, indigenous companies, learning centres, and third level colleges and research institutes.”

A number of other exciting Climate Change and Citizen Science initiatives are being planned for the festival including a native tree planting programme involving every school in the city and county.

To book an exhibition space at the Science Fair on November 24^th, schools and youth groups are asked to contact me  at brendan.smith@insight-centre.org

Proud to be Irish in Tanzania!

A few weeks ago I was present in Dar es Salaam to listen to the Irish Ambassador to Tanzania, Paul Sherlock, officially announce that Irish Aid, the Irish government's international development aid programme, had become a partner and sponsor of the Africa Code Week(ACW) initiative.

I was there in the companionship of my fellow Irishmen, the wonderful Kevin Conroy and Liam Ryan (SAP Ireland CEO), as well as the visionary Claire Gillissen from France.

It was my third trip to this lovely country in my capacity as a lead mentor and course content developer for ACW. The first time was during the summer of 2017 in the company of Bernard Kirk, Camden Trust CEO/ Director of the Galway Education Centre, and Ciaran Cannon TD, then newly appointed Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development.

This Irish Aid announcement continues a long tradition, going back to the 19th century, of Irish people being involved in supporting the continent and its people in the areas of education, health, community development and human rights.

In so many African countries that I have visited since 2015, I have talked to Africans that tell me fondly of the help that they have received from the Irish. In Uganda it was a senior civil servant called Patrick who was taught by Irish priests; in South Africa it was a Muslim teacher who was given his schooling by Irish clerics; in Ethiopia it was a NGO manager applauding the work of Trócaire and Camara in his country; in Tanzania it was the teenagers of the Holy Union Sisters Debrabant High School praising their principal, Sister Annette Farrell from Kilconnel in east Galway.

Unlike some other European countries, Ireland never came to Africa as an colonial power to brutally rob it of its human and natural resources. We came not as conquerors but as educators and healers. During the days of the British Empire, when our own country was a colony, our countrymen and women often arrived as teachers and doctors to countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. It was said by many that I have met during the course of my travels across the continent that, where it not for the Irish clerics, their parents and grandparents would never have got an education. So many leaders of the independence movement were taught in Irish-run schools.

This Irish tradition of education and community empowerment continues with the ongoing work of Trocaire, Concern, Gorta Self Help Africa, Goal and Irish Aid that includes individuals that I have known and that I have the upmost respect for, such as Ronan Scully, Alan Kerins and Diarmuid Ó'Brien.

But this tradition also got a major technology learning surge in recent years with the involvement of Irish personnel of SAP Ireland and of Camden Trust as trainers in the wonderfully inspiring Africa Code Week. Along with Claire Gillissen, Bernard Kirk played a fundamental role in establishing in 2015 what today is surely the largest pan-Atlantic digital literacy initiative in the history of the continent. Thanks to the great organisational skills of Sunil Geness, Ibrahim Khafagy, Julie Cleverdon, Ademola Ajayi and so many other great Africans, it is supported by 28 governments, partnering 130 partners (mainly local NGOs), has been rolled out to 37 countries and has provided coding workshops to over 4.1 million youth and teachers.

The aim of Africa Code Week is to build community capacity to drive sustainable learning impact across Africa instilling coding skills in the young generation.

So I give a big and sincere 'Bualadh Bos' to my fellow Irish men and women who worked with me in Africa as part of ACW- Kevin Conroy, Nuala Dalton, Nuala Allen, Cliodhna and Aoife Kirk. Africa's time has come and they have helped it to happen

40+ years on and we are still protesting at Eyre Square!

It was great to join my good friend Mick McArdle and his teenage son from Kinvara in the youth-led Climate Action protest this lunchtime in Eyre Square. It brought back happy memories of our time in UCG during the late 1970s when Mick and myself regularly joined hundreds of other young students in marches and protests to Eyre Square on many different campaigns on many different issues but with a common denominator of justice, equality and a better life for all in Ireland and across the globe.

Decades later we are still there fighting the same or similar battles! Though no longer young, we hope that the same idealism still burns within us. As Mick says, “Still crazy, but active, after all these years.”
I just made it to the protest in Galway as I only arrived back in Ireland at Dublin Airport from Mozambique (mentoring coding workshops for teachers) a few hours before!
Of course marches do not in isolation achieve positive change. But they are often a very positive step in the process to do so

Open Street Mapping workshop was 'Citizen Science' in action!

