Galway: Eco & Heritage Highlights of 2013

Introduction

2013 was a year when environmental, community and heritage issues associated with the Terryland Forest Park and the Ballinfoile Neighbourhood achieved some notable successes thanks to the collaboration between residents, activists and  Galway City Council. But it was also a year when dredging along the Terryland River led to serious biodiversity damage with the spread of a very dangerous invasive species (Japanese knotweed) and when the same local council stifled significant progress in what is historically known as the Lungs of the City by failing to hold meetings of the multi-sectoral Terryland Forest Park  steering committee to implement a strategic plan.

1. Community Tree Planting Day

After an absence of a number of years, community tree planting or Plantathons returned to Terryland Forest Park when on one Saturday in April almost two hundred of people of all ages turned up to plant native Irish trees. It was a reminder of the heyday of this unique urban parkland during the early part of the last decade. We planted Holly, Alder, Oak, Silver Birch, Hazel, Rowan, Blackthorn and Hawthorn. The event was part of a national One Million Trees in One Day initiative which sadly never fulfilled its goal due to lack of funding and other related issues that stopped the organisers securing the number of trees necessary.  In Galway we were extremely fortunate that garden landscaper Brian Lohan donated extra trees so that everyone that came to the Forest had trees to plant.

2. Weekly Park Clean-Ups

From early June, the local Terryland branch of the Conservation Volunteers (CVTFP) have been involved on a weekly basis in removing rubbish from the Terryland Forest Park. The material is temporarily stored in a container shed kindly donated to the CVTFP by the council’s Parks division. The vast majority of the litter comprises beverage cans and bottles left behind by anti-social elements that are destroying so much of the county’s natural habitats and turning so many of our public parks, woodlands and beaches into no go areas for the general populace. Society has to face up to these activities that are  destroying communities, neighbourhoods and our countryside.   Removing the cans, bottles, shopping trolleys, cloths, needles, faeces and other detritus left behind becomes meaningless over time and is only treating the symptom and not the cause of the problem. In my opinion, the implementation of ASBOs and the sentencing by the courts of the culprits to beneficial community work will enhance local neighbourhoods, undo some of the damage that the perpetuators have done and hopefully educate them on the benefits of environmental care

3. Wildman of the Forest

Tom Cuffe is the great Mr. B(Biodiversity, Bees, Birds & Butterflies) of this great urban forest of Galway city. For four months he undertook a weekly transect for the national Butterfly and Bee monitoring survey. 

Associated with this initiative, Tom photographed an amazing variety of wildlife that inhabits the woods, fields and riverbanks within the Terryland Forest Park’s boundaries including Sedge Warblers, Redpoll, Moorhen, Long tailed Tits, Hoverflies, Peacocks, Large Whites, Tortoiseshells, Lady’s Smock and Lesser Celandine. We now understand better the crucial importance that this natural reserve is to the biodiversity of the city.

4. Slí na bhFile: Reviving the Link Between Celtic Bards & Nature

One of the most significant events ever to take place in the Terryland Forest Park was the planting of trees during the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in May 2013.
Thanks to the vision of Galway City Arts Officer James Harrold supported by Stephen Walsh of Galway City Parks, Michael Longley and Maidhc Danín Ó Sé were the first writers to plant native Irish trees on what is intended to become over time a Poets’ Nature Walkway along the banks of the River Corrib close to the Black Box.
It is appropriate that this reconnection of the world of the Irish literati with trees occurs in Galway, a city that has for decades kept alive the ancient Celtic bardic respect for Mother Earth. Here in this urban landscape, environmentalists and artists often come from the same womb and share the same eco-values and beliefs.
Sadly, Maidhc Danín died a few month’s after this planting. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

5. Nature Tree Detective Walks

Botantist Matthew O’Toole gave a number of highly informative guided walks in which he introduced participants to the characteristics and cultural aspects of the native trees planted in the Terryland Forest Park. We became arboreal detectives  as we  studied the bark, shape and form of the Oak, Alder, Hazel, Ash and other native flora. We found out too why such trees were so important in the lives and beliefs of the peoples of Celtic Ireland.

6. 'Off The Beaten Track' Trail becomes 'Slí na gCaisleán'

In 2013, I expanded my Off the Beaten Track heritage guided tour and had it renamed Slí na gCaisleán (Way of the Castles). This unique historical trail now links seven historical castles in Galway city and county and has the potential to give a whole new eco-tourism dimension to the region if it secures the active support of both local authorities.

Slí na gCaisleán that starts and finishes at Terryland Castle is a  twenty five mile looped cycle trail that passes en-route castles at Menlo, Cloonacauneen, Killeen, Ballybrit, Castlegar and Ballindooley. It represents a leisurely ‘Off the Beaten Track’ cycle journey  through a wonderful idyllic landscape of hills, bótharíns, abandoned farms, karst outcrops, bogs, lakes, dykes, turloughs and meadows that is unknown to the majority of the large population living only a short distance away in urban Galway.

