A Transformation of Galway City that has captivated the heart of a President.

With so much hate, brutality, misogyny, racism, greed, nastiness, environmental destruction, conflict, war, ethnic cleansing and genocide taking place across the planet today, it is important more than ever to highlight and to celebrate 'good news' stories, especially when it involves individuals and communities in Ireland and elsewhere who are giving their time and energies to try to make a difference and by doing so bringing positive change to their societies and indeed the world.
Galway and Ireland as elsewhere is full of examples of such dedication and campaigning where what seems impossible can sometimes become possible as a result of individuals coming together to form active communities. "In Unity there is Strength" or as we say in Irish "Neart le chéile".
This has been the life long message of our President, Michael D. Higgins