'The Wind that Shakes the Barley'... A 'Must See' Film for Irish and British people

What a film! One of the best and most evocative films that I have ever seen.
The storyline, the production and the acting were first class. The motley group of Iraqi, American and Irish friends that went with me to the movie were emotionally captived by the performances. Huda and my wife Cepta were reduced to tears; my 'green' Irish rebel heart was beating with joy one minute, with anger and sorrow the next. I could see images of my own grandparents and grandcousins in so many of the onscreen roles.

In its portrayal of the 'Irish War on Independence', the 'Wind that Shakes the Barley' brilliantly touched on universal themes that could be placed in any age, in any country across the world that is or was experiencing occupation by a foreign military force. It particularly captured the essential racism and terrorism of all armies of occuption as they try and fight a native guerilla force that is deeply woven into the fabric of a local community. In the film, the British forces carry out classic counter-insurgancy tactics that almost always fail in the end. In response to the successful guerilla campign of the IRA, the British government created what John Walsh of the English 'Independent' newspaper recently called modern Europe's first state-sanctioned terror group. The orders for this army force (the 'Black and Tans')-comprising many criminals and recently released prisoners-was to initiate a reign of pure terror against the civilian population and bludgeon them into submitting to British rule.

In the film as in real life, they left a trail of death and destruction in their wake- burning streets and houses, shooting innocent civilians, torturing prisoners and carrying out summary executions. Their open racist contempt for the natives was shown in the film not just in their brutality but in their verbal abuse and sneering of the Irish and all things Irish. Their words and actions reminded so much of Israelis' comments this week towards the Lebanese; of American GI language towards the Iraqis and formerly the Vietnamese; of the Turks towards the Kurds; of Bosnian Serbs towards the Muslims; of Russians towards the Chechens; pf Sudanese Arabs towards the Darfur negroes... Yet the British atrocities only had the opposite effect to what the their government had hoped for, with support and recruitment to the Irish republican resistence only increasing.
But the movie also admirably showed the underlying tensions and divisions that existed in the Irish republican movement. The scenes that centred on the debates and arguments over the terms of the Treaty brought back by Michael Collins from London were classic! One of my favourite moments though was when a Irish republican court -operated by an almost exclusive all-female (!) judiciary- awarded in favour of a poor woman who was unable to pay the principle and exhorbant interest for a loan that she had obtained from a wealthy Irish businessman. Priceless! But the next scene then showed an IRA unit going in and forcibly releasing the convicted businessman. Why? Because they needed his money to buy rifles and bullets to fight the British! For already the seeds for the divisions and largely social class conflict of the Irish civil war of 1922 were been sown.

The movie also cast light on many other forgotten aspects of this period of Irish history:
-the prominent role of women in the resistance movement
-the refusal of the Irish railway workers to transport British military personnel and weaponry
-the execution of 'traitors' by the IRA volunteers of men they once called friends
-the excommunication by the Catholic Church bishops of anti-treaty republicans
-the racist attitudes of the landed aristocracy towards the native Irish
-the network of farm houses that provided food and lodgings to the IRA
-the excellent guerilla tactics employed by the IRA
-the high level of IRA weaponry that came from raids on British police barracks

The British 'Independent' reporter John Walsh said of the film, "At last a film that brings the truth to British eyes (of British rule in Ireland)". The same could also be said of Irish eyes. Ken Loach has done a great service to both countries

Film on Ireland's 'War of Independence': Obvious comparisons to modern Iraq

Well done to the British film producer, Ken Loach. His film - 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' - on the subject of the 'Irish War of Independence' has being condemned viciously by the British tabloid press. Which must be a good thing!
'The Sun' and other similar newspapers tore him asunder for exposing the terror tactics of the British army against the Irish population during the War of Independence (1918-1921). But he told nothing but the truth about the British paramilitary units known as the 'Black 'n' Tans' (so called becasue they wore a mix of brown and black uniforms) who committed so many atrocities against civilians- torture, burnings, drunken rampages, murders.... that, as with Cromwell's armies of the mid-17th century, they will live forever as demons in the folklore of Ireland. But for the British establishment today it is embarrassing that people will make the obvious comparision to the tactics of the US & UK occupation military forces in present day Iraq.
Ken is representative of an honourary tradition amongst a section of British society who always had the courage to speak the truth about Ireland and other issues of worldwide human rights and suffered much personal abuse and vilification as a result. People such as Gareth Pierce, Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone and Chris Mullins spring to mind.

