Help Create a new Wetland in the heart of Galway City

On Saturday next (Oct 5th) we need volunteers to help bring a whole new dimension to the multi-habitat Terryland Forest Park in the lead-up to its 25th birthday celebrations in 2025.

To complement the park’s native woodlands, native wildflower meadows, waterways, and karst limestone outcrops, we need as many volunteers as possible to help lay down the surface of a 1000 square metre pond as the first step in an ambitious new wetland project, by a partnership between the Tuatha volunteers and Galway City Parks department, that will over the coming year encompass a wet woodland and marshes as part of a major nature restoration project for Galway city. This work will be also include the installation of a viewing platform, a bridge over the nearby Terryland River and the creation of an adjacent wildlife sanctuary (free of human footfall).

Rendezvous

Time: 10am - 1pm

Location: ‘An Nead’ (Irish for ‘Nest’ & volunteer HQ), Terryland Forest Park entrance, Sandy Road, Galway City. Google Maps Link-

https://maps.app.goo.gl/vhkRyq7htZe9SM3f6

Requirements: Wear suitable clothing and boots for wet and outdoor conditions.

Volunteer Tasks

Volunteers tasks will include jumping up and down (to music!) on the recently excavated pond (thanks to Paula Kearney, Lisa Smyth and Kevin Nally of Galway City Council Parks Department) in order to compress the soil base as well as plant locally sourced flora on its raised banks. Last Saturday international students from the Just 3 initiative in the University of Galway were introduced to Galway as they began the pond-making process, by happily foot stomping to world music ranging from American hip-hop to Irish trad to Punjabi disco!

The photo shows some of the students jumping up and down on what looks like a sandy beach in Terryland Forest Park but is in actual fact the remains of ancient aquatic wildlife that lived in what was once a large lake or marine environment.

Restoring a lost Wetland

In the early 1840s, an ambitious plan to build a long dyke wall to increase the water flow into the city to power mills and distilleries in Galway city was carried out. The result was the Dyke Road and the gradual draining of wetlands that existed between Terryland Castle and Castlegar Castle which transformed over time into farm pasture. A large part of this area was zoned in the mid 1990s for a future forest park either side of the remnant of a much larger Corrib catchment, namely the Terryland River.

The work of volunteers next Saturday will help restore some of a once extensive wetland and bring back a population of aquatic flora and fauna into the community-driven publicly owned forest park managed by Galway City Council.

Making a Difference - SDG-themed Research at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the University of Galway.

I was very proud of my colleagues today at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, University of Galway as they presented their ground breaking research during the 'Data Science Institute Lightning Talks' event held as part of the university's SDG Week 2024. Their work is truly inspirational and benefits both people and the planet as we showed today how Insight research fulfills the majority of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Topics included 'Unlocking Health Data for Smarter Decisions' by heike vornhagen; 'Converting Wastewater into Energy' by Saeed Alsamhi; 'Decarbonisation and digitalisation of Atlantic Ports' Umair ul Hassan; 'Intelligent Pavement Condition Rating System for Cycle routes and Greenways' by Ihsan Ullah; 'Peatland Policy Portal for Ecosystem Restoration and Carbon Sequestration' by Fergus O'Donoghue ; 'Marine Planner Tool' by Carlos Tighe; and 'Monitoring & Improving Air Quality' by Eoin Jordan.

We were honoured to have present at this very well-attended event Brid Seoige, Head of Content at the University of Galway, Eugene Farrell from the Discipline of Geography at the University of Galway and Irish representative on the European Marine Board (marine science policy) Working Group on ‘Coastal Resilience’, and Michelle O'Dowd, Sustainability Officer at the University of Galway.

The University of Galway is the number one university in Ireland and in the top 50 in the world for Sustainable Development.

Insight is playing its part in helping to secure this key status for Galway and Ireland.

Finally, well done to Brian Wall for his excellent job at MC, Thomas Grigas for the technical support, Claire Browne for the logistics and Nitesh Bharot for taking this fine photo!

Our Son’s Wedding

Two days ago, Cepta and myself were the proudest parents in the world as we witnessed our eldest son Shane marry the lovely Michelle Quinn in the picturesque Glassan Lakehouse on the shores of Lough Derg.

It was a day that we had long dreamed off and will always treasure, a gathering of the clan and of loyal friends to both Shane and Michelle, many of whom that they have known from their school days.

