Seven Galway Castles' Heritage Bike Trail - June 22nd

Cloonacauneen Castle

Slí na gCaisleán (‘The Way of the Castles’) is a heritage cycle trail along a picturesque route of lakes, bogs, farmland, meadows, botharíns, castles and woods on the north and eastern side of Galway city and into Galway county. 
The trail is organised by Cumann na bhFear (Men's Shed) in association with Conservation Volunteers' Terryland Forest Park, Galway Bike Festival and National Bike Week.

Carrowbrowne Bog

Next guided tour: Sunday June 22nd. Starts at 9.45am from The Plots, Dyke Road, Galway city. 
For further information, contact Brendan Smith at speediecelt@gmail.com

Terryland Castle

This 'Off the Beaten'  route starts from and finishes at Terryland Castle in a circa 25  mile looped trail that includes the castles of Menlo, Castlegar, Cloonacauneen, Killeen, Ballybrit and Ballindooley. 

Approaching Cloonacauneen Castle

Killoughter, overlooking the Curraghline

Participants on this guided tours are required to bring along their own bicycle, suitable clothing and packed lunch.There will be an opportunity to have a picnic at Menlo. There will also be a stop over at Cloonacauneen Castle where participants can purchase food and beverages. Any children twelve years or under must be accompanied by an adult. 
All participants must sign a form agreeing to abide by the rules of the tour.
 

Click here for an online map of the route.

Note: Please note that  to get a full screen version of the map, click on the four diagonal arrow icon

on the bottom left hand corner of the screen map.

In front of the old gate entrance to the Menlo demesne

Ballindooley Lough

Killeen Castle

Botharín, Castlegar

Ballybrit Castle

St. Peter & St. Paul's Catholic Church Coolagh

Menlo Castle

IRA Monument, Castlegar

In front of Castlegar Castle and old Ball Alley

Wildlife Safari of Terryland Forest Park

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Award-winning wildlife photographer, ecologist and ornithologist Tom Cuffe will bring people on a wonderful wildlife safari through Terryland Forest Park at 12.00pm on Saturday next (March 8th). The event is being organised by the ‘Friends of Terryland Forest Park’ as part of national Tree Week.

As part of a nationwide monitoring and conservation programme, Tom last year undertook a ground-breaking scientific survey of the bird, moth, butterfly and other insect populations of the Terryland Forest Park.

Though his survey only covered a small geographical enclave of this urban park, nevertheless he recorded  48 bird species, 12 Butterfly species, 6 Bumblebee species, 12 Damsel/Dragonfly as well as 85 other species of wildlife and 27 flowering species.

His research has provided the scientific evidence of how Ireland's largest man-made publicly owned urban forest park project, containing nearly 100,000 native Irish trees planted by the ordinary people of Galway city in conjunction with local authority staff, has dramatically enhanced the biodiversity of the urban landscape.

Organisers are welcoming everyone of all ages to come along on Saturday and be introduced to the winged creatures of Terryland. Rendezvous point: 12.00pm (mid-day) Car Park in front of Galway Bay FM on the Sandy Road.

Wildlife photographs courtesy of Tom Cuffe

Need for National Cans & Bottles Pay Back Scheme to Clean Up Our Forests & Parks

The April clean-up by the Conservation Volunteers of the Terryland Forest Park in Galway city has exposed once again the wanton destruction being done to the Irish countryside and waterways by the high level of dumping of cans and bottles by outdoor drinkers.

There is a growing problem within Irish society due to binge drinking, particularly by young people which eventually has to be faced up to. This phenomena has escalated in the last two decade as a result of the easy access and availability of cheap alcohol.
In the interim, the problem of resulting litter can be tackled head-on by the introduction of a refundable charge on cans and bottles, something which the 'Friends of Galway Forests' NGO had campaigned on for years. (Click here) 
We failed to convince the last Environment Minister and Green Party leader John Gormley to implement such an initiative. But we secured the agreement of Galway City Council last July, thanks to the support of Councillor Catherine Connolly, to introduce a pay-back scheme for cans.
Click here to read about this positive move by city council.