Irish, Iraqis and Americans 'out on the town' together!
I am going to see the film tomorrow night in the company of my wife Cepta and some friends who happen to be Iraqis and American anti-war activists. They requested me to go with them because of my political views as well as my family's involvement as IRA volunteers in this war of liberation of 1918-'21. But my family were typical of this period-so I hold no special knowledge except that I listened too many a fireside chat when I was a little boy as these old veterans told their stories.

Anyway, our pub conversation after the movie should be priceless!
So I will give you my views on the movie in my next posting

Time for the City Council to Fulfill its Election Promises on Developing a Sustainable Transport Infrastructure

At last! – my neighbourhood can this week rejoice as City Hall contractors began work yesterday on installing a permanent pedestrian crossing and associated traffic-calming devices on the Headford Road opposite Tirellan school. One of the busiest city roadways has for too many years denied safe access to pedestrians and turned the once simple pleasure of walking to the local shop or to school into a death defying exercise!


A Lollipop Lady is on hand at certain times during weekdays to help children cross to and from the school. But that is only for a few hours per day during school term.
So I am frustrated that it has taken so long to reach the construction stage.
I have been leading a residents’ campaign for such a pedestrian facility since 2002. In 2003, we persuaded the roads section of Galway City Council to officially recommend its installation. In 2004 funds were allocated for its construction. However two school years have passed since then. Thankfully though no serious road accident occurred involving pupils walking to this school.
In recent discussions with City Hall, we were also promised that a permanent pedestrian crossing is also now being considered for Bothar na Traobh near the Kirwan Roundabout. But that may take years to materialise (if ever)?
Yet our aims goes much deeper that just securing a once-off crossing. We want the installation of permanent pedestrian crossings on all roads leading onto all city roundabouts in order to facilitate uninterrupted pedestrian flow.

Council’s Roadside Failure
So we are alarmed that this City Council, now in its third year in office, has made no progress whatsoever in this area. For remember, this was the council comprising young new faces with fresh ideas, many from new political parties that promised so much when it was elected in June 2004. It was to herald a new dawn for the people of Galway.
Alas, the councillors' election promises on many critical issues such as transport have still to be delivered. One of the basic tenets of the Galway City Development Board Strategy (which I helped produce) adopted in 2002 is that the city will become ‘pedestrian-friendly, cycling-friendly, disability-friendly and child-friendly’.
The councillors collectively should be ashamed of themselves that they have failed to face up to the ‘roundabouts’ issue and have failed to put in place the basic city-wide infrastructure required to facilitate pedestrian and cyclist flow in Galway’s suburbs. The traffic nightmare that they all promised to prioritise has got progressively worse since they took up office. It is now too dangerous for most residents to contemplate alternatives to car transport even for short journeys to shops, schools or places of worship. This has led to the almost complete extinction of bicycles from the school grounds whereas just over twenty years ago, 30% of pupils cycled.

The Disappearing Walls & Hedgerows of Galway

…and the walls came a tumbling down…
Drystone walls and hedgerows, once the great characteristic features of the Galway countryside, are now being destroyed by the Irish state at such an alarming rate that only isolated rumps will remain within a few years unless decisive action is taken soon.
A combination of ever-increasing roadside housing development, county council road widening and National Road Authority’s (NRA) projects is annually wiping out hundreds of miles of beautiful traditional field boundaries whose origins stretch back millennia.

The blinkered vision of the NRA towards the rich cultural landscape that was Tara is sadly being surpassed by their recent destructive activities in county Galway.
In the construction of the Loughrea By-Pass, the NRA ripped out miles of hedgerows and traditional stonewalls leaving in their place a horrible mis-mash of fences, metal barriers and concrete walls. This will inevitability led to a cancerous continuation of installing these anti-natural heritage intrusions into the surrounding landscape. For these native field boundaries played a critical role in acting as a receptacle for much of our flora and fauna after the uprooting of our native forests by the British military and landed gentry over the centuries. They acted as vital ‘green highways’ for the movement of wildlife across the island.