The guided tour normally includes a picnic at Menlo Castle and lunch at the hostelry of Cloonacauneen Castle. On two occasions, we were honoured to enjoy a stopover at the private residency of Killeen Castle where we treated to a lovely talk by the very kind owner on the history of this impressive historical building.

Plans are now afoot to extend the trail to at least one and possibly even two more castles and to lobby both Galway city and Galway county councils to collaborate in making it a safe cycle-friendly route of international importance.

7. 2013 Slí na gCaisleán : Hilltop Graveyard

The newly expanded Slí na gCaisleán route includes the isolated but picturesque Killeen graveyard. Situated on a hilltop, it commands a panoramic view of the rural landscapes of east Galway. The gravestones date from the 19th and 20th centuries. But its unusual structure of rounded dry stone boundary wall leads me to believe that it was built at or near an early Christian church or Iron Age settlement.
Notice in the photograph the large stone trough for collecting rainwater in front of the graveyard. These units are still used extensively on the fields of the Aran Islands.

8. Photo Exhibition of Terryland Forest Park at Tulca Galway Visual Arts Festival 2013

The park was one of the main themes of the Tulca Visual Arts Festival 2013 with an exhibition by renowned photographer Robert Ellis.
Robert was specifically commissioned by the festival curator Valerie Connor as she was fully aware of the under usage of the park by the general populace and wanted to highlight the huge  positive potential that it dad for the city.
I was myself very happy to be separately involved in Tulca as the festival hosted a major show entitled the Speedie Telstar that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the world's first telecommunications satellite and the work of the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland that I established at NUI Galway.

9. High Nelly Bikes: Resurrecting 'Daisy', 'Molly', 'Bluebell'..!!

Under the tutelage of Brian MacGabhann, Michael McDonnell and Michael Tiernan, a series of  workshops were undertaken at Cumann na bhFear based on repairing and making road worthy a fleet of vintage heavy bicycles known as High Nellys that were one of the primary modes of transport in Ireland up until the early 1960s.  With memories of milking cows in days of old, each individual High Nelly has been given a name- 'Molly', 'Daisy', 'Bluebell'...! The bikes are used in the Slí na gCaisleán tours. We will also hopefully make them available from the Conservation Volunteer TP depot for use by visitors to the Terryland Forest Park

10. UpCycling Broken Tiles- Turning Waste into Art

Cumann na bhFear, based at Sandy Road adjacent to the Terryland Forest Park, is affiliated to the international Men’s Shed movement. Open to both women and men, it has a strong emphasis on the preservation and teaching of practical heritage skills such as wood carving, wood turning, vintage bicycle repair, blacksmithy, crochet and beehive production.

In 2013, it branched out into Upcycling with two new projects. The first was  on involved transforming a mishmash of broken and left-over tiles into beautiful thematic colour mosaic designed objects. The mosaic workshops were mentored by Ann Richardson Burke.

Cumann members Jonas and Michael McDonnell meanwhile used old discarded metal pipes and sheets to manufacture wood-burning stoves,

11. Recycled Garden Tools

The shovels, spades and forks used by the volunteers for the Community Tree Planting Day or Plantathon (see item one above) day and those in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden were implements recycled and repaired by the members of Cumann na bhFear who are an integral part of the Terryland Forest Park NGO alliance. 

12. Picking Blackberries

During the autumn, my wife Cepta, son Daíre and myself enjoyed picking blackberries from the hedgerows along the bótharíns of our family farm in Currantarmuid. On such magical excursions into the countryside, I travel back in time to the days of my childhood as I feel once again squished berries in my hands and have my fingers covered in purple juices. Pure heaven!
Blackberries or brambles are probably the most popular wild food still gathered in Ireland. Bramble bushes are common across Ireland and inhabit hedgerows, waste ground and woodlands across Ireland.

13. Getting the Hands Dirty- Garden Volunteers

Organic gardening can be an all-year round, time-consuming, mundane and backbreaking activity. A small core of dedicated volunteers led by Margaret, Christine, Michelle, John, Michael T. Michael M, Caroline, Samuel,  Brendan, Coleman, Frances and Deasun spent almost every week from February until August digging, sowing, weeding, repairing, cleaning and harvesting in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden. Heroic!

14. Harvest Festival- Resurgence in Grassroots Gatherings 

For the fourth consecutive year, the community garden hosted a very successful harvest festival where the vegetables, herbs and fruits grown and nurtured by local residents were sold. 

With Anja Sammon and her daughter's very popular face painting, Irish trad music seisiún, a blacksmithy’s forge, beehives, hot sizzling pizzas served from the garden’s own clay oven, home-baked pastry stall and Cumann na bhFear’s locally produced honey, 

the festival was representative of the resurgence of neighbourhood festivals and community self reliance that have grown in popularity and in abundance since the economic collapse of 2008, and particularly in 2013 as a result of the highly successful The Gathering Ireland initiative.

Bee Hives

15. Kiddies Corner at Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

Over the course of the summer, lots of adult volunteers and Tús workers helped children in creating their own special zone within the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden that is located in the grounds of the Terryland Forest Park. We repaired a bug hotel; installed bird feeders; painted birds' boxes, raised beds and large stones in garish colours thus hoping in the process to give a Disney multi-coloured 'candy' look and feel to this section of the garden. 