It was one of those all-too-rare occasions when we can invite brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and close friends to come together under one roof to share something that is really beautiful, joyful and personal.

Shane is a wonderful son- solid, focused, modest, hardworking, honest and very handsome (from his mother's genes!) who has given so much comfort and love to Cepta (his anchor throughout his life), his younger brother Daíre and to myself in more ways than he will ever ever know.

To welcome Michelle into our family was something special. Her family are the salt of the earth, oozing charm, music, sport and good humour. She and Shane are so in love, are two sides of the same coin and complement each other in every way. We wish them a long, happy, prosperous and fruitful relationship together.

There was so much about the wedding that reminded me of our own wedding of 40 years ago. The same mix of family and friends that formed the guest list, the physical setting of a hotel on a waterfront, the same food menu selection, the taking of photos by the guests (today it is the digital phone, in the 1980s it was the Kodak Instamatic camera), the groom and groomsmen wearing black, the bride white, and the best men being fine young outstanding lads with beards! Amazingly the music played in Glassan contained many of the classic tracks that were danced to in 1984!

Finally and most importantly the grooms on both occasions were marrying beautiful farmer’s daughters!!

But there were differences. The female element is rightly much more to the forefront. The first wedding speech was given by Bernie Quinn, mother of the bride. The celebrant was a woman and the marriage ceremony was secular with Celtic overtones, something that would have been unheard off when I was young. Whilst the majority of the guests were Catholic, the sins of the clergy has lost the church so much credibility amongst the population especially the youth. So not surprisingly Shane and Michelle decided what was once the traditional Irish religious wedding was not for them.

A quirky and welcome divergence from our time was the fact that the bedrooms contained turn-tables complete with records (‘retro’ is back!).

I was delegated and had the honour of giving the speech on behalf of Shane and clan. I tried to ensure that I gave respect to all present, to get the right balance between being witty and serious, to give due recognition to our national heritage including the Irish language whilst embracing the new frontiers of the global village. I hope that I succeeded to some degree.

Along with Cepta's niece Helena, her cousin and confidante Ciara (who started the wedding proceedings by lighting one of many candles) with her family, her close friend Catherine and husband Declan whom we known for 40 years, it was touching too to have her sisters Rena and Áine present as I remember them as graceful bridesmaids at our own wedding all those years ago.

Along with Cepta's niece Helena, her cousin and confidante Ciara (who started the wedding proceedings by lighting one of many candles) with her family, it was touching too to have her sisters Rena and Áine present as I remember them as graceful bridesmaids at our own wedding all those years ago.

Finally I want to thank my own siblings for being there- my dependable brother Michael and his two sons Pierce and Ethan from Carrickmacross; my gorgeous sister Teresa Cullinan, her hardworking husband Seamus Cullinan and their grown-up children Shauna, James and Erin from Derry; my super intelligent brother Peter and his daughter Chelsie from Oxford. It meant a lot too that my dearest aunts Frances Sheridan and Brigie with their husbands Brian and Seamus from Offaly were there also so that the connection for Shane to my dearly departed dad’s family would be kept alive and nurtured.

Our First Date!