Sadly the national road agency is being aided and abetted by Galway County Council. It is true that planning stipulations oftentimes require stonewall perimeters for new roadside housing development; but these are of a modern design that bear no resemblance to the older eco-types.
Recently my family had a combined hedgerow and drystone wall bulldozed by the council in a road widening scheme and were told that, for reasons of safety & NRA guidelines, the authority now only install wooden fences or concrete posts/wire perimeters as replacements.

Amazingly the local authority’s Heritage section is undertaking absolute trojan work trying to promote and preserve field boundaries through innovative community-based projects such as the ‘Golden Mile’ competition and the council’s own Heritage Plan 2004-2008. But it looks like a losing battle for the Council’s stronger right hand seems to care little for what the weaker left hand is doing. As a member of the Galway Heritage Forum, it pains me to say so. I hope though I am proved wrong & I have started a campaign to stop this destruction of an important countryside heritage. For Galway with its field walls and hedgerows is like China with its Great Wall, Australia without its Great Barrier Reef or Venice without its canals

Sight and Sound of US Warplanes Reawakens Fear in Galway

While Salthill Air Show organisers waxed lyrically about the tourism monies made and how it was a wonderful joyous occasion for parents and children, the sight and sound of US and UK military aircraft over Galway brought fear and anxiety to at least one family living in Salthill.
“It was frightening to see and to hear the same warplanes that are bringing so much death and destruction in my country re-appear once again over the skies of our new home” said an Iraqi medical friend of mine. His ordinary peace-loving mixed Sunni-Shia family from Baghdad fled their once quiet neighbourhood due to the madness and anarchy unleashed by the American invasion forces.


Innocent civilian relatives, friends and working colleagues of this family died at the hands of trigger-happy gung-ho Americans troops, Western private security mercenaries or local sectarian and criminal elements who now control the daily life of a country that has been reduced to a post-apocalyptic ‘Mad Max’ world. Daily pogroms, massacres, kidnappings and bloodlust have now devastated the lives of everyday Iraqi people while their occupiers live, eat and sleep in their surreal zones of comfort with such euphemistic names as the “Green Zone”.

So what further family-orientated festivals celebrating modern engineering has Mr. McGrath planned for us next? Maybe a festival dedicated to the power of the motorised vehicle complete with a few Black ‘n’ Tan Crossley tenders, SS armoured half-tracks or US Humvees re-enacting their famous drives through civilian areas?
It is a sad day for Irish tourism that we have to glorify the killing machines of brutal occupation armies that are bringing so much sorrow to so many ordinary families.
It is a disgrace too that a Galway business organisation publicly condemns those of us who didn’t attend the airshow as doing a great disservice to the city. Actually, it is the Mayor, local politicians, the GAAW and the rest of us who protested peacefully against weapons of mass destruction who are following the principles of the founders of our state. While it is those that lambast us who are continuing the tradition of what WB Yeat’s called "fumbling in the Greasy Till" at the expense of moral values. It is time to cease funding this annual ghoulish celebration of death’s scythe that dresses itself up as a family event. Or maybe the organisers could do the sensible thing and ban warplanes so that we can all attend? If not, why not?

Police Disrupt Peaceful Anti-War Protest

20 police turned up at the anti-Airshow protest that gathered at the Claddagh Hall in order to confiscate and burst 99 Red Balloons! Not since the dark days of the 1980s has Gaway experienced such blatent political actions by the country's police against anti-establishment and human rights campaigners. This agressive action took place even when the family-dominated demonstration included the Mayor, city councillors and a member of Dail Eireann.


We were told that these 30 cent balloons would interfere with the workings of sophisticated multi-million dollar warplanes! Who are they fooling?

There should be an investigation into who was ultimately responsibile for giving these ridiculous orders to police that turned them into the laughing stock of the whole country.
On a separate note, the presence of so many police at such a peaceful event questions the priorities of the present Minister of Justice while law-abiding residents across the country are screaming unsuccessfully for more community policing in order to tackle rampant crime, drug wars, and street violence in their neighbourhoods.