 
It is time now to re-activate the lobbying of government if we are to save our precious lakes, forests and rivers from disappearing under a layer of plastic and glass.
But in the short term, should we not organise a public 'Cash For Can Day' in June where we organise a huge mass clean-up and bring all the cans to the council recycling plant and use the monies collected to invest in trees for plantings in our civic parks and woodlands?
Finally, thanks to the volunteers who turned up on Saturday. Appreciated.

Ireland’s first Drinks Cans Pay-back Scheme for Galway?

The decision of the recent meeting of the Environment SPC of Galway City Council to recommend the introduction of a pay-back scheme for drink cans is warmly welcomed.

As spokesperson for the Galway Friends of the Forests, the local community and environmental group, I applaud the foresight of the Environment SPC on this initiative that was proposed by Councillor Catherine Connolly supported by city officials. This facility will probably be initially based at the Liosbaun recycling centre. The motion will now go forward for ratification to a full meeting of the City Council.

The ‘Galway Friends of the Forests’ has been lobbying since 2007 on the need to re-introduce a nationwide payback scheme for take-away beverage bottles as well as cans in order to clean up our parks, fields and natural habitats. Locally we have made representations to Galway City Community Forum and to Councillor Catherine Connolly in her capacity as Chairperson of the Natural Environment and Waterways committee. The councillor has responded magnificently by proposing last week’s motion.
Sadly we have had no success in our dealings with the Department of the Environment, Local Government and Heritage on this issue. In autumn 2007 we made a formal submission to the government’s ‘International Review Of Waste Management’ report where we recommended the introduction of national legislation to implement a refundable charge on beverage cans and bottles. However, we were astonished that the final report, published in late 2009, failed to address this proposal in any serious way and made some vague comment about the need for further future research.

The state’s lethargic attitude to a grassroots initiative that if accepted will help dramatically reduce litter pollution in Ireland is baffling. Especially when one considers that the government department responsible is led by the leader of the Green Party, John Gormley, with whom we meet with on this and related policy areas and where we reinforced the need for the re-introduction of a monetary pay-back scheme that existed in Ireland until only a few decades ago.

It is obvious to all interested parties, from tourism organisations to local neighbourhood associations, that our parks, woodlands, bogs, rivers and seashores are strewn with litter contributing to a deterioration in the aesthetic beauty of our natural landscapes, a serious contamination of our waterways and the destruction of wildlife habitats. This environmental disaster is getting worse by the day exacerbated by the cheap pricing on non-refundable alcohol cans and bottles available from supermarkets, corner shops, garages and off-licences that has lead to an epidemic in under-age outdoor binge drinking.

Such litter does not feature in the IBAL surveys which primarily focus on street and roadways.

In Galway city, communities and the local authority have worked together, under a scheme known as ‘Gaillimh Suas Glan’, to clean up woods and other green public spaces on a monthly basis. The amount of refuse being collected is frightening. In a recent event, volunteers collected over 6,000 pieces of litter in a two hour period from one forest area. Beverage cans and bottles together generally account for between 60-70% of the items collected.

Furthermore, this refund system has had considerable success elsewhere in Europe. 90% of beer and soft drinks containers are returned in Sweden while the market share of non-returnable bottles in Finland is deliberately kept small at 5%.

We have requested a further meeting with Minister Gormley on the matter. Should we fail to secure a commitment, we will begin to organise a nationwide citizens’ petition on our demand for this pay-back scheme.

Galway Community Campaigners Win Fight Against Road Development in Forest!

Big Victory for Galway Community Campaign But Demands for an Investigation into the Abandonment of the Headford Road Framework Plan

As spokesperson of community environmental campaign group the Friends of the Terryland Forest,  I called this week for an investigation into the abandonment of the Headford Road Framework Plan almost two years after its completion.

The recent decision of all bar two Galway city councillors(Fianna Fáil's Michael Crowe voted against; his brother Ollie Crowe abstained) to support Councillor Derek Nolan’s motion to axe a new road through the Terryland Forest Park from the Galway City Development Plan was to be applauded and represented a great victory for local democracy.

The almost unanimous vote of City Council lined up our local elected representatives alongside Galway West TDs from all political parties, the 10,000 people who signed the petition against the road and all those organisations and individuals who did likewise in early 2008 when the Headford Road Framework Plan was unveiled. Its public consultation process represented the largest involvement of citizens with the planning and development  process since the controversy over proposals to build a regional waste incinerator in Galway ten years ago.