Forty years ago this week, Cepta and myself got married. It was the happiest day in my life and memories of that wedding day are as fresh as if it was only yesterday.
We got married in Cepta’s home church of Ryehill surrounded by our dear friends and families. Cepta had spent many enjoyable Sundays there as a young girl serving parishioners after mass in her uncle’s grocery and news agency shop nearby. I tried to bring a bit of high tech to the wedding ceremony (I was the inaugural Apple Salesperson of the Year for Ireland only two years before) by designing and producing the Wedding Mass leaflets (I still have one!) on my Apple Macintosh, scanner and printer! Even though it was a hot August day, we enjoyed seeing on route multiple bonfires as we passed through the village of Monivea and the town of Athenry- it was then and possibly still is a lovely traditional greeting for newlyweds in east Galway. As we neared our final destination we passed large numbers of lightly dressed people enjoying the scorching sunshine in Salthill and waving at the passing wedding party before arriving at the Salthill Hotel for the reception.
This location was the obvious place for our wedding.
For it was in the Salthill Hotel that we had our first date (photo) when I, a brown duffle-coated scruffy jean-wearing long-haired megaphone-holding ultra radical Student Union President, asked the beautiful classy always impeccably well-dressed Cepta to be my date for the Science Ball of December 1980. It was a joyous shock to me when she said “Yes”! And what a wonderful night we had in the company of student friends including Paddy Clancy, Damhnait McHugh, Kieran Coen, Deirdre Ní Thuama and Martin Casey(RIP).
It was on a very rocky seashore on a moonlight night two years later opposite the Salthill Hotel when I went down on my knees and asked Cepta to marry me. Luckily for me she said “Yes” once again.
The August date of our wedding was not our first choice. It was originally supposed to be in June. But as mentioned previously, it was mutually decided early on that it had to be rescheduled to late August in case I ended up in jail as one of the co-organisers of the anti-Reagan demonstrations of June 2nd.
My ‘leftism’ also got me into trouble with the celebrant priest. He totally disagreed with my choice from the bible for the reading at the wedding mass, saying it was too radical. When I humbly disagreed with him and said nicely that it was from sacred scripture, he responded with the comment that what could he expect after all from someone who came from my part of the country (Carrickmacross in south Monaghan during the time of the Troubles). But asides from the fact that Michael D Higgins could not attend due to a preorganised trip this was the only glitch on what was a perfect day. With our favourite DJ doing the music, how could it not be! Gerry Sexton was a legend in Galway during the late 1970s and early 1980s and was so much part of student life during that golden college era. In fact his disco was so good, that Cepta and myself did not want to leave the dancefloor and energetically danced until the small hours of next morning. We only left when Gerry and others lifted us off the floor and carried us struggling off to our nuptial bedroom (everyone else was so tired!).
Like all couples, life since has not always been a bed of roses. There were some challenging times but they have far outweighed by the good times of fun and laughter. I am the luckiest man alive as Cepta has been such a force for good and stability, allowing us to enjoy a loving relationship. We have been blessed with two great sons that have done us proud. Next weekend, our oldest boy Shane is getting married to the beautiful Michelle Quinn. It is the greatest anniversary gift that we could ever have hoped for.

US President Ronald Reagan visit in 1984 - A Key Moment in the history of modern Galway

The full article from the Connacht Tribune - Galway City Tribune is below.

The visit was characterised by armed US Secret Service agents on the streets; electronic bugging of meetings; political discos; thousands of police and international press pouring into the city; nuns, priests and monks marching alongside anarchists, feminists, socialists, artists and business people; a giant Statue of Liberty leading a rally of thousands; academics in full regalia handing out honourary degrees for a few pence in the city centre, a formal deconferring led by the now President of Ireland.

And our dearly departed Nell McCafferty was guest speaker at an anti-war meeting held in a local school.

Then it ended with hundreds of Garda merrily drinking in the pubs with protestors!

Happy memories!!

https://connachttribune.ie/no-red-carpet-rolled-out-when-reagan-came-to-town/

Do You Remember the great Volvo Ocean Race festival of 2012?

What a magnificent game changing event the Volvo Ocean Race Festival of 2012 was for Galway. The whole city and county came together like never before to make it a true all-stakeholders collaboration. Schools, colleges, small businesses, corporations, science educational centres, research institutes, artisans, horticulturalists, the council, the state sector, the voluntary groups, the environmentalists, the crafts people, the artisans, the digital makers, the arts- there was a place for everyone to contribute. The docks were transformed from being a quiet quarter largely unknown to most Galwegians, into a vibrant lively bustling hub. A tent city sprung up near the Claddagh seashore. I was lucky enough to be part of the team that included Liam Ferrie, Tom Frawley, Frank McCurry and my dearly departed and much missed friend Chris Coughlan that took over one of these large tents in order to introduce the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland and Coderdojo Galway to the world!

My youngest son Daíre (see photo) was, along with so many of other children of Scoil San Phroinsias, involved in knitting a beautiful giant multi-coloured sail that covered the metal Claddagh Hooker boat sculpture at Eyre Square- It was one of the most memorable symbols of that year and of that festival.

Lending a Helping ARM to the Forest Park

Congrats to the staff of the world renowned technology company ARM who today celebrated 1 year volunteering in Terryland Forest Park as a Champion of the Galway National Park City initiative.

I was so happy to speak at their celebratory event today which also represented 10 years since they started in Galway city.

Over the last twelve months, their staff on a weekly basis have undertaking a range of meaningful projects in the park including monthly surveying of the water quality (solids, temperature, pH levels etc) at different sites along the Terryland River, planting trees, litter picking, bio-blitzing and cleaning heritage signage. we thank them so much for their wondering meaningful volunteering - ARM is making a valuable contribution to the natural environment of Galway city.