Gort- the 'Samba' Capital of Ireland

An innocent traveller passing through the small town of Gort in the west of Ireland yesterday would have been forgiven if he suddenly felt he was suffering the after-effects of swallowing some hallucinogenic concoction as they experienced a feeling of being magically transported to tropical South America. For the flags, colours, ethnicity, language, music and dances of an Amazonian river port transformed a normally placid rain-sodden wind-swept Galway town into the sunny Samba Capital of Ireland.



A Brazilian ‘Brigadoon’ ensued as waves and waves of dancers in outrageous rainbow attire appeared on the streets to enact the traditional festival of ‘Quadrilha’.
Gort, with probably the largest concentration of Brazilians in Ireland, became the gathering point for their compatriots working in Roscommon, Cork, Dublin and elsewhere.

Even the Brazilian ambassador to Ireland turned up to give his seal of approval to the antics of his fellow countrymen and women.

The event was a credit to the organising abilities of local volunteers such as Rosiliane de Silva who put on a street carnival ‘par excellence’ that put an infectious smile on the faces and a lilt in the steps of every visitor.

We enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of Latino cuisine, samba bands, old-style farming community group dances to more modern pulsating urban dances such as the ‘Axe’. Many of the native Irish present were so overwhelmed by the delights on display that they quickly donned yellow and green jerseys and shouted greetings in pidgen portuguese to every passerby! The two Brazilian shops on the main street did a roaring trade.
The unbelievably hot weather combined with Brazil's involvement in the World Cup made it seem as if we were all ‘Brazilian’ for the day!

'Quadrilha' - A Lesson on How To Enjoy a Festival without Getting Blind Drunk!

But the most striking element of the festival was the almost total absence of alcohol combined with the wide variation in age of both participants and visitors alike. I saw costumed mothers and daughters dancing together joined later by infant grand daughters and cousins. Of course there were skimpily clad girls gyrating to the music joined by their over-friendly boyfriends and there was drinking a plently within the pubs surrounding the square.


But this is in no way contradicted or took away from the beautiful family atmosphere that pre-dominated. I looked hard to find evidence of annoying drunks, street brawling, empty beer cans, broken bottles, urinating and vomitting. I am happy to report that I failed totally in my endeavours. What summed it up was that over the course of four hours I saw only one police man on duty. When he wasn’t on traffic duty, he was standing around like the rest of us admiring the Latino dancing.



If for nothing else. the Irish can learn so much from the Brazilians on how to party!


It is also worth noting that the Brazilians gave due respect to the country that they now find themselves living in by hosting almost as many 'Irish' flags as 'Brazilian.


Not all Brazilians are mad Party-goers!
Interestingly not all of Gort’s Brazilians participated in the festivities. I saw many of them travelling back to the town late that evening when the street party was ending; some with lunch boxes under their arms. They probably spend all day working in in hotels, shops, farms and construction sites.


Furthermore. there is also a sizable local community of evangelical Christians from Brazil who do not agree with the public carnival displays of their Catholic countrymen.

Further information can be obtained at on the Gort Quadrilla festival website: www.brasilianfestivalgort.blogspot.com
Likewise, read my previous article on Gort’s Brazilians.

The New Eyre Square- Sterile & Ugly!

The New Eyre Square- Sterile & Ugly!
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

After all the controversy and after going way over budget with a final cost of over €9million, Eyre Square finally re-opened to the public.
The term 'Eyre Square' has became synonymous in Ireland with 'a major construction or planning cock-up'.
I was one of the many hundreds of Galwegians that campaigned against the City Council 'concertising' Eyre Square, the heart of the city centre.
There is no denying that the old square needed major surgery. But I wanted another St Stephen's Green-style park in what is after all the very heart of the city. I envisaged a 'Green Oasis' endowed with ponds, seated areas surrounded by low-lying hedges, fountains, an Edwardian central bandstand....So it may not surprise you that I am not impressed with the final result.
However I was prepared to give credit where credit is due, compliment City Hall if it turned out fine and admit that maybe a 'plaza' and a 'green park' could be successfully combined.
Alas, the final result is boring, bland, sterile and a huge anti-climax. I can't work out where the money was actually spent!
The nice addition of a children's playground is undermined by its small size; the shiny grey stone extensively used throughout the development is out of character with the old uneven limestone of many of the neighbouring old buildings; the seated areas are too exposed, there are no sculptures or a central raised concert area; the trees remaining and those planted don't combine to create pleasant green corridors for walkers.
What we have got is a sterile landscape lacking character, depth or friendliness.
A golden opportunity lost and a waste of taxpayers money.
On a positive note, it was confirmed last week that the square will provide wireless access in a few months.