Thanks to all those who turned up today at the Insight Centre at NUI Galway for Galway's first workshop on Open Street Mapping, a free, editable map of the whole world that is being built by volunteers. The underlying electronic data is open-sourced and crowd-sourced.
There was a nice mix of attendees from different backgrounds who came along to learn about or to share their experiences and knowledge of Open Street Mapping.
A big thank you to Ciaran and David from Ireland’s OpenStreetMap (OSM) community, who enthused everyone present and to Lukasz Porwol​ and Agustín García Pereira​ as well as to Niall O Brolchain​ for their excellent organisational work.
We at Insight will host another similar event during November as one of a series of very exciting "Citizen Science" activities we are organising for the Galway Science and Technology Festival whose theme this year is Climate Action, and as part of the new National Park City for Galway initiative which will really kick in during October.
So watch this space!

So why is Open Street Mapping (OSM) important?
All over the world, there are restrictions on the availability or the use of map information. OSM aims to remedy this by generating a free, editable map of the world. To date four million people have come together to contribute data to OSM. These volunteers collect data using manual surveys, GPS devices, aerial photography, and other free sources. This crowdsourced data is then made available under the Open Database License.
OpenStreetMap contributors have diverse interests and work at differing scales. Some people map their locality, while others work on themes such as public transport, the built environment, graveyards, tree cover, beaches, churches, sports grounds, greenways, energy infrastructures and many other things.”
OSM Ireland is affiliated to the worldwide volunteer movement. The purpose of the Galway chapter is to promote contributions of mapped data and re-use of the data, both locally and globally. We expect that many local community and environmental activists will become enthusiastic mappers over the next few months.

Photo shows one of the two workshop groups that took part in today's event.

Resurrecting 1980s 'cloud computing'!

The term 'cloud computing' was first used by Eric Schmidt (Google's CEO) at a conference in 2006 during a discussion on data storage.

But network-based computing was popular in Galway city from the early 1980s. Thanks to the generousity and foresight of the Galway-based DIgital Equipment Corporation (DEC), then the second largest computer corporation in the world, eleven second level schools in Galway were then sharing and storing online data via a server at their manufacturing operation in Ballybrit on the east side of the city.

Gerry Kavanagh (right in photo), who as a young teenage boy used such a system in St Mary's College, is leading a project team, that includes Pat Moran (left in photo), to resurrect a DEC MicroVax network system. Once this initiative is completed, visitors to the museum will be given the opportunity to try out and experience this pioneering technology.

Directly to the left of Gerry in the photo is a MicroVax server topped with a album from St. Mary's College showing an image of the school's Computer Room from the 1980s.

Insight’s new Digital Makerspace facility, adjacent to the museum, is providing the opportunity for enthusiasts to develop exciting projects such as the MicroVax Resurrection.

Bolsanaro Declares War on Planet Earth

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Photo from CNN

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the USA, the last five years (2014-2018) have been the hottest on record. For 2019, temperature records are being broken on a monthly even weekly basis. There is no let-up- Earth is on fire like never before in the time of man. From the Arctic to the Tropics, humanity is deliberately destroying the very forests that gave life to our species and that of so many others. Without the trees, we would not exist.
In the 21st century, we cannot claim ignorance- the causes and consequences of man-made Climate Chaos are well known, scientifically assessed and documented. A child in a junior class in primary school can tell you the reasons why the world is getting warmer. Yet in our hour of need, the policies of political leaders across the world are encouraging the arsonists to continue cutting off our life-giving oxygen supply and releasing deadly carbon and methane into the atmosphere.
President Donald Trump’s unilateral action to pull the USA out of the largest international agreement in human history, namely the 2015 Paris Agreement, became the green light for so many other governments to renege on their commitments. Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Australia, UK, Italy, Japan, Indonesia… have now become obstacles in the struggle to save the planet from our own selfish actions. 

Many presidents, prime ministers and members of government across the globe are openly expressing climate denier views. None more so than Jair Bolsanaro, who became President of Brazil in January 2019. In his election campaign, he openly declared that the Amazonian rainforest should be exploited and ‘developed’, and that the trees and the indigenous peoples need to make way for the ‘progressive’ miners, loggers, soya farmers and ranchers. In other words, profit for the few at the expense of the many and of the environment. Since he was elected, Bolsanaro has undermined those who have protected and gave their lives for the rainforests, namely the native Indian communities and the environmental/human rights NGOs. Nearly three hundred have died in the last few years defending Amazonia. He has undermined and cut funding to the government departments charged with protecting the environment. This includes the country’s space research agency (INPE) which stated earlier this month that its data showed there was an 84% increase in the number of fires compared with the same period in 2018. It had detected over 74,000 fires in the country between January and August - the highest number since records began in 2013. These fires do not occur naturally in such a humid wet environment- the sparks of ignition are set by people intent on carrying out land grabs by rapid deforestation. So rather than paying heed to these warnings, Bolansaro questions the authenticity of their scientific findings and sacks the INPE head, Ricardo Galvao. He wants to bury the truth. This week the Brazilian president castigates concerned world leaders such as France’s Emmanuel Macron for expressing anger at what is happening in Amazonia, telling them they had no right to interfere in his nation’s internal affairs and they were displaying “European colonialist tendencies”! What stupidity! For the tropical rainforests are the "Lungs of the Planet"- they belong to all living things and not just to the Brazilian government and their allies.
Bolsonaro has been compared by many to Emperor Nero who, according to legend, played the fiddle whilst Rome burned. But these two men’s actions do not represent ‘madness’ in the traditional meaning of the term. They both knew exactly what they were doing. Nero wanted to clear the Eternal City of its old rundown neighbourhoods so that he could rebuild it to his grand design. Bolansaro wants to clear the tree-covered wildlife-rich natural environment so that the powerful mining, ranching, crop farming and logging elite can produce the minerals, beef, animal feed and timber that Ireland and the rest of the EU imports.