But we are shocked that city officials had decided, after sitting on the report for the last few years,  to ‘bin’ an exercise that attracted such high local input.  Many groups and individuals had invested considerable time and effort into making submissions to the Headford Road Framework Plan. Hence its abandonment makes a mockery of public consultation and a considerable waste of taxpayers’ monies as a team of high-powered consultants were hired to bring the report to fruition.

Most people were and are in agreement with the need to regenerate the 76 acres along the Headford Road that contains a number of derelict sites, an unattractive streetscape,  a anti-cycling/anti-pedestrian transport artery and underutilised parks. But they felt that local authority officials’ determination to build a road through the developing forest was a betrayal of the thousands of citizens of all ages who enthusiastically heeded the call of City Hall to plant trees in Terryland Forest Park ten years ago when they were being promised that this new green zone was to become a “People’s Park”catering for older people, schools, colleges and arts groups as well as a proposed ‘ecological corridor’ linking the lower Dyke Road area to Castlegar village. It is also the case that building in a flood plain in a time of global climate change and rising water levels is contrary to Irish government’s recommendations to local authorities.

Likewise,  many experts felt that constructing a new link road that would bring traffic towards Woodquay along a widened Dyke Road from a Quincentennial Bridge equipped with traffic lights would only worsen traffic congestion in the city.

We are requesting councillors to ensure that the Headford Road Framework Plan is published and that the expenditure outlay be made known.  Otherwise ordinary people’s confidence in any future public consultation process undertaken by Galway city council will be seriously undermined.

City Hall Needs to Formally Abandon Forest Road Plan

Winter Wonderland in Terryland Forest Park

My favourite local community environmental group, the Friends of the Forest, has called on Galway City Council to learn from the lessons of the recent flooding experienced in county Galway by publicly abandoning the controversial proposal to build a road through the low-lying Terryland Forest Park and to finally publish the long-overdue Headford Road Framework Plan with its accompanying 2008 public consultations findings.

We have been lobbying for the publication of the Headford Road Framework Plan since the spring of 2008 when we presented a petition with over 10,000 names against the recommendations of city officials to construct a major link road through the Terryland Forest Park with a corresponding widening of the Dyke Road that would signal the destruction of one of the city’s last great natural heritage areas. Yet nearly two years on we are astonished that this report, carried out with significant taxpayers monies, has still not been released.

We agreed wholeheartedly with the original brief given to the consultants to provide a blueprint for the sustainable retail and public space development of a major 76 acres area of the city that urgently requires urban regeneration due to the presence of prominent derelict sites, a series of unaesthetic buildings, under-utilised parklands, and a anti-pedestrian/anti-cycling transport artery dominated by car traffic.

But it would be a travesty of the public consultation process as well as undermining the concept of local democracy if officials publish the report with the new road element still included as was alluded to last autumn. For, based on the size of our petition and the content of the majority of the submissions made to the report in 2008, it is obvious that the local population are against this road construction. It also goes against the council’s own policies on ecological corridors and protection of natural heritage areas and will only worsen the traffic situation by encouraging even more cars into an already congested city centre.

Furthermore, the recent disastrous flooding experienced in Galway county provides ample evidence of the inherent dangers of building houses and roads in floodplains. In response to the flooding of the summer of 2008, the Minister of the Environment John Gormley instructed local authorities in Ireland that no significant developments should be undertaken in floodplains.

This proposed road is situated in the Terryland River valley, in a wetland area and lies below the level of the River Corrib which is only held back by the presence of man-made barriers along the Dyke Road. With rising water levels a symptom of global climate change, it would be irresponsible to proceed with this construction.

In fact the locality’s wetlands should be enhanced as they act as Nature’s sponge by absorbing floodwaters thereby providing a natural defence for the city’s populated areas.

We are calling on the council to now provide a map of the city’s floodplains so that we can plan for the inevitable future floodings.

In the meantime, our group will continue to campaign for greater protection of our natural heritage areas, their increased use as outdoor classrooms, the return of community tree planting and monthly clean-ups of forests through the excellent Gaillimh Suas Glan initiative.