'Last Chance Salon' for City's Wildlife?

Cormorant
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

Last Monday I was honoured to be chosen to present to a full meeting of the Galway City Council one of the most important local strategic policy of recent years. Commissioned by the Galway City Development Board (CDB), the 'Galway City Habitat Inventory' was produced by one of the country's top ecological outfits NATURA.
Its aim: to protect and enhance the natural areas within the city's boundaries where wild flora and fauna can live.
If the report's recommendations are implemented, the document could serve as a successful blueprint for biodiversity in other urban environments in Ireland and abroad.
Sadly, we have been waiting since February 2005 to meet the City Council on this report. In the interim, at least one of the sites earmarked for protection has been destroyed by a developer.

Actually, I never got the chance to speak as the report was deferred on the night to a Council meeting in mid May due to heavy discussion on the controversial Lackagh quarries.
Anyway, the document was the result of the combined efforts of a myriad of organisations and individuals involved in, or concerned with, wildlife and land/aquatic management including the government's Parks & Wildlife Service, Birdwatch Galway, Galway University, Galway City Council, Western Regional Fisheries Board and the OPW. There were also individual contributors such as the renowned naturist Gordon D'Arcy and Crann's Sasha van der Sleesen who have done much over the years to increase public awareness of the wildlife population of our urban jungle. As a community representative on the CDB, I played a role in having this action adopted as a key priority.

Its publication has come at a critical time in the city's history. There is ever-increasing pressure being forced onto the rural areas located within the city boundaries. Continuous high population growth is leading to more roads, residential & business developments devouring the last remnants of our natural landscapes. What are today's green fields will become tomorrow's concrete housing estates. Hence it is critical to ensure that land is allocated now for other species to exist and that links are developed to allow the free movement of wildlife between habitats. Without biodiversity, the survival of the human race itself will be threatened as all life forms on this planet are interconnected.

The report shows that Galway city still has a wonderful cornucopia of wildlife habitats including blanket bog, limestone pavement, turloughs, hedgerows, wetlands, muddy shores, salt marsh, sea cliffs etc. An amazing 58 kinds of habitats were identified with 22 considered to be nationally or internationally rare. The authors provide details on each habitat and any known threats to their survival. Most importantly, they give recommendations necessary to conserve these habitats that include.
o Designate any nationally or internationally important habitat as Special Area of Conservation (SAC) or National Heritage Area (NHA)
o Prepare a management plan for each of the designated habitats
o Protect and enhance 3 major ecological corridors or what the Americans call 'green highways' which directly connect a series of natural habitats into the neighbouring jurisdiction of Galway County.
o Hedgerows and stone walls should be retained were possible as part of ecological networks

Urban Wildlife Habitats: A Rural Landscape in Galway City

ballindsheep
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

Urban Habitats: Drystone Walls in Galway City

Rural landscape in Galway City
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

Rural landscape in Castlegar, Galway City

Urban Wildlife- A Hedgerow in Galway City

A Country Lane in Galway City
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

Urban Wildlife- Swans, a Symbol of the City

Swans
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

A Beautiful Lake Habitat Protected

dooleylake
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

Last year, environmentalists and community activities persuaded the City Council to retain the agricultural zoning status of much of the hinterland of Ballindooly Lough, the only major 'turlough' within the city's boundaries.
We also got the council to designate the lake as an 'Area of Local Ecological Importance' thereby offering further legal protection to its wildlife denizens

The 'Green Highway' that is the Corrib

Jordan's Island, Lough Corrib, Galway city
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

One of the great 'Green Highways' of Ireland - the Lough Corrib, near Jordan's Island, Galway city

The river forms one of the 3 main ecological corridors that we are trying to protect from man-made development. The city is extremely lucky that so much of its shoreline still retains its natural green landscape and has not yet being covered over in concrete and stone. It gives us environmentalist something to relay important to defend

'Viking Paddy'
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

St Patrick's Day Parade 2006, Galway City - What a disappointment!
(Photograph is of my son Dáire masquerading as a 'Viking Paddy'!)