The best contribution came from Lynette McGowan, a very artistically talented local child, who painted onto the wooden raised beds colourful images of animals, insects and people that live and work in the garden.
Photo shows Lynette at work being watched and admired by proud mom Christine and her fellow garden volunteers Margaret and Michelle.

16. Green Teen Projects

In 2013, teenagers made a significant contribution to the forest garden. The Ballinfoile Foróíge youth group painted and installed a beautiful hand-painted information sign, constructed a wooden shelter beside the clay pizza oven that they built last year. 

Under the tutelage of artist Margaret Nolan wiht funding from City Hall, local teenagers painted a mural onto one side of the garden HQ hut whilst Kevin Beatty from Lus Leana estate built an impressive Seed Germinator out of waste materials such as wooden planks and plastic sheets.

17. Transplanting Willow

In July, we transplanted large numbers of willow trees from Scoil Náisiúnta Cholmcille Castlegar to the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden in the Terryland Forest Park. Such an exercise is not recommended during the growing summer season. But the area where the trees were located in the school grounds was soon going to be concreted over as part of a building expansion programme. So it was a race against time to save the willows before the bulldozers came.
The robust willow is probably the only tree that can be taken out of the ground at this time of the year with a good chance of survival in its new home. Thankfully most of the trees took root and the signs are that by the summer we will have a nice extension to our willow tunnel.

18. Willow Sculpture

In February volunteers harvested willows from the copse in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden and, under the tutelage of Kay Synott, used the whippets to extend the living tree tunnel, create a new tunnel and plant a wind break.

19. Being Led Up the Garden Path!

Using rocks and stones from discarded rubble, Tús workers Coleman (the main man!), Seán and myself planned out and constructed the first in a series of meandering pathways within the community garden.

20. Turning Plants into Food

Nettle Soup

Volunteers used the vegetables and fruits and even the nettles grown in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic garden to make a myriad of food products such as soups, tarts, jams, salads and herbal teas.

Photograph above shows Lenka with a basket of rhubarb off to be transformed into very tasty tarts and jams. 

21. Home produced Food

One of the main reasons for setting up the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic garden was to encourage local residents that participated in this neighbourhood green facility to develop their very own domestic gardens. I was one of those people that did so. Thanks to a lot of hard work and a constant battle with slugs and butterflies, our family over the last few years enjoy a rich variety of home produced vegetables and fruits including strawberries, potatoes, Brussel sprouts, apples, lettuce, cabbages, onions, turnips and rhubarb.

22. Creating a Home for Wildlife

Inspired by the developing Terryland Forest Park, I have over the years planted many native Irish trees and gradually dug up the non-native species. In 2013, we replaced the sterile Griselinia hedge with Holly trees and the Laurel shrub. Though the latter is not native, sadly I had to make a choice between a native plant that gave little protection and privacy to the garden or to go for a fast growing hedging plant that quickly formed a green barrier. In this case, I went for the latter. However other native trees, wildflowers, organic garden and bird feeders made up for this somewhat!

23. Galway Honey

This year saw the first large amount of honey produced by the hives of Cumann na bhFear under the stewardship of beekeepers Messers’ Tiernan and McDonnell. 

My wife Cepta (above), myself and many other volunteers spent hours washing and sterilising dozens and dozens of old food jars. Once again it give me flashbacks to days of childhood; of collecting blackberries and raspberries from hedgerows along the roadsides; bringing baskets of fruits home for my granny to make jam after the enjoyable task of gathering up old glass jars from friends and neighbours alike.

24. Polytunnel and Raised Beds for COPE garden

Volunteers from Cumann na bhFear (Men's Shed), Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park and the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden spent a day helping in constructing a polytunnel and multiple raised beds for the residents of the COPE house on the Dyke Road adjacent to Terryland Forest Park.
The event was co-organised by our good friend and garden expert Fergus Whitney. As you can see from the photograph, we did great work!
The house and garden is beautifully situated beside the Terryland Forest Park.
COPE works with those suffering from homelessness, isolation and domestic violence.
This new green facility will give a whole new dimension to the residents living this COPE house. As it was to participants in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden (& with other community gardens) this eco-resource is helping to improve residents' quality of life by undertaking healthy outdoor activity, by engaging in positive social interaction, by learning new skills in self-sufficiency and of course by ultimately enjoying harvesting and eating the fruits and vegetables that they nurtured.

25. Blossoming of School Gardens

As part of the Medtronic healthy Living programme, I help Kay Synott set up organic gardens in schools across Galway city and county. Kay has a very holistic approach to gardening and teaches the children the benefits of creating an environment for wildlife as well as planting nutritious food crops for humans. 
Thanks in particular to the government's Incredible Edibles scheme, most schools now have their own garden growing vegetables, fruits, native Irish trees and wildflowers. This welcome development was initiated by the former Green Party Minister Trevor Sargent when he was a Minister of State in the last government. 
The attached photograph shows a section of the garden in Scoil Naisiúnta Caisleán Gearr (Castlegar) which was revamped and officiated opened with a lovely community reception in June 2012. 