Time for Minister for the Environment To Introduce Refundable Charge on Drink Cans & Bottles

The recent ‘Gaillimh Suas Glan’ initiative coordinated by Galway City Council's Environmental Officer (Sharon Carrol) and City Parks , in conjunction with our group, the ‘Friends of the Forest’ was a very good example of the benefits of council-public co-operation. We are delighted with the response of Galway residents to the first monthly clean-up of the city’s green spaces that proved such a fine . Over a two hour period on a Sunday in November, thousands of pieces of litter were gathered from one section of the Terryland Forest Park. Beverage cans represented the largest class of items collected at 35% followed by drink bottles at 32%.
We are concerned though that legislation has not been introduced by the Minister of the Environment for a refundable levy on beverage cans and bottles. For there is a growing incidence of litter, particularly discarded drink containers, being dumped in our green areas that if left unabated will lead to an environmental disaster. Not only is this type of refuse undermining the beauty of our natural landscapes but it is also leading to a serious contamination of our waterways and the destruction of wildlife habitats.
Since July 2007 local community activists have been lobbying the Minister to introduce this levy. This policy has had considerable success elsewhere in Europe particularly in the Scandinavian countries. 90% of beer and soft drinks containers are returned in Sweden while the market share of non-returnable bottles in Finland is deliberately kept small at 5%. Furthermore, such a monetary pay-back scheme existed in Ireland until a few decades ago.
It is a win-win system for all concerned – local communities, local authorities, the environment, waste management and of course wildlife.The monies saved could be used to encourage greater public use of wonderful green spaces by funding the provision of park wardens, regular outdoor family events and park facilities such as picnic areas, community gardens and eco-learning centres.
But as of yet we have had no positive response from Minister John Gormley. His department recently informed us that the long overdue consultancy report on waste management is expected before Christmas. We earnestly hope that a Minister for the Environment, who is also leader of the Green Party, will take onboard a grassroots initiative that if implemented will help dramatically reduce litter pollution in Ireland.
Sadly it has been government’s own policies that have contributed to the polluting of our countryside, an associated rise in anti-social behaviour and an extra burden on our health services. Over the last decade, the unprecedented growth in off-licences selling cheap alcohol has led to an epidemic in under-age outdoor binge drinking that has undermined community spirit, destroyed peoples’ lives and polluted parks. It is time that the government introduced laws that will clean up the mess created by their own policies.

Community-Inspired Campaign To Clean Up Galway City's Forests & Parks Gets Underway!

Our Environmental campaign group ‘Friends of the Forest’ have joined forces with Galway City Council in order to implement a new initiative designed to secure public participation in regular major monthly clean-ups of the city’s public spaces.
While we fundamentally disagree with local authority officials' still existing plans to build a road through this most precious urban forest park that will all destroy its proposed development as an important ecological corridor , nevertheless we see no reason why we should not work with City Hall to increase public use of the forest and to help eliminate the waste crisis that exists in this important natural heritage area.There is a serious and growing litter problem in parks and other green spaces across the country. However, because of the local authority recruitment embargo, ordinary citizens must re-discover 'civic pride' and take up the challenge of helping to keep our valuable green resources clean in order to protect our increasingly threatened wildlife and to encourage greater use of woods and parklands by schools, arts groups and local communities.
Inspired by the international ‘Beach Watch’ project organised in Galway by Atlantaquaria (Ireland's National Aquarium), Friends of the Forest held a series of meetings with City Hall’s Environmental Education Officer Sharon Carroll and the Superintendent of Parks Stephen Walsh on implementing regular high-profile mass clean ups that would each month focus in on different public spaces across the city.The result is that the first of these major clean-ups known as ‘Glan Suas Gaillimh!’ (Irish for 'Clean Up Galway!') operating under the auspices of Galway City Council will start at 2.30pm on Sunday November 15th in the Terryland Forest Park.
Follow-on clean-ups will include Merlin Woods, Barna Woods and our seashores.
It is hoped that residents of all ages from all across the city will take part in this major partnership initiative that could make such a positive contribution to our city’s image and well-being.So well done to Sharon McHugh & Stephen Walsh for bing so supportive and proactive in doing every thing possible to ensure the success of Glan Suas Gaillimh!
Sharon in particular has gone over and beyond the call of duty to involve children in the clean-up as a continuation of her work with schools on the Green Flag initiative This litter drive will represent an important step in re-engaging the people of Galway with City Hall’s environmental policies. We are also now hopeful that Council will re-introduce an annual eco-programme for Terryland Forest Park and elsewhere that will include family tree planting days, community arts events and educational nature tours. Continued tree planting is urgently needed to offset global warming with our forests acting as ‘carbon sinks’. As well as being major biodiversity zones, forests also serve as important passive/active amenity areas.
The Friends of the Forest are also continuing their three year lobbying of the Minister of the Environment to introduce a national refundable levy on all drink containers purchased at off-licences and other retail outlets. As discarded cans and bottles are probably the number one cause of litter in Ireland, a refundable levy would have a beneficial impact on our environment by providing an economic incentive for people to keep Irish parks, roads, and waterways clean.
Such a monetary pay-back scheme existed in Ireland until a few decades ago and is very successful today in other countries.
The monies saved could then be used to encourage greater public use of our wonderful green spaces by funding the provision of park wardens, regular outdoor family events and park facilities such as picnic areas, community gardens and eco-learning centres.