I commend An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and President Emmanuel Macron for warning that their governments’ support for the EU-Mercosur trade deal will end unless actions are taken immediately to end the fires.

But we need to go further- we, as concerned citizens, should redouble our efforts to protect biodiversity and reverse climate chaos. We should also boycott Brazilian goods and put pressure on Irish politicians to end the proposed Mercosur free trade deal that only benefits the big ranchers, miners, loggers, crop farmers and their allies who are responsible both for genocide against the indigenous population and the destruction of the most important life giving forest on the planet

Volunteers working in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden have been enthusiastically working very hard over the last few weeks to get the facility ready for Sunday's Harvest Festival as a celebration of its tenth anniversary.

But over the last few days, this great outdoor community and environmental resource has suffered from mindless vandalism. On more than one occasion, three to four children (possibly 11-13years) on bikes (some at least were BMX) entered the garden when it was un-staffed and proceeded to uproot and destroy vegetables, rip fruits from their trees and slash (with a knife?) our large polytunnel on three sides, resulting in large gaping holes.

When a woman confronted these children on what they were doing they told her to f... off and worse.
Then, on at least two occasions, anti-social adults entered the garden in the evening time, when the volunteers had left, to use and possibly sell illegal drugs.
It is worth noting that before this week there has never any negative incident involving children.
There have been occasions though over the years when anti-community drug-using and heavy-drinking males have late at night entered and damaged some property.
But these have been relatively isolated occurrences and we thought that we had seen the end of this type of behaviour months ago.

Now we have suffered from what feels like a tsunami of destruction.
When we discussed with the city council setting up this much needed social, health and eco neighbourhood facility in 2009, we decided that we wanted no high perimeter fencing. We opted for a low wooden fence to symbolise there was no barrier between our public facility and the wider community that we were all part off.

As I said in an interview this morning with Keith Finnegan on Galway Bay FM, we are now asking the people of the Ballinfoile-Castlegar locality and of greater Galway city area not to allow the anti-people bullies to win, to stand with us and to show solidarity by coming along to our Harvest Day event that is taking place this Sunday from 12.00pm until 4pm.

Urban Community Organic Garden celebrates its 10th birthday

One of Galway city’s oldest community gardens will this Sunday celebrate its’ tenth year in existence by hosting a Harvest Festival for the benefit of local residents.

According to Brendan Smith, PRO and a founding member of the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden , “We are asking residents of all ages from the surrounding Ballinfoile, Terryland, Ballindooley and Castlegar areas to come along from 12pm until 4pm on Sunday July 14^th  to celebrate this great community-made resource and to enjoy the fruits, vegetables and herbs grown by a small group of dedicated gardeners who have done so much to create a green oasis that is used as an outdoor classroom, a social space, a wildlife haven and a healthy food growing facility. The event will also provide pizzas baked in our huge oven made out of local clay, potatoes boiled in giant pots heated over a traditional open fire, music, traditional children’s games, face painting and much more.

”The facility has never looked more productive thanks to the hard working committee of Padraic Keirns, Tom Hanley, Laurence Daly, Margaret Douglas, Michael McDonnell, Michael Tiarnan, Maura Mullen and Sabrina Commins supported by a healthy band of volunteers including Alaa, Saaed and Vlad from the Eglinton Direct Provision Centre.

The field in Terryland Forest Park, 2009

We have come a long way since 2009 when the representations of Michael McDonnell, Michael Tiarnan, Caitríona Nic Mhuiris and myself proved successful as Stephen Walsh of Galway City Council Parks office allocated a small field at the edge of Terryland Forest Park for the development of an organic garden for local residents. Modelled on the original of the species, the Ballybane Community Garden, we set about transforming a barren patch of ground into the lush green productive space that it is today.