26.  Donkeys on the Farm

Our family has a small farm holding in Currantarmuid near Monvea in county Galway. 
At present, we lease the land to local farmers who use the fields for grazing cattle and donkeys

Greening the City

Of course the Terryland Forest Park alliance are only one grouping amongst many that are doing so much to protect biodiversity in the city and to increase public awareness of the importance of both combating climate change and growing organic food locally.

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Greening the City

Of course the Terryland Forest Park alliance are only one grouping amongst many that are doing so much to protect biodiversity in the city and to increase public awareness of the importance of both combating climate change and growing organic food locally.

27. Greening St. Patrick's Day Festival with Westside Garden & Cumann na bhFear

Thanks to the energetic leadership of director Caroline McDonagh, the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Galway city over the last two years has had a very strong community ethos with Cumann na bhFear, thematic green schools and community gardens amongst many others providing a colourful eco-presence. None more so than the Westside Community Garden in last year's event.

High Nellys on Parada

Greening the City

Of course the Terryland Forest Park alliance are only one grouping amongst many that are doing so much to protect biodiversity in the city and to increase public awareness of the importance of both combating climate change and growing organic food locally.

28. Rooftop Garden at the City Partnership

In August, Galway City Partnership officially launched their newly completed rooftop community organic garden. This green oasis is located in a not very attractive building complex in one of the most traffic congested districts but which nevertheless commands breathtaking views of the River Corrib and adjacent Terryland Forest. The facility contains a fantastic range of wooden garden furniture and vegetable/flower beds which are uniquely wheelchair friendly. The GPA have helped the people involved to establish their own wood making business enterprise.

The layout of the rooftop garden was supervised by Fergus Whitney.

29. Ballybane- Galway’s oldest community garden

The community organic garden at Ballybane each year goes from strength to strength. In 2013 it completed a wonderful children s eco-playground, a very welcome addition to the families in the neighbouring housing estates.

30. Saving Merlin Woods

Campaigners Caroline & Colin walking through Merlin Woods

A group of committed volunteers led by Caroline Stanley, Colin Stanley, Peter Butler and supported by Councillor Frank Fahy lead the campaign to stop Galway City Council destroying one of Galway city’s few remaining large areas of woodland and a significant wildlife habitat by constructing a major roadway within its boundaries. They are an inspiration to us all!

31. Conservation Volunteers Galway

Almost every fortnight, a highly motivated band of enthusiasts known as Conservation Volunteers Galway city undertake biodiversity projects ranging from planting wildflower meadows to building bat boxes in Barna Woods and Renville Park. Keep up the good work!

32. Marine Conservation and Learning - National Aquarium of Ireland

Atlantaquaria in Salthill is the country’s national aquarium. In 2013 this treasured national marine learning resource continued to maintain seawater tanks in schools across the West of Ireland that were filled with a myriad of wildlife associated with rock-pools (lochan sáile). Their seashore safaris, beach clean-ups and summer marine science camps have now become regular occurrences on the annual calendar of events. 

33. Top Class Biodiversity Experts in Galway

I was lucky in 2013 to work with the very best of biodiversity and science educators. People such as Dr. Sarah Knight (NUIG) Noírín Burke (Atlantaquaria), Kay Synott, Fergus Whitney, Muriel Grehan (NUIG) and Tom Cuffe (BIrdwatch Galway) are amongst the very best that Ireland has to offer whose efforts are helping to ensure that our children and youth undo some of the huge environmental damage being done to the planet by many of the older generation. 

34. Galway & Claddagh Swan Rescue

Mary Joyce-Glynn (one of my students!) and all her volunteers at the Galway & Claddagh Swan Rescue do so much wonderful work helping to protect swans (and other wild birds) in Galway. One of the great traditional symbols of Galway are the swans of the Claddagh which I and hundreds of others enjoy feeding on a Saturday afternoon. But it is Mary and co that protect so many of these magnificent regal birds

Cleaning up after Anti-Social Behaviour in Galway Forest

On St. Stephen's Day and yesterday, a small group of us undertook litter clean-ups in Terryland Forest Park. In scenes repeated in parks, woodlands and beaches across Ireland, we came across trails of destruction left by drinkers. Beverage cans, bottles and detritus were evident in a number of areas. The bad weather before Christmas did not deter their activities. 

This social problem that is destroying communities, neighbourhoods, natural habitats and other green zones countrywide has to be faced up to and tackled by society. Otherwise the work of both dedicated volunteers and state personnel over many years will have been wasted.
 
In 2014, a combination of introducing high cash refunds on beverage cans/bottles; setting up volunteer park rangers units; promoting 'Forest Outdoor Classroom' initiatives for youth groups and schools; increasing convictions for those damaging woodlands through anti-social behaviour; and involving more local communities in eco-initiatives should make a positive difference.

Clay Modelling, Computer Coding & Holistic Education in Galway

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 In my last Coderdojo computer coding class of 2013, I got all the participants (parents and children) to build Christmas-themed computer applications. 