Creating a Temperate Rainforest in the Heart of the City

May I use the opportunity of #WorldEnvironmentDay to thank the thousands upon thousands of volunteers of all ages who have since March 2000 planted multiple tens of thousands of native trees and flowers in Terryland Forest Park. All of these wonderful people have helped create a Temperate Rainforest in the heart of an Irish city and have left a unique legacy for future generations to benefit from. Their battle to tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Crises has been going on for a quarter of a century!

Next year we will be celebrating 25 years of Ireland's first urban community native woodland with its myriad of habitats providing home to an amazing array of flora, fungi and fauna.

In the lead up to this very important birthday, lots of great additions and improvements will be put in place to greatly enhance what has been referred to since its inception as the Green Lungs of the City.

Foraging: Discovering the Culinary & Medicinal Plants og Terryland Forest Park

Biodiversity Week in Galway city opened with a fully booked-out guided tour of Terryland Forest Park by medical herbalist and master tea-blender Jorg Muller.

This man is an unbelievable fount of knowledge on the food and medicinal value of plantlife. With each step he took along the guided walk through the forest, Jorg showed participants the value of so many common Irish plants that we see everyday during the summer months. All of us were amazed and delighted at the enormous benefits revealed to us of ribwort plantain, herb robert, hawthorn, cleavers, horsetail and so much more.

The walk was an eyeopener, truly a wonderful voyage of discovery.

But we recognised too that nature's food larder is not just for humankind, but also to be shared with the rest of Nature.

Finally thanks to Paula Kearney, the brilliant hardworking Biodiversity Officer of Galway City Council, who organised the visit of Jorg Muller to Terryland Forest Park.

A 113 year history of School Cycling in Galway along a combined Greenway and Blueway!

At the request of my good friend Reg Turner, on Monday I acted as tour guide for a National Bike Week looped heritage cycle by the Transition Year students and teachers of Coláiste Iognáid (the Jes) that started at Woodquay, went through Terryland, onto Coolough and to Menlo Castle before returning to the centre of Galway city.

In spite of the heavy rainfall I really enjoyed it and from the feedback I got thankfully so did the students and teachers.
I gave the participants details on the fascinating history of the area with rock and flora features dating back millions of years before the arrival of the Dinosaurs; its archeological finds from the Iron Age; its buildings from the Norman, Jacobean, Cromwellian, Williamite and Victorian periods; its abandoned pre-Famine village and roads; its wonderful 19th century engineering works; its stories of Anglo Irish gentry shenanigans, native Irish resistance, and clerical power; its living farming traditions, Gaelic culture and Burrenesque landscapes; and on the environmental importance of Terryland Forest Park with the potential of the locality becoming the green and blue hub of international importance.

But the school has a proud tradition of cycling excursions to this locality going back 113 years.
Photo on the left was taken of the Jes students, teachers and myself on Monday with Menlo Castle in the background.
Photo on the right was taken in 1911 of Jes students on a school cycle excursion with the Menlo Castle once again in the background! It was originally a faded black and white image. Inspired by my renowned University of Galway colleague and friend John Breslin, I am presently colourising this and many other photos for my Irish BEO work project at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics. Once I started to colourise it, I noticed that there were four boys at the back holding oars and standing in boats. So I feel that this group of Jes students cycled up to Dangan (on the site of the former Galway city to Clifden railway line and the future Connemara Greenwway) before rowing across the River Corrib in boats to the grounds of Menlo Castle to continue their bike journey back to the Jes College on Sea Road in Galway city!
So these students were laying the groundwork for a combined Greenway and a Blueway over 100 years ago!!

If you want to experience the delights of this locality and beyond, why not join my 7 Galway Castles Heritage Cycle Tour taking place this Sunday. Register at Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sli-na-gcaislean-aka-the-seven-galway-castles-heritage-cycle-trail-tickets-880079550627?aff=oddtdtcreator

From Romance & Sisterhood to War & Rebellion– An somewhat History of the Bike

On Tuesday May 14th, I will give what I hope is an interesting and somewhat eclectic overview of the history of a mode of transport invented in the latter half of the 19th century.