Volunteers of all ages preparing the ground in the garden, early June 2009

The field was levelled and fenced off for us in 2009 by City Parks staff who also provided a shipping container. From January until July 2010, volunteers dug out from very rough stony ground the first vegetable beds, planted the first fruit trees, constructed a raised concrete platform for dining and live music activities, laid down electrical cabling and water pipes as well as erecting a large poly tunnel. The interior of the container was transformed into a storage facility, a kitchen and a toilet whilst its exterior was covered with a beautiful rural landscape scene, painted by local children working under the auspices of artist Margaret Nolan.

Local children painting a landscape scene with artist Margaret Nolan at container exterior, August 2010

By August of that year, we were able to host a very successful Harvest Festival, thus making next week’s event our tenth annual food celebration.

Erecting a Polytunnel, August 2010

Our aim is to continue making this green neighbourhood resource a friendly outdoor venue where people can socialise, grow organic fruits and vegetables as well as to learn the traditional eco-skills from composting to pruning that our grandparents possessed.

As a diverse range of stakeholders from business to health, to community to education come together on the National Park City for Galway initiative, the latest medical scientific research is showing the benefits to people of all ages that comes from spending time surrounded by plants and trees in what is referred to as the ‘Green Prescription’. By working with others in amongst our fruit trees, vegetable plots and herbal beds as well as by participating in our educational courses, volunteers in our community garden are encouraged to bring this knowledge back to their homes so that they can grow tasty safe foods in their own gardens to be served on the kitchen plate for the enjoyment of the whole family.

Building a community tree nursery, May 2019

Growing food organically enriches the soil, reduces our carbon footprint, does not pollute the environment, helps the local economy, reduces a household’s food bill and improves personal nutrition. Just as important a well-maintained organic garden is by nature a diverse place, filled not only with food crops, but flowers, birds, insects, bees, and butterflies. It is a sanctuary for wildlife at a time when 25% of Ireland’s native species are under threat.

Urban neighbourhood organic gardens will play an ever-increasing role in tackling Climate Chaos.

Note: This article appeared in the July 12th edition of the Galway Advertiser

Rediscovering the Ancient Trails of Galway city

Local resident Ellie enthusiastically leads a group of intrepid adventurers along a hidden country lane that centuries ago was the main thoroughfare for people, animals and coaches travelling between Menlo village and Galway city.
Today this 'boreen' (Irish = 'botharín = small road) at Coolough (Cúil Lough = lake's end) ) is populated with a wonderful cornucopia of native trees, wildflowers, birds, insects and mammals. The sounds and sights of Nature that we experienced yesterday were a welcome soothing relief from the harsh noises of cars, trucks and much of urban life that was so evident only a few kilometres away.
Participants in yesterday's Seven Galway Castles' Heritage Cycle Tour felt they had stumbled into a lost world!
On the edges of Galway city lies a largely forgotten network of traditional rural lanes that local communities are now working together on to create a Greenways infrastructure as part of the 'National Park City for Galway' initiative. This 'lost world' will become 'our everyday world of the future'!

My son Dáire is learning Greenscreen production, AI photo enhancement, 3D scanning and 3D printing from Eoin Jordan, Lukasz Porwol, Ihab Salawdeh and PJ Mealy whilst undertaking a summer internship at our Insight Centre for Data Analytics NUI Galway.
One of the most exciting of these projects is the use, at the Computer Museum in the Data Science Institute, of a XBox 360 Kinect to scan images of vintage computers and computer parts to make 3-dimensional units to be used either as ornaments or to replace missing/broken components of retro units in this technology facility.
In the background is the 3D printer alongside a miniature model of a Smart (sensors based) City where we are gradually replacing the Lego parts with 3D made pieces. Thanks Gerry Kavanagh!
The three lads are holding 3D productions.
As part of our role in the new 'National Park City for Galway' initiative, we will soon be installing a unit that grinds old and new plastics that can be converted into 3D plastic filament. This is the 'Circle Economy’, Upskilling and Sustainability in action!

The Magical 7 Galway Castles' Heritage Cycle Looped Trail

There is no nicer way to end Bike Week 2019 than to take part in a leisurely group cycle through a mosaic of lovely picturesque rural landscapes that lie only a short distance from noisy, busy urban Galway city

The Seven Galway Castles' Looped Cycle Heritage Tour aka ‘Slí na gCaisleán’ (‘The Way of the Castles’), is a guided off-the-beaten-track heritage cycle excursion along a looped trail across beautiful countryside that encompasses seven castles on the north and eastern side of Galway city and on into Galway county. The tour, organised by the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden, will start at 9.30am on Sunday June 30th from the ‘Plots’ on the Dyke Road which was the site of former urban allotments in decades gone by, then onto Terryland Castle before undertaking a forty km looped cycle route that has castles at Menlo, Cloonacauneen, Killeen, Ballybrit, Castlegar and Ballindooley. This leisurely cycle will journey over hills, along botharins, past abandoned farms, ruined castles, karst outcrops, bogs, lakes, dykes, turloughs and meadows.
Local communities are hoping that it will become part of a new cycling friendly network that could benefit the quality of life of Galwegians as well as become a major green tourism attraction.