But first they had to create all the digital characters ('Avatars' or 'Sprites') by hand using model clay or Mála in Irish! 

Once that was finished, the participants digitised the little clay figurines using a camera to upload to their computer and later onto their 'Scratch' computer language applications. The clay models then becoming animated characters within their very own computer festive game or digital story!

A Holistic Approach to Learning

I undertake this exercise, not only to make the computer coding lessons more exciting, but to ensure that the participants continue to develop hands-on artistic skills. For as educators, we must ensure our young people to develop a holistic approach to life, to use their hands to make things out of solid materials and not rely solely on using digital skills for a virtual world. With this ethos, I host my classes very early on Saturday morning so that the children can still attend outdoor team sporting activities such as hurling, camogie, soccer and rugby. Likewise, I also ensure that parents are active participants, leaning to code alongside their children, this encouraging bonding with their sons and daughters. I also recommend adults to implement a digital detox period in their homes. Maybe one night or even a few hours weekly where all computers and internet connected devices are switched off.

Ireland’s experiences a Digital Creative Revolution

There has been a huge growth of interest and activity in computer programming in Ireland over the last two years. We are last transforming our young people from being passive Digital Users into active Digital Creators.

This phenomena has resulted from the happy convergence of a number of factors:

The free online availability of Scratch

Developed by a team at MIT Media Lab in the USA, it has an easy-to-use structure based around snapping together visual blocks of computer code that control sound, music and images. Hence it is ideally suited to young people as it compliments their artistic interests with a new digital dimension in order to create computer games, animations and stories.

The establishment of Coderdojo

Started in Cork by James Whelton and Bill Liao, this volunteer-based computer club movement has taken Ireland and not the world by storm with a presence in 27 countries. In Ireland, there are Coderdojos in nearly every major city and town. Some clubs such as Athenry in county Galway have grown into high learning centres providing a broad range of online tools and projects.

Third Level Outreach Programmes

The active participation by highly motivated and visionary third level Outreach science and technology officers in promoting and organising computer programming courses for schools across Ireland. Lero in Limerick and DERI (now INSIGHT) in Galway have been particularly prominent in this regard. Since 2012, Lero has worked with the Irish government in producing a syllabus for a computer coding module that will be included in the revised national Junior Certificate that will be introduced in 2014/2015. Whilst Lero concentrated on teaching the teachers, DERI took their digital missionary zeal directly into the classroom with an awareness of the need to embrace schools located far from the urban technology corridors, in isolated rural areas or on remote islands.

Mentoring from Industry and Colleges

The high level of skilled mentoring that is now available from industry as well as from third level colleges in assisting schools with computer coding classes has seen a remarkable surge over the last two years. Most of the volunteers mentors involved are young enthusiastic engineers and researchers, characteristics that allow them to be viewed as positive role models by pupils and students of both primary and post primary schools. 

In Galway, the Galway Education Centre, NUI Galway, GMIT, Aviya and Hewlett Packard collaborated in rolling out coding courses to sixty one schools in Galway and Mayo during the school year 2012/2013.

Government Introduces Coding into Schools for the first time

Finally there has been a realization by the Irish government that computer programming needs to become a subject in the second-level educational curriculum in order to create a world class Knowledge Economy and Society. 

Without such digital skills being taught, there was/is a real danger that Ireland’s youth will be educationally deprived of the skills needed to survive in and to shape the 21^st century.  Too many of the jobs being created in the vibrant IT sector in Ireland are being filled by people imported from overseas.  Whilst at the same time, we are witnessing 1,500 young Irish people emigrate weekly. The result was that the country was/is developing a two tiered society, one in which the indigenous population could be concentrated in the lower  strata if nothing fundamental changed in the schools system.

Young Tech Savvy Government Ministers

Fortunately, the present state Department of Education has a number of ministers that are fully aware of this serious gap in the learning system and are doing something about it. Sean Sherlock is doing a great job as the country’s first designated Minister for Research and Innovation. Ciaran Cannon, Minister of State for Training and Skills, has become an avid champion of the Irish coding movement. In his home county of Galway, he is encouraging and working closely with partners in the educational and commercials sectors including the Galway Education Centre, leading edge corporations, COderdojos, GMIT and NUI Galway in developing Galway as a vibrant hub of digital creativity of international significance.

Galway Science and Technology Festival

Ireland’s largest festival of science and technology is held annually in Galway. The two week event ends with a fair in Galway university attended by circa 25,000 visitors that has become a showcase not only for locally based leading edge biomedical, marine, IT corporation and indigenous industries but also for schools and college projects. 

Human Trafficking & Slavery in Galway and Ireland

courtesy of www.ruhama.ie

The news tonight about three women being held in London as slaves for 30 years provides ample evidence that slavery is a fact of modern life.
As part of my Internet Safety talks to parents and second level senior students, I discuss the fact that the huge Internet porn industry is based on actors who are slaves, mainly teenage girls. 