This year's parade was dull and lacked imagination. Without the colourful American bands and their pretty majorettes, stylish floats and exotic foreign performing acts, it failed to capture the imagination of the watching crowd. The only international entry was a small group of Breton dancers. The school bands were as always brilliant- but there seemed to be less of them this year. It was also great to see that a new Galway Pipe Band had come into existence. A Celtic city without a traditional musical pipe band would be a sad state of affairs.
Furthermore the Dance troupe comprising locally based Filipinos was quite good. But the other ethnic acts were pathetic. Most notably the Ghanaian entry that comprised 4 men walking under what looked like cardboard car. Embarressing to say the least.
But the worse thing of all is the drink-fuelled trouble that is now so much associated with St. Paddy's night in towns and cities across the country. A youthful 'yob culture' is one of the downsides of the economic boom of recent times.
The St Patrick's Day Parade is 'the' internationally acclaimed symbol of Ireland, a celebration of all things Irish. Yet the best & most exciting parades were always held overseas and never on our native 'Green Shamrock' shores. For too many years, we tended to snigger on those that wore 'green' and dismissed the dressing up as 'paddywackery'.
However I never agreed with this attitude and respected those Americans and British that took to the streets of New York, Boston, London etc to promote the good aspects of Irish culture. They kept it alive during the dark days of the 1960s and 1970s when it was dying out in our homeland. Later, I myself was one of those Irish emigrees that took great pride in promoting in a foreign country a musical heritage that captured the imagination of many non-Irish across the world.

Dancing Filipinos, St Patrick's Day, Galway city
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

Dancing Filipinos, St. Patrick's Day Parade, Galway City

Probably the only local multi-cultural act that was worth watching.
This excellent dance troupe comprised Galway city-based men and women from the Philipines

Galway City Pipe Band
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

St. Patrick's Day Parade, Galway City

Galway City Pipe Band
A recent welcome edition to the cultural life of the city is the Galway City Pipe Band.
The city's previous pipe band had sadly folded up a number of years ago. But a group of enthusiasts got together a few months ago and rehearsed sufficently well to be able to take part in this year's St. Patrick Day parade.
They sounded great! But their costumes leave a lot to be desired. While the grey woolen caps and shawls are nice, no piper looks complete without a kilt!
I noticed one of the members was a red-haired Scottish lad who used to busk a lot on Shop Street. A few years ago, I got him to play his pipes and lead a silent march of over 1,000 people through the city centre demonstating against the proposed building of a waste incinerator. (we stopped its construction!)

St. Patrick's Day Parade, Galway City- Faces in the Crowd!
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Galway City

Faces in the Crowd!
'Macnas', Galway City's great street theatre company, were noticeably absent from this year's parade. But we were still provided with a few colourful clowns and artistes that delighted the crowd

St. Patricks' Day Parade Galway City- Ulster Pipe Band

St. Patricks' Day Parade Galway City- Ulster Pipe Band
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Galway City

An Ulster Pipe Band

I love the sound of pipes!

St. Patrick's Day, Galway City- Nurses on Parade
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

St. Patrick's Day

Galway City

Nurses on Parade!

Giving the parade a bit of sex appeal!

St. Patrick's Day Galway City 2006- Scoil Bhríde
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

St. Patrick's Day

Galway City

Scoil Bhríde

The school bands were the backbone of this year's parade

St. Patrick's Day Galway City 2006- Scoil Phroinsias Band
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

St. Patrick's Day Galway City

Scoil Phroinsias Band

Probably the most stylish school band present, from Tirellan Heights

St. Patrick's Day Review Stand Galway City 2006
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

St. Patrick's Day

Galway City

'Big Shots' on the Review Stand!
Photograph is of the Review Stand populated by politicians and 'dignitaries' .
Interestingly there was only one member of Dail Éireann (parliament ) present, namely left-wing firebrand and poet- Michael D Higgins. Most members of the government parties get all-expenses paid foreign holidays during this international Irish week and appear as representatives of teh Irish State at the St. Paddy Day parades in USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia. etc
Their spaces were filled in the Galway stand by many of the city's community representatives. Except for your truely! I was not invited!!
However, I got a bit of playful banter going with the invited guests shouting remarks over to them (before the parade began) accusing them of 'mixing with the enemy' etc.!