Note: Participants should ,bring along their own bicycle, suitable clothing, water and food. There will be a stopover at Cloonacauneen Castle where people can buy lunch. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

For further information, contact Brendan Smith at speediecelt@gmail.com

Finally a big 'Bualadh Bos' (applause) to the wonderful artist Helen Caird who worked with me on producing the beautiful attached poster

The American Irish corporate Award!

I was so chuffed last night to receive the inaugural 'Cairdeas' (societal impact) award from the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland.

It was presented to me by Mark Gantly, President of the Chamber, in recognition of my activities over many years promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) amongst people of all ages, of all backgrounds, from Galway, across Ireland, Africa and the Middle East.

It was quite emotional to hear testimonials at the event from people such as Emma Meehan of Cisco who told how she was inspired as a pre-teen primary school pupil to pursue a career in technology thanks to workshops and computer equipment we gave to her school class twelve years ago.

As an education & public engagement officer since 2001, I have been so fortunate to have been given opportunities by the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, DERI, Galway Education Centre, SAP, Galway Science and Technology Festival, Medtronic, Galway Atlantaquaria, Coderdojo, and University College Galway to educate and upskill children, teenagers and older peoples in coding, digital media, environmental science, engineering etc so that they could be empowered to improve their lives, their communities and to secure sustainable careers in new web technologies.

I have also being blessed to have being inspired by individual visionaries, collaborators, educationalists, science researchers, business leaders, environmentalists, societal leaders, community activists and role models such as Bernard Kirk, Brian Wall, Mike Turley, Claire Duval, Professor Mathieu D'Aquin, Michael D Higgins, Ciaran Cannon, Chris Coughlan, Jimmy Brown, Marie Mannion, Anne Murray, Batoul HusseinI, Caroline Healy, Ollie Daniels, Karl Sweeney, Simon Lenihan, Patrick McGovern, Carole Raftery, Enda O'Connell, Eoin Jordan, Lol Hardiman, Helen Caird, Niall O'Brolchain, Ihab Salawdeh, Lukasz Porwol, Arek Stasiewicz, Bianca Pereira, Agustín García Pereira, John Breslin, Adegboyega Ojo, Aksana Azava, Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, Caroline Cawley, Brian Walsh, Duncan Stewart, John O’Sullivan, Catherine Seale, Ibrahim Khafagy, Julie Cleverdon, Mootketsi Tegere, Martin Serrano, Lorraine Tansey, Colin Lawton, Michel Dugon, Noel Treacy, Aoibheann Bird, Cushla Dromgool Regan, Sarah Knight, Liam Brennan, Muriel Grenon, Noirin Burke, Garry Kendellen, Sheila Greaney, Colette Lavin, Tommy Flaherty, Frank Gavin, Hung Ngo, Kay Synott, Caitriona Carlin, Geische Kindermann, Tom Cuffe, Caroline Stanley, Colin Stanley, Jessamyn Fairfield, Padraic Keirns, Nikunj Sakhrelia, Michael McDonnell, Margaret Douglas, Sabrina Cummins, Fiona O’Donovan, Tiarnan McCusker, Catherine Cunningham, Justine Delaney, Michael Madden, Daniel Raven-Ellison, Edward Skehill, Dick Delaney, Tom Hanley, Laurence Daly, Caitríona Nic Mhuiris, Frank McCurry, Tom Frawley, Liam Ferrie, Pat Moran, Gerry Kilcommins, Tom Hyland, Patrick Collins, Lorraine McIllarth, Rachel Quinlan, Derrick Hambleton, Ann Irwin, Dan Clabby, Martina Finn, Peter Butler, Tina O'Connell, Kate Howard, Martin Brennan, Felicity Gillespie, Michael Tiernan, Douglas Rafter, Mary Kyne, Mags Amond, Thomas O Dúbhda, Mags Amond, Terry Morley, John Power, Niamh Costello, Colm Canny, Micheal O Cinneide, Denis Goggin, Phil James, Nollaig McGuinness, James Harrold, Cllr Frank Fahey, Mark Lohan, Catherine Connolly, Eamon O Cuiv, Elaine O'Riordan, Clare Riordan, Mairead Farrell, Terry O'Flaherty, Diarmuid Keaney, Micheal Keaney, Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, Brian Barrett, Terry McDermott, Siobhan McEvoy, Feargal Timon, Jonathan Hannan, Eoin Gill, Sheila Domegan as well as countless teachers/principals such as Cepta Stephens, Maire Keady Baker, Kate Murray, Nuala Dalton, John Duggan, Martina Tarpey, Leo Hallissey, Ger O'Dowd, Irene Mc Goldrick, Caroline Bond, Finbarr O'Regan, Niall Ó Ceallaigh, Maria Burke, Niall Coll, Teresa O'Dowd, Anne Burke, Mait O Bradaigh, Anne McGrath, Celine McCormick, John Reilly, Frank Keane, Catherine Harrington, Michelle Kerrigan, Catherine Hickey, Davina Daly, Mary Smith, Mary Howley, Colin McCaul, Aoife Winters, Barry Maguire, Mary Dillon, Maire Browne, Pat Keane, Orla Doyle, Martin Faherty, Sean Tuohy, Grainne Dooley... who I have worked with a lot over so many years.