In Ireland today, there are trafficked girls and young women being brought into this country from Asia, Africa  and Eastern Europe to satisfy the sexual demands of men both Irish and non-Irish. 
Ireland also has an international reputation as a handy location for facilitating marriages of convenience to secure EU citizenship. The gangs & pimps are mainly from the same countries as the victims. A Romanian man Ilie Ionut who operated his brother empire from  Galway and later Belfast is on trial in Sweden for trafficking women into Ireland and Sweden for enforced prostitution. 
But the Irish government has done little to halt the flow of human slavery. Few if any prosecutions.
Time for Irish politicians to protect the victims and jail the pimps, thugs and gangsters as well as criminalise the purchase of sex. 

Environmental Damage being done to Terryland Forest River, October 2013

Letter sent to Paul Costello of the OPW

Greetings Paul.

I was notified earlier this evening by Tom Cuffe of Birdwatch Galway that the operations of the OPW digger was seriously damaging the ecology of the Terryland River and surrounding banks.

I was so concerned by what he said that I took time off work to investigate.

I was deeply shocked by what I saw when I got to the digger's location adjacent to Galway Bay FM.

1. The digger was dredging up the river bed thereby eliminating an aquatic habitat  in the process.
2. Most (but not all) the knotweed that previously covered the banks was gone, at least from the surface area. But large amounts of this invasive weed now was covering the waterways and being moved by the currents further along the course of the river! The digger was scooping up quantities of this weed from the waters, but much was being left behind. Rather that controlling this dangerous  invasive species, the present OPW works is contributing to its spread.
It would seem to me that the OPW should remove the Knotweed manually with a team of staff rather than by machine which is as stated doing more harm than good.

3. Native trees such as willow that grew near the river and provided nest areas for bird life were ripped up.

I attach a photograph that I took today of this environmental damage.

Mr. Cuffe has spent five months conscientiously surveying the amazing array of butterflies, moths and bird-life that inhabited this area of the Terryland River as part of a nationwide biodiversity survey. He is utterly devastated that the habitats of many of these species is now destroyed.

Hence I hereby ask the OPW to stop their digger operations with immediate effect in order to save the remaining river area habitats along the river and allow an environmental impact assessment to be undertaken with Galway City Council Parks department in conjunction with the National Parks and Wildlife service before further work in undertaken.

Terryland River, Summer 2013. Excessive Plant growth blocking water flow & hindering aquatic wildlife

As you know I lobbied you and the OPW earlier this year for works to be undertaken in order to professionally remove the knotweed from along the riverbanks as well as much of the plant-life that was choking the waterways thus hindering the movement of fish and water fowl.

You informed that it was already the plan of the OPW to undertake these works this year.

But this present activity is ecologically destructive and is not what I expected.

I expect that you yourself did not realise the damage that was being done as your emails of earlier this summer expressed realisation that the knotweed should be removed in a professional manner, hopefully in a sealed container for incineration. Furthermore, it is a great pity that your stated opinion in August that the OPW should meet onsite with members of the Terryland Forest Park Steering Committee as well as the parks, environment and maintenance sections of Galway City Council to discuss the situation in advance of the works commencing did not materialise. If this get-together had taken place, probably the present situation would not have occured.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Le meas

Brendan Smith
Member
Terryland Forest Park Steering Committee

The Web: New Front Line in War against Teens

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Internet Safety has taken over much of my working life over the last year. Ever since the tragic deaths last year of Erin Gallagher and Ciara Pugsley, I have been increasingly providing talks and workshops in schools and with youth support groups on Cyberbullying and related issues throughout the West of Ireland from northern Sligo to southern Clare- daytime with students/teachers and evenings with parents. I love the Internet and firmly believe that it is the greatest man-made benefit to human society and to the planet for millennia.

But there is a dark side to the Web facilitated by light touch regulation, government inaction and adult ignorance that is placing our young people at increased risk not only as a result of cyberbullying and public humiliation on popular social media sites but also with areas such as online stalking, grooming by predators and an upsurge in online child pornography.

One of the most worrying trends is the increasing sexual objectivity of teenage females who are the prime victims of online porn.

I will publish a full media article on this subject next month.

42 Year old renowned Galway Computer Comes Back to Life!

A minicomputer of the type that was made in Galway from November 1971 was switched on last Friday as part of the special The Gathering Ireland reunion weekend attended by c320 former staff of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).

After days spent repairing and replacing parts, former DEC technician Joe Hurley got the 1971 PDP11 minicomputer up and running much to the delight of the ex-DECies that came along to witness this historical moment in the 'Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland' located in the INSIGHT (formerly DERI) Centre for Data Analytics in NUI Galway. The 16-bit minicomputer was the flagship of the corporation's product line for much of the 1970s and 1980s. 

As Joe switched on the unit, rows of lights started flashing on its front and a noise like the sound of a jet taking off filled the room, followed soon after by an almighty roar from the crowd of onlookers. A few tears were shed as happy memories flooded back of life in DEC, a corporation that made Galway one of the main centres of hardware manufacturing in Europe.

Abolish Seanad Éireann- a Failed Elitist Undemocratic Political Entity!