So why not come along to find out about the role the bicycle played in female emancipation, in providing the first cheap form of transport for the masses, in how its health benefits were recognised from its earliest days by allowing people to escape overcrowded grimy industrialised cities to enjoy leisure time in clean nature-rich countryside, its use by guerrilla combatants in warfare and its associations with romance and youth.

There are also details to on the darker side of its history, in how the production of the bicycle began the large scale destruction of tropical forests.

To book a place go to https://ti.to/.../historyofthebicycle/with/general-admission

For the promotional poster I used a photo (below) of my mom when she was 21 years old and living above the family shop in Drumcondra Dublin city. The bike she is holding in the photo was given as a 21st birthday by her parents which she celebrated by bringing it with her on a bus to Carrickmacross where she spent two happy weeks cycling around the farms of her uncles. I will mention more of my mom Brigid Agnew and her bike in my presentation

A Pheasant in Hare's Corner: A Good Omen for our Nature Restoration Plans!

As members of the Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park entered on Saturday a field designated for an exciting and ambitious rewilding project, I was somewhat taken aback when a startled cock pheasant rose up from the long grass at my feet and took flight into the sky.

Everyone of us present though considered it a good omen for plans towards a field recently purchased by City Council, after years of community lobbying, that has been absorbed into Terryland Forest Park.

Thanks to the collaborative approach and vision of City Council’s Biodiversity Officer Paula Kearney, City Parks’ Foreman Kevin Nally, Parks’ groundsman Edward Skehill and Deputy Parks’ Superintendent Lisa Smyth, a partnership with the Tuatha will transform the field into a large multi-layer pond and surrounding marsh with a viewing platform, a wet woodland, a native orchard, and an extensive hedgerow. The installation of a wooden bridge over the adjacent Terryland River will connect this site onto the Ogham Heritage Trail on the western side whilst the neighbouring fields to the north that also lie within Terryland Forest Park will become a major wildlife sanctuary (no human footfall).

An first step in making this ambitious plan become a reality was for members of our Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park volunteer group to meet onsite with the wonderful Rob Gandola, one of Ireland’s leading Pond Development Officers, to discuss our submission to Burren Beo under the Hare’s Corner initiative. Rob was so excited about our pond/wetlands proposal and feels that if successful it could become a gold standard and a case study for all Local Authorities. So fingers crossed that our Hare’s Corner submission will prove successful and will start the process in transforming a grassland into a significant nature restoration volunteer project.

Hard work pays off! The Before & After Look

The hard consistent work of our Tuatha volunteers is paying off.

The riverbanks and lands around the Sandy Bridge are now almost completely devoid of the alien species known as Chinese Bramble/Rubus Tricolor.

I actually felt sorry in some ways for removing this pretty invasive plant, admiring it for how its roots and stems held on tenaciously for dear life in the gaps between the blocks of limestone of the bridge and river bank walls as we fought to pull it out.

However the battle to protect our native flora and fauna will be lost if the very invasive species that we are removing are openly and legally for sale in garden centres. There needs to be better joined-up thinking between government and other stakeholders.

The Bogs of Ireland, Past & Future exhibition

Last Saturday a wonderful Citizen Science initiative, coordinated by my great friend and colleague Niall Ó Brolchain, took place at my workplace of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics located in the Data Science Institute at the University of Galway.

Entitled Mapathon2024, it involved volunteers from many countries using open data to map the locations and policies of the peatlands across Europe. There were team entries from Estonia, Netherlands, France, urban and rural Ireland.

To support this event, I organised an exhibition on the Bogs of Galway based on photos from Insight’s BEO project, which represents an online digital local heritage archive comprising images, videos and audios telling the story of Ireland in times past. Supported by the Galway County Council's Heritage Office and the Galway Education Centre, this material has been collected over the years in collaboration with schools and community groups. Also on display were old sods of turf from our own family bog (sold many years ago to the Irish government for conservation purposes), an enamel (metal) mug used for the much needed cup of tea during breaktime on the bog, and the Slane (Irish = Sléan), the traditional implement used in Ireland for the cutting of the peat.

Hopefully these photos and items will bring back many happy childhood memories to people of my vintage of long hot summer days working in the bog with family cousins and neighbours!

The exhibition also highlighted the new role of peatlands in the 21st century in tackling the interconnected global climate and biodiversity crises and the importance in restorating them to serve as the largest of land-based natural carbon sinks.

Most of the photos in this montage are decades old and were originally black and white before I colourised them.