With the world in such a deepening crisis due to climate chaos, biodiversity loss, political instability and rising social inequality, benign technology and science research and its' application is critical in coming up with solutions that can help save the planet and human society from the excesses and narrow-minded greed of much of human civilization.

Furthermore, as Tina O'Connell alludes too, Science and Technology without the Arts, and indeed Heritage and Culture, is incomplete. Which is way I have always practised a holistic approach towards teaching and mentoring.

Photo shows (L-R): Mark Redmond (CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce), Mark Gantly (President of the American Chamber of Commerce), myself and President Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh (NUI Galway).

Finally a big thank you to my beloved wife Cepta for her endless patience and kindness in allowing me the space over so many decades to spend so many days and nights on work and volunteer assignments. A true angel!

‘Back to the Future’- 1980s Galway city was so 21st century

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An invitation is being extended to those who were employed in electronic manufacturing companies such as Northern Telecom, Information Sources Ltd(ISL) and Digital Equipment Corporation, as well as to those who had worked or studied in information technology, telecommunications and computing retail sector in Galway, during the 1970s/1980s, to attend a gathering at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the Data Science Institute, NUI Galway in the Dangan Business Park at 8pm on Tuesday June 11^th. The purpose of the event is to connect with people that helped make Galway the country’s first ‘Digital City’ and one that was uniquely cosmopolitan during this era, in order to tap into their expertise, memorabilia and stories for the benefit of the national Computer and Communications Museum based at the Data Science Institute.

According to Brendan Smith Public Engagement Officer at Insight and curator of the computer museum, “21^st century Ireland is defined in so many ways by technology-related issues such as cloud computing, social media, robotics, artificial intelligence, youth coding clubs, online digital media, video conferencing, computing gaming, a government focus on investing into science subjects, developing third level centres of scientific research, promoting the country as a high-tech global hub for foreign direct investment, attracting in skilled workers from overseas, as well as on the dark side by concerns over hacking and the negative influences of modern devices on family life and wellbeing.

Amazingly these issues were also symptomatic of Galway during the 1980s. The city was a key European manufacturing plant for Digital Equipment Corporation(DEC), then the world’s second largest computer company and for Northern Telecom, a global pioneer in the development of telecommunications products. Attracted by high tech jobs and a better quality of life, people came to work in Galway from the Americas, Asia and the European continent who had no Irish ancestry as well as from the Irish Diaspora in United States and Britain. As early as January 1981, all second-level schools in Galway city and county were equipped with Apple computers. The university was providing coding workshops for teachers; and ‘Coderdojo’ type clubs, aimed at children and their parents, were operating in city centre locations. Eleven city schools benefitted from ‘cloud-computing’ technology for mathematics and programming applications. Thirty years before Facebook, many teenagers took advantage of this online network connecting schools to communicate with each other for meet-ups, dating and other social engagements! Households in Galway were using digital devices via telephone lines to access online services for emailing, shopping, banking, hotel reservations, airline reservations, news, weather and information services. From 1984, robotics was taught at the Galway RTC (GMIT). UCG (NUIG) was renowned for its’ research on computer-aided manufacturing.  In 1985, a young boy invented Galway’s first computer-controlled robot. Two years later, an employee at DEC Galway produced probably Ireland’s first online newsletter by emailing news stories to colleagues working in DEC plants across the globe. As a prelude to Google, a Galway-based company(ISL) in 1982 was developing a digital search engine for American libraries.  The first satellite link between Ireland and North America, that allowed transatlantic business communications including video conferencing, was launched in 1987 at the Telecom Éireann (Éircom) headquarters in Mervue. 

We want to record these fascinating stories from this innovative era and make them known to the wider public.  Furthermore there is a huge repository of technical expertise amongst people from that generation who could form a veteran ‘digital makers’ club to pass on their vintage computer repair skills to younger museum volunteers.  Some individuals may be able to source key Galway-made or associated equipment absent from our museum collection or to volunteer as tour guides for a technology heritage and learning facility that is the only one of its type in Ireland and which could become an important element of Galway 2020 in promoting our unique digital cultural heritage.”

Galway Girl Hannah needs your support

Hannah is a beautiful young teenage Galway girl. But she is suffering from a degeneration in her jaw joints which has led to her losing jaw function. Talking can cause her unbearable pain. She has not been able to eat since Christmas and has been bed-bound since early this year.
Hannah's only hope to lead a normal life is to be treated by a oral maxillofacial surgeon in London who is a world leader in jaw joint treatments.
She deserves the opportunity to be able to enjoy the simple things in life that so many of us take for granted, such as a meetup with friends for a coffee and chat in a café, or a walk in a forest. Please donate something, no matter how small, and help this lovely daughter of an old friend (Dave Hill) of mine achieve this.
 Click here to support Hannah

The Heroes of D-Day

I salute the c350,000 soldiers, sailors, paratroopers and air crews who took part in the Normandy landings on June 6th 1944 supported by thousands of French resistance fighters.

Where it not for their actions and the even greater actions of the Soviet Union military and the guerrilla fighters of Eastern Europe in World War 11, the continent would today probably be still under the brutal occupation of the Nazis, minus its Jewish and Gypsies peoples long since eliminated by genocide, with its Slavic populations reduced to sub-human status and slavery.

Sadly in the following decades, many European, Asian, African and American governments did commit atrocities against other nations and peoples. But the followers of Adolf Hitler represented a special brand of evil that deliberately wanted to bring death and subjugation to much of humanity.

So thank you to the British, Americans, Canadians, Australians, French, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Greeks, Dutch, Irish, Belgians, New Zealanders and Norwegians who took part in Allied military operations on this day 75 years ago.

As a child one of my most cherished possessions was ‘The Longest Day’ written by the Irish author Cornelius Ryan, probably the best book ever written on D-Day. It tells the story of June 6th 1944 humanely and fairly through the memories of French female and male civilians, as well as combatants on land, sea and air, both Allied and German. I highly recommend it.

In the celebrations today I was especially impressed to see two British men who fought on D-Day as paratroopers, once again jump from a Dakota C-47 airplane in the skies above Normandy.

Your bravery was not in vain.

Galway needs politicians that fight Climate Chaoa & demand Climate Justice!

The key issue in tomorrow's local and European elections are Climate Chaos, Climate Justice and the Green Economy.
Global Warming, Equality, Poverty, Jobs and Peace are interrelated. Since 2015, I have worked across Africa, the Middle East and Europe. During these work trips, I have seen the enormous devastation being caused by deforestation, water shortages, pollution, injustices, poverty, large scale, mining, habitat loss, biodiversity decline, a warming climate and GREED. I am genuinely scared.
But everywhere I go I have seen ordinary but inspirational individuals and organisations fighting back against the powerful forces of corruption and destruction who see a price in everything but a value in nothing .
In Galway a number of energetic councillors promoted our community, heritage and environmental campaigns over the last few years, and helped us to achieve some notable successes. Thank you for that and may you be re-elected. But we also need as well other fresh progressive voices, including youth and female, to demand more and more radical policies. The future of so many species including our own is at stake

Rollng out a 'Smart City', 'Green City' & 'Biodiversity City' as Galway's diverse sectors unite behind a ‘National Park City’ initiative.

Is this part of a real game changer for the planet's future? In my opinion, the answer is a resounding 'Yes'!

After over a year of direct campaigning, lobbying, consulting, researching and planning, I, along with so many others, was so proud to launch the ‘National Park City for Galway’ initiative on May 3rd at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the Data Science Centre of the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway. With over seventy people attending (mainly representatives from a myriad of organisations) and twenty one speakers drawn from a diverse range of local sectors, who gave wonderfully inspirational presentations on the environmental work that they have commenced or completed in 2019, it was one of the most influential and hopefully most important eco-gatherings ever to take place in Galway.
The event was officially launched by Mayor of Galway city, councillor Niall McNelis, who outlined the progressive series of policies that Galway City Council has adopted over the last few weeks including setting up a new full time on-the-ground staff unit for the city’s forest parks, agreeing to appoint a full time Tree Officer, re-establishing the multi-sectoral Terryland Forest Park steering committee, taking on board the all-Ireland Pollinator Plan, putting a Climate Action Plan out to public consultation next month and actively considering the post of Biodiversity Officer in next year’s council budget.
Guest speaker was Duncan Stewart, Ireland’s most famous environmentalist and producer of RTE’s Eco-Eye television series, who gave a ‘reality check’ to the attendees by outlining his serious concerns at the increasing levels of environmental destruction both globally and nationally.