The second chamber of the Oireachtas, Seanad Éireann, is an insult to democracy, is symptomatic of an abuse of power by political parties and a waste of the monies taken from hard-working citizens in the form of taxes that are supposed to be used to pay for essential public services such as health and education rather than to provide party apparatchiks with exorbitant payments.

The Seanad is structured mainly around panel seats for agriculture, culture, industry and other sectors of society. Yet as the Senate electorate consists primarily of TDs, senators and councilors, it has never reflected these social strata. All of the political parties have traditionally used this institution as a rest-home for their members rejected by the electorate or as a launch pad for aspiring TDs.  

A typical day of low attandence in the Seanad.

It has therefore been a toothless kitten for most of its history, providing senators with large annual salaries, staff and expenses during the years of the Celtic Tiger whilst having one of the worst attendance records of any political representative entity in Europe.  A few notable courageous independent-minded senators have made important contributions that have benefited the nation. But these members were the exception and came mainly from an elitist university panel voted in by third-level graduates.

Only two pieces of legislation have been rejected by the Seanad in a history stretching back to its foundation in its present form in the 1930s.

As a result of the calamitous decision of the last government who committed the greatest crime in the history of the state by bankrupting the country and its future for decades to come in order to bail out unscrupulous private banks and foreign gambling bondholders, ordinary decent hardworking citizens and their families have suffered increased unemployment and enforced emigration. Those that are lucky enough to hold onto jobs are enduring wage reductions; increased taxes and decreased public services; the closure of schools, Garda Stations and hospitals which they are asked to suffer in a spirit of renewed patriotism in order to save the country from the abyss. 

I have no problem in answering the nation’s call and making personal sacrifices to ensure economic and social freedom for generations not yet born as our forefathers and mothers did throughout our history. But I fundamentally disagree with handing over monies in the form of taxes to be squandered by paying unnamed foreign gamblers as well as political party senators; by providing huge salaries to individual property speculators in NAMA to keep them in the ostentatious lifestyles that they were formerly accustomed too; by allowing Brian Cowen, Bertie Ahern and former government ministers as well as the former financial regulator and other top civil servants, who collectively mismanaged the country and/or who abused their positions of influence, to ‘retire’ as young men in order to enjoy huge ‘golden handshakes’ and pensions worth up to 150,000Euro per annum for their rest of their long lives whilst they also continue to earn big fees from private directorships, after-dinner speeches and media work. I disagree too with former civil servants and politicians such as Alan Dukes being appointed to lucrative positions in state-supported institutions whilst still being allowed to draw down taxpayer-funded pensions.

The new coalition was swept into office by an angry electorate. When he took office, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny promised to implement a ‘democratic revolution’ that would sweep away the political cronyism of previous governments which had brought the whole democratic process into disrepute by awarding taxpayer-funded state contracts, positions on state boards/quangos, senate seats, land re-zoning and legislative bias that too often benefited property speculators, bankers and party members.

Sadly promises made are quickly forgotten as the government parties continue to look after the “old boys (and girls) network” rewarding discredited civil servants and party loyalists rejected by the electorate. At the same time the perpetrators of the crisis go unpunished and continue to taste the good life on the backs of hard-working taxpayers.

However Enda Kenny’s recent decision to keep by his pre-election promise to abolish the Seanad must be praised as a first step in fulfilling the promise of a ‘democratic revolution’.

Maybe there is a need for a second more accountable chamber of Oireachtas comprised of the different components of Irish society from the Diaspora, farming, business innovation, arts, heritage, education, social inclusion etc. Packed with party hacks and vested interests, this will never happen whilst the existing Senate remains in existence.

‘Back to the Future’ Retro Gaming, National Culture Night, Sept 20th (6.30pm-8.30pm)

Relive the thrills of playing video Arcade classics including Pacman, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pong and Sonic on renowned vintage consoles and computers such as Atari, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and Sinclair ZX81. 

The sights and sounds on offer will try to capture the youthful cultural essence of the early days of computer gaming of the 1970s and 1980 which made such a major contribution in the overall development of digital sound and graphics. 
Attendees will also be introduced to the software coding that constitutes the games. 

There will also be displays of American and European 1960s science fiction comics and memorabilia including Star Trek, Thunderbirds, Stringray, Avengers, Superman, Green Lantern and Thor.
Times: 6.30pm-8.30pm

Website is www.computermuseumireland.com

Native Tree Detective Walk on Culture Night (Sept. 20th)

Discover the characteristics and cultural aspects of the native trees of Ireland.

 As part of National Culture Night (Sept 20), botantist Matthew O’Toole, from Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park, will take participants on what promises to be an exciting investigative guided nature walk through the Terryland Forest Park.

So become an arboreal detective by studying the bark, shape and form of the Oak, Alder, Hazel, Ash and other native flora. Find out why such trees were so important in the lives and beliefs of the peoples of Celtic Ireland.

Time: 5.00pm-7.00pm, Friday, September 20th 2013
Rendezvous: Terryland Castle, Dyke Road, Galway city

 For further informaton, contact Brendan at speediecelt@gmail.com

Mad Max nightmare -Solution to Syria is not more Weapons & Bombings

We are watching a country disintegrating before our eyes. We are witnessing the redrawing of the boundaries of the Middle East along religious lines that has no place for minorities or for justice and tolerance.
The Arab Spring is transforming into an Arab Winter as the dreams of the original female and male protestors of Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Libya are being lost in a tsunami of violence.