Down on Jimmy's Farm, Co. Galway
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

"...Down on Jimmy's Farm..."

Monivea, Co. Galway

My son Dáire with a one day year-old Charleroi calf on Jimmy Flaherty's farm in Monivea, Co. Galway.

Earlier this month, my family paid a delightful visit to Jimmy's farm when we spent a day walking around the countryside of Currantarmuid in Co. Galway where my wife Cepta spent her childhood and teenage years.
Cepta recently inherited a small farm and its house as a result of the recent death of her much-loved aunt Caca.
We are therefore spending many of our weekends on the farm.
It is a wonderful experience for a hard-nosed city person like myself. In fact, I have to be honest and say that I am falling in love with the Irish countryside. The walks along the narrow roads (boereens = 'little roads'), the smell of turf, the sights of sheep and rabbits in the fields, the views of green fields surrounded by drystone walls, and the sounds of the birds in the trees have cast a spell over me. I am bewitched!
Yet I am not blind to the dramatic changes taht are transforming the countryside as a result of economic wealth and increasing population numbers. Fuelled by the 'Celtic Tiger', rural Ireland is becoming increasingly urbanised.
Farming as we once knew it is finished. For most, it is no longer viable and the main crop for farmers nowadays is 'building land'.
While accepting the need to construct more houses for people, nevertheless I believe that these developments should be concentrated in existing towns and villages. So-called 'once-off housing' is a mis-nomer as it is creating lines of houses stretching along every single country road. This is leading to more car dependancy not less. The resultant motorised traffic and sewerage systems are creating unacceptabel levels of pollutions.
The government must re-think its rural policy and provide significient economic incentives for its inhabitants to become the guardians rather than the destroyers of the nation's lands and waterways.
For example, the state should:

• create no-housing zones
• re-establish natural habitats across large swathes of the country
• concentrate on 'eco-tourism'
• get the EU to prioritise schemes to promote organic food farming & a 'buy local produce' policy
• substantially increase the fines for pollution.

Otherwise we are 'killing the goose that lays the goldern egg' and destroying our children's future.
Ireland so long famed for its 'green countryside' will be characterised soon by a 'concrete and tarmacadan' landscape

...

One Dog & His Tractor
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

'Down on Jimmy's Farm'...
A Dog in His Master's Tractor

The traditional dog of the Irish countryside is the 'Collie'.
The breed is a tireless hard worker and famed for helping the farmer round up sheep.
It is also an an excellent 'guard-dog' and totally loyal to its owner.

'Down on Jimmy's Farm'- Milk Carton Bird Feeders!
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

'Down on Jimmy's Farm'

Milk Carton Bird Feeders!

Traditional 'recycling' & 'wildlife friendliness' in rural Galway!

Charleroi Bull- Down on Jimmy's Farm
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

'Down on Jimmy's Farm'

A fine speciman of a Charleroi Bull.

Notice the drystone wall's in the background.
These types of walls are the traditional field boundary in county Galway. Unfortunately, increases in field sizes, the use of wooden fencing and the decision of the National Roads Authority (NRA) to replace damaged drystone walls with 'safer' options is killing off this symbol of the West of Ireland's countryside

The Bike- Rural Transport from a Bygone Era
Originally uploaded by Speedie1.

'Down on Jimmy's Farm'

The Bike- Rural Transport from a Bygone Era

A old Raleigh bicycle still in use today by Bridie Flaherty on her family's farm in Monivea, Co. Galway.
For nearly 50 years (until the late 1960's), the bicycle was one of the main modes of transport in rural Ireland.
Replaced by the motor-car, this environmentally-friendly transport device may soon make a comeback