The event demonstrated though a unity of purpose for protecting biodiversity, reconnecting with the rest of Nature and in tackling Climate Change that is now developing within all sectors of urban Galway. It was a gathering of like-minded people drawn from third level colleges, scientific research institutes, technology innovation, schools, small businesses, social enterprises, corporations, hotels, cafes, digital maker clubs, the medical profession, the health administration, the arts, politics, local government as well as the environmental and community sector who have agreed to work together to integrate Nature into the lives and infrastructure of our city.
Each of the twenty two guest speakers (below) outlined new or completed projects for 2019 that will impact positively on people’s lives and the wider environment and in the process help Galway in achieving a National Park City status.
The audience included veteran community campaigners Martina Finn and Eleanor Hough; Terry McDonough from the Local Community Development Committee(LCDC); Martin Brennan and Patricia from the Sligo Greenway campaign group; a management team from the Nox Hotel group; representatives from SAP Galway; Alan Kenny from Galway City of Culture 2020; Damien Nee from Corrib Beo; Mark Cronin manager of the Galway Foodspace catering group; teacher Michelle McDonagh and senior students from Our Lady’s College; Laoise (príomhoide), Eoin and Fiona from Scoil Iognáid; Maire Keady Baker/Máire de Báicéir (príomhoide) Scoil Shamais Naofa, Bearna; artist Sinead Hackett; Feargal Timon from the Woodquay Residents’ Association; Brian Wall and Lukasz Porwol from Insight NUI Galway; Conor Hayes from College of Engineering and Informatics NUI Galway; Catherine Connolly TD; Marian Brady from the Galway Environmental Network; Marie Talty from Irish Doctors for the Environment; James Harrold and Edward Skehill from Galway City Council; Gary Davoren and Dick Delaney from the Connemara Greenway Alliance; Paul, Donal and Anne from the Galway Science and Technology Festival; and Stephen Corrigan from the Galway City Tribune who wrote a fantastic article in the current edition of that newspapers (see photo).
They were also great exhibits on show including a beautiful revamping of the Woodquay Park as designed by Mary Reynolds (thanks Feargal); a huge external float from the Connemara Greenway Alliance (thanks Garry); the wildlife of Terryland Forest Park (thanks Helen!); food waste to food preserves by Foodspace; and the Citizen Science-based ‘Mobile Environmental Science and Air Quality Lab’ from the Insight Centre for Data Analytics (thanks Martin). Well done also to Lukasz for his live streaming of the launch.

The groundwork has now being laid to unite all of these different stakeholders, representing most aspects of local society, into a steering committee that will coordinate an action plan and a roll out of deliverables for ‘National Park for Galway’ designation. The work to make this happen will be continuous. So watch this page for regular updates.

Speakers & Topics at launch (MC- Brendan Smith):
1. Mayor Niall McNelis, Galway City Council- Official Welcome.
2. Duncan Stewart, Eco-Eye - Guest Speaker.
3. Professor Mathieu D’Aquin, Director, Data Science Institute, NUI Galway- Data Analytics & Digital Sustainability.
4. Lorraine Rushe, Buildings Office, NUI Galway- The Green Campus of NUI Galway.
5. Sabrina Commins, Galway City Partnership- Urban Bee Project.
6. Catherine Seale & Denis Goggin, Corrib BEO -Care, Protection & Sustainable Development of the Corrib.
7. Pat Collins, Geography, NUI Galway- The Connemara Greenway.
8. Claire Lillis, Aerogen-S ocial Engagement & Urban Forest Sustainability
9. Caitriona Carlin & Geishe Kinderman, Applied Ecology Unit, NUI Galway- The Outdoor Laboratory.
10. Martin Serrano, Insight Centre, NUI Galway-Citizen Science & the Greening of Smart Cities.
11. Niall O Brolchain, Insight Centre, NUI Galway- ‘Care Peat’: managing and monitoring carbon reduction from peatlands
12. Phil James, Galway Waterways’ Foundation- Galway’s Waterways network
13. Agustín García Pereira, Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway- Land use mapping & Bee Habitats.
14. Colin Hanbury, Information Technology, NUI Galway-Fungi Identification app.
15. Eoin Jordan, Digital Makers’ Club, Insight, DSI, NUI Galway-Upcycling & 3D Printing.
16. Vincent Carragher, The Wheel- Citizen Science & the Curio App.
17. Ashling Jennings/Fiona O’Donovan, Healthy Galway-The ‘Blue Park’ of Galway Bay. 

      18. Laoise Breathnach, Scoil Iognáid - The Outdoor Classroom at Scoil Iognáid

      19. Caroline Stanley, Friends of Merlin Woods- The Flora & Fauna of Merlin Woods booklet