A massive population exodus, fanatical religious fundamentalism, ethnic cleansing and genocide are happening due to the actions of countries that talk loudly of peace and democracy but are in fact the warmongers, and arms merchants/manufacturers that are making huge fortunes from this war. 

An Islamist Saudi Arabia, a monarchical Qatar, a theocratic Iran, a resurgent nationalist Russia, a repressive Turkey, a profit hungry EU and a corporate-controlled US are arming the advocates of hate, torture and mass killing. They are creating a nightmare world of Mad Max that is leading to the formation of repressive warlord fiefdoms guarded by private sectarian armies. A relatively modern intact country is been bombed back to the Stone Age. This is what happened across large parts of Iraq after the US invasion. 

The only solution is a total arms embargo on all participants in the conflict and an all party peace conference involving all sides including Iran.

Click here to read my article of three years ago on the Disappearance of the Christians from the Middle East, a community that represented 25% of the region's population less than one hundred uears ago.

A Technology & Science Museum network in Ireland a Possibility?

Curator Toby Joyce with the Telstar replica at the Bells Lab technology museum, Alcatel-Lucent plant, Dublin

The Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland located at Insight (DERI) in NUI Galway is interested in developing links between technology and science museums across Ireland in an effort to make people, particularly those at school or college, more aware of the rich heritage that this country has in technological, engineering and scientific development. Our main emphasis will on networking heritage facilities that have a strong communications technology aspect. 


Links have already being established with Bell Laboratories through its parent company Alcatel-Lucent which has a fantastic museum at its plant in Blanchardstown Dublin. Bell Labs, named after its founder the telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, is probably the greatest scientific research establishment of all time, responsible for inventions such as the air-to-ground Radio-Relephony, TelePhotograph (fax) receiver, Vitaphone projector (synchronisation of sound with movie), the Transistor and the Telstar. 

Air-to-Ground Radiotelephone 1915 display, Alcatel-Lucent, Dublin

The Telstar, launched on July 10th 1962 was the first communications satellite to successfully relay through space television pictures, telephone calls, fax images and provided the first live transatlantic television feed. 

Manual operated Switchboard, Telephone Exchange, Newbliss Monaghan

Replicas of many of these ground-breaking ground breaking communications devices are on display at the Alcatel/Bell Labs museum in Dublin which operates under the auspices of Toby Joyce (see photo above).
Toby is originally from Clifden and worked in DEC Galway during the 1970s and 1980s.

Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland, Galway

This Galway-based Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland museum provides a fascinating insight into advances in communications and computing from ancient hieroglyphics to today’s Internet. 

Enjoying Vintage Computer Gaming at the Computer and Communications Museum

The array of electronic artifacts on display include such iconic computers as the DEC PDP11, Apple II, IBM PC, ZX81 and Commodore Vic-20. Special themes include Computing in Ireland, early Radio, Steve Jobs & Apple Computers, Youth & Innovation, Women in Technology, and a vintage video games section with classics such as ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’, ‘Pacman’ and ‘Space Invaders’. It also endeavours to ensure that the facility is innovative and inspirational to a younger audience by organising regular vintage gaming, computer programming and ‘maker’ workshops.”

 

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny listens to Frank McCurry explain the workings of vintage Radio at the Computer and Communications museum

The museum operates under a multi-sectoral board chaired by Dr. Chris Coughlan of Hewlett Packard with representatives from Engineers’ Ireland, GMIT, IT NUIG, INSIGHT as well as small businesses and Irish Diaspora groups.
Click here to access the computer museum website.

Revisiting the micros of the early 1980s

Hurdy Gurdy (Radio) Museum

There are other wonderful technology heritage facilities across Ireland including at Birr Castle, the location of the world's largest telescope and at the Hurdy Gurdy Radio museum at the Martello Tower in Howth which has a remarkable eclectic collection of 20th century radios and gramophone players. 

The Howth building itself has strong associations with the development of telecommunications in Ireland.
For instance, the first telegraph line under the Irish Sea was terminated in the tower in 1852 and Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the wireless radio, undertake radio transmission experiments from it in 1913.
Click here to access the Hurdy Gurdy museum website.

Engineering and Astronomy Museum, Birr Castle

The museum at Birr Castle county Offaly is dedicated to the scientific discoveries and innovations of the Earls and Countesses of Rosse of the 19th century who were responsible for their place of residency being an internationally acclaimed hub for science and technology. The science facility housed in the renovated stables explores the wonders of Victorian photography, engineering and astronomy with a special emphasis on the brilliant design of the world famous Great Telescope.

Built in the 1840s, it was for over 70 years the largest telescope in the world. Its builder the third Earl of Rosse used it to discover the spiral nature of some of the galaxies. Today, its promoters claim it is probably the largest historic scientific instrument in operation today.
Click here for access to the Birr Castle website