'Save Our Trees' Rally for City Hall

The NGO group that I am chairperson of- the ‘Friends of the Forest’- has decided to maintain the political pressure on Galway City Council to save our local urban Forest by organising a public pro-Tree rally outside City Hall at 6.30pm on Monday October 6th while our local political representatives hold their monthly meeting inside.
We see this rally as pro-Galway City Council and pro-city. We simply want our local authority to activate its existing but dormant policies to provide outdoor leisure facilities for all ages, an annual programme of family events in all our main urban parks and the preservation of our increasingly threatened wildlife habitats. We need more plantings not less to transform barren ugly urbanscapes into picturesque leafy suburbs and tree-lined boulevards. Our wonderful natural heritage areas along the Corrib and in places such as Castlegar, Dyke road, Merlin, Menlo and Ballindooley require improved protection from built development if they are to serve for instance as outdoor classrooms for our school children. Just a few years ago the people of Galway were encouraged in their thousands to come out and plant trees to ‘green’ our city. Sadly what we now hear from the corridors of power is a bitter diatribe from one of our public representatives that he is sick of trees all across the city and even more proposals from officialdom to construct more roads through our scarce urban woodlands.

These words and actions should concern us all. Though many councillors and TDs have confirmed their support for our demands, nevertheless, we must maintain the pressure until a decision is reached on the Road and when we see the council's ecological policies being finally implemented. So we need to remind our politicians that over 10,000 people signed a petition last spring to demand an end to a new road through the Terryland Forest while requesting instead the implementation of existing council proposals that include the provision of a forestry learning centre, tree nurseries and an arts amphitheatre as well as the reinstatement of community tree ‘Plantathons’ in an effort to encourage people to regularly use our parks, reduce our carbon footprint and beautify our concrete-based city. Cutting down trees will not reduce anti-social behaviour, clean up our environment nor help solve our traffic crisis. But what could help are park wardens, a litter policy that includes a refundable charge on all drink cans and bottles and a city-wide pedestrian, cycling and public transport infrastructure.Dumping in the Terryland River that is not just an eyesore but is destroying the habitats of our wildlife

But we still have a fight on our hands. Last Sunday , City Council held a public ecological nature walk through the Forest as part of Irish Mobility Week (looking at alternatives to car transport). The Parks Staff did a great job informing the participants on biodiversity, individual native Irish trees etc. But there were only 17 people on the walk, most of whom were activists in the 'Friends of the Forest' group. For the Council made no mention of the event in the media or in any of the ample literature that was specifically published for Mobility Week!!! Nor have they tried to involved members of the multi-sectoral steering committee which has been largely ignored by City Hall over the last four years.People lined up in their thousands at our stand in Shop Street to sign the petition to save Terryland Forest Park from road development.The girl in the photo was the first person to plant a tree in the Park during the first 'Planathon' in March 2000 attended by circa 3,500 people

Image above shows location of proposed road through the Terryland Forest Park. Traffic Lights will be located across the Quincenntennial Bridge road where it mets the new road. The development will also include a major widening of the existing Dyke Road transforming it from a relatively quiet backwater road with low vehicle capacity into a heavily populated transport artery. This oldest area of the Terryland Forest Park, first planted in March 2000, with its adjoining wetland area will become nothing more than a glorified 'green' island surrounded by a busy network of roads.

Click here to view the Friends of the Forest website and find out more on Ireland's first urban Commuinty woodland.