American Universities are becoming once again the conscience of their nation

I am so proud of the students of the prestigious University of Columbia, especially its many Jewish students such as Jared Kannel (see video above), demanding an end to the occupation, colonization and genocide of the Palestinian people made possible by the provision of American-made planes, bombs, tanks, ships and missiles from successive US governments.

Facing arrest and imprisonment, these courageous New York-based students are putting their own careers and futures on the line to stand with the people of Gaza and the West Bank who are being slaughtered daily by a brutal army of occupation assisted by armed racist colonial settlers.

But they have succeeded in lighting a spark of resistance which has inspired university students all across the United States to follow their lead.

When I was student myself, I spent a fantastic summer living on the campus of the University of Columbia and was fully aware of the history of progressive protest on its campus.

Columbia and other American campuses during the 1960s and 1970s were the epicentre and key spark for the anti-Vietnam war movement in the United States. They initially faced huge political and public hostility. But they kept going and helped change public opinion towards a war in South Asia where huge numbers of the indigenous population were been bombed incessantly from the air, land and sea by American military.

American students are once again becoming the conscience of the nation.

Super Mario takes part in a St. Patrick's Day Parade in Connemara!

All along the route of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Moycullen, the Connemara Greenway Alliance group of walkers(including one man and his dog!) cyclists (& a unicyclist - Gabe!) and in buggies were clapped and cheered on by the watching crowds.

This was a manifestation of the huge support that this proposed walking and cycling green infrastructure has amongst the people of Connemara.

The Connemara Greenway is long overdue! In our seven years in existence, the Alliance has seen greenways across Ireland open up. So in the public consultation that happens this week in the University of Galway (Wednesday), Moycullen (Thursday) and Oughterard (Friday), we ask supporters of the Connemara Greenway to attend and make their feelings known.

And by the way, I really enjoyed dressing up as Super Mario for the parade once again! It is always nice to bring a bit of humour to a serious community campaign.

But on a political note, I made sure that Super Mario wore a Palestinian scarf. We must continue to keep pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza at all opportunities.

Remembering Mom & Dad on Mother’s Day.

Last Sunday was my dad’s anniversary, today is Mother’s Day. So it is a good time for me to remember and to say a prayer in thanks and appreciation to both my dearly departed and much missed parents. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.

When my dad Paddy Smith and my mom Bridget Agnew got engaged, they had this photo taken as a memento to a very special time in their lives. Dad was 21 years old, Mom was 19 years old,
Mom was born in Monaghan, my Dad in Offaly. They both met in Dublin at a dance club on Parnell Square not far from Drumcondra where my mom’s family had a grocery shop beside Croke Park. My dad was a bus conductor with Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ).

Throughout their lives, they like so many of their era strived to be good people with good values, taught their children to respect others, to love God, to practice a strong Christian (though not servile) faith and to work hard in order to earn an honest wage but to always realise that money was not everything and there were more important things in life.
Dad exemplified these values. Likewise with Mom who was for much of her early adult life one of a rare breed, a business woman in an overwhelmingly male-dominated retail sector.
But the Ireland they were born into and grew up in was a different country than today. It was poor, patriarchal, socially repressive in many ways, its economy rural centric characterised by small subsistence family farming with our biggest export being our young people. Both my parents endured difficult teenage years and came from families that suffered for awhile as a consequence of years of revolutionary struggle and being on the losing side at the end of the Irish Civil War.
But it was not all doom and gloom in this Irish society. For it possessed a strong local community ethos; crime was almost non-existent; most products could be recycled, repaired and reused; raw materials were sourced locally; children immersed themselves in Nature almost daily; and young people regularly went to sports matches, played music, danced, fell in love and got married; and many families took annual holidays or enjoyed weekend excursions to seaside resorts.

I consider myself so fortunate as a child to have had wonderful family summer holidays enjoying the amusements, beaches and candy floss of the seaside tourist towns of Bundoran, Bangor and Tramore; experiencing exciting working holidays with the 'country' cousins in Carrickmacross and Cloghan amongst the pastures, hayfields and bogs; picnics in the countryside; helping on my dad's garden allotment and working daily behind the counter in the family shop. My parents always allowed me to earn my own pocket money and to spend it on DC, Marvel and Thunderbirds/Stingray comics (I was always a big science fiction fan!), Action Men and Airfix aeroplane models.
Whilst physical (corporeal) punishment was all too commonly practiced by adults against children in families and in schools in those days, I cannot ever remember being slapped or beaten by Mom or Dad for misbehaving even though I was a strong-willed often argumentative child not afraid to express opinions that were contrary to those of my parents.

On Mother’s Day, I pay homage to my mom for being a feisty inspirational woman who overcame the most severe difficulties as a young teenage girl to successfully run a small business and raise a family; to my maternal grandmother Mary Ward who as the only daughter in her family spent much of early adult years feeding, clothing and supporting her 7 brothers many of whom were often ‘on the run’ as IRA volunteers during the War of Independence and the Civil War; and to my maternal great-grandmother Eliza Eccles who spent over 2 years in Armagh Prison for resisting Anglo-Irish landlord oppression during the Land Wars.
I am proud that these women in my family’s lineage kept alive the feminist ideals of a Celtic Pagan and early Christian Ireland where women often held prominent leadership roles exemplified by the fact that our country is the only country in the world (the island of St. Lucia does not count as it was named by invaders not the indigenous peoples!) called after a female.
Beir bua!

A beautiful 19th century Drystone Wall restored

A team of Tuatha volunteers were involved last weekend on restoring a traditional stone wall made from local limestone that served as a rural field boundary when much of the high lands of Terryland Forest Park were primarily pasture.

Research is presently going on to find out its origins. But it is felt that it was constructed as early as the late 19th century if not before.

The Tuatha volunteers are presently actively working with the parks department of Galway City Council in developing and implementing what they feel is an exciting innovative programme of initiatives that will bring a whole new array of features to Terryland Forest Park over the next year which will enhance its importance as an example of the temperate rainforests that once covered Ireland before the colonial period, as a native wildlife sanctuary, an outdoor classroom, a repository of rural heritage, a major force within the city in tackling the Climate Crisis, and in the provision of artistic walking trails and cycling routes.

Next year we want to be fully prepared in helping the people of Galway celebrate the twenty fifthanniversary of a park that was born out of a wonderfully proactive collaboration between Galway Corporation (now Galway City Council) and the wider community. When it came into existence it was Ireland’s largest urban native woodland and was officially known as the ‘Lungs of the City’. Its founders drawn from the local government, community, state, educational, scientific and artistic sectors were in reality visionary pioneering advocates in developing within an urban environment a response to what they recognised as a looming climate and biodiversity crises. It is only now in the last few years that the public are realising the huge significance of what was happening in Galway city in the year 2000.

Early Virtual Reality - the 1-Racer Nascar from 1999.

'Virtual Reality' is defined as an immersive environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using electronic equipment such as a helmet with a built-in screen or gloves fitted with sensors.

One of the earliest and most realistic of Virtual Reality game environments came out in 1999. It was the 1-Racer Nascar from the American company Radica. Featuring a game modelled on a race from the Nascar (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC) franchise it had a head-mounted display with integrated headphones, a handheld controller and a feedback mechanism.

To the modern user, its liquid-crystal display (LCD) technology may feel very primitive. But it worked, it was affordable and it was immersive.

Photo shows Jack Keaney using this pioneering headset.

Jack is a Transition Year (TY) student from Coláiste Iognáid who spent last week on a placement at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics University of Galway which included testing out both state-of-the-art and vintage AI and 3D immersive technologies. Thanks Jack for all your wonderful work!

Well done Helen Caird for a wonderfully inspiring "Nature in Art" exhibition

Everyone involved in the Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park wishes the very best to our very own Helen Caird, our artist in residence, for her exhibition entitled "Roots, Vessels and Gold" which was launched last Friday in the Oughterard Courthouse and will be open to the public until next Sunday. Well worth a visit!

Photo shows Helen with her lovely partner Ronald van Dijk beside one of the images on exhibit.

Helen's vibrant drawings and paintings adorn our volunteers' HQ- An Nead (Irish = The Nest)- and the highly informative large educational boards that are dotted across Terryland Forest Park.

Her vibrant images have formed the basis for a network of exciting park’s trails, each with their own story, which has ensured that field trips for young people in particular are not only scientific but also artistic.

Thank you Helen Caird for inviting me to be the guest speaker at the launch of the exhibition last Friday. It was the very least that I could do in recognition of the fact that your images have brought a new dimension to Terryland Forest Park and are loved by visitors of all ages.

I have been your number one fan for over 12 years!!

Citizens of the World Unite & Celebrate the Beauty of "Difference".

In an era of increasingly brutal wars in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas characterised by mass murder, land grabs, ethnic cleansing, racism, authoritarianism, imperialism, sexual abuse, misogyny and religious intolerance as well as a global man-made Climate and Biodiversity Crises that is putting the very survival of our species at risk, it is more important that ever before to promote tolerance, respect, commonality and diversity amongst all races nations, creeds, sexes and cultures.

Life on planet Earth would be so boring if we all looked the same, had the same faith, wore the same clothes, had only one language, ate the same food, listened and played the same music....

Variety is the Spice of Life.

My many years of travelling all over the world to provide technology education, my work in direct provision centres and refugee camps, my previous career in the hospitality trade involving promoting traditional Irish and World Music, my volunteerism in local community and environmental projects, has impressed on me the critical need for us all to recognise the value and the beauty of cultural differences. We should happily promote Diversity and Respect for All not fear or subjugate it.

So every year for at least 12 years I help coordinate, with my colleagues at my multinational university workplace, a Celebration of Cultures that brings together people, often from countries that are not always the best of political friends, to joyously highlight their ethnic cuisine, landscapes, dress and music.

Have a look at this video from last month's Christmastime Celebration of Multiple Cultures at our workplace of the Data Science Institute in the University of Galway.

It is a small in-house event but nevertheless it is so important to help counteract a rise in hate, sexism and bigotry.

Helen Caird – An Inspirational Artistic Champion of the Natural World

I am deeply honoured that my good friend and wildlife artist extraordinaire Helen Caird has asked me to be the guest speaker at the launch of her wonderfully inspiring exhibition that will take place at 7pm this Friday at the Oughterard Courthouse.

Based on the interconnecting themes of 'Roots, Vessels and Gold', Helen’s new solo show gives true artistic expression to the deep love and inherent respect that she feels towards the rest of Nature.

For ten years, her drawings of birds, insects, fish, trees, mammals, flowers and fungi have enriched the Terryland Forest Park experience for the schools, colleges and the general public visiting this community-driven urban natural heritage sanctuary. Her images have formed the basis for a network of exciting park’s trails, each with their own story, which has ensured that field trips for young people in particular are not only scientific but also artistic.

The very first time I saw one of her illustrations in 2010 commissioned for the forest park, I was spellbound, totally transfixed. It took my breath away and I have remained in awe of her works ever since. For Helen gives a spiritual essence, an individual personality and deep beauty to each of her wildlife subjects in a way that seems to magically transform these paper drawings and canvas paintings into living pulsating beings right before your eyes.

As a person immersed in science and technology, I can honestly say that no photograph can capture the inner essence of a creature of the wild like a drawing done by the hand of Helen Caird.

Artists have a special creative insight ( a third ‘eye’) that gives an extra benign dimension to our lives.

In a world where biodiversity is suffering like never before in human history, we need champions like Helen to reveal why we all need to be ‘defenders of the wild’.

Helen is a champion of the Galway National Park City initiative and has been proudly proclaimed by her fellow Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park the artist-in-residence of Ireland’s largest urban native woodland.

Connecting a 21st century urban forest to the primeval forests of ancient Ireland.

A few weeks ago as part of the wonderful pioneering European-wide More Trees Now initiative, the Tuatha volunteers planted in Terryland Forest Park oak tree saplings that came from Coolattin Woods nursery and were donated by the inspirational educationalist Denise Garvey.

This is the second such gift from Denise who gave us similar oak saplings last year that became the foundation for a Ukrainian woods in Terryland.

Coolattin Woods in Wicklow is one of the final remnants of the great primeval forests that covered Ireland until the great clearances of the plantation period from the early 17th century onwards.

But much of the last trees left in Coolattin were only cleared during the 1970s and 1980s and exported as high quality veneer. It took the first large scale eco campaign in Ireland of the modern era lasting nearly 20 years to save the last of its ancient trees in the locality of Tomnafinnogue following the direct intervention by the then Taoiseach Charles Haughey

UK businessman and Wicklow resident Brian Kingham took over Coollattin in 2016 and has undertaken an ambitious reforestation of the estate.

So we are so proud that the community-council driven Terryland native forest now has a direct connection the birth of the Irish environmental movement and the great forests of ancient Ireland.

May we in the Tuatha wish everyone a joyful New Year and amy we all contribute in our own way towards making 2024 a year of progress in tackling the Climate and Biodiversity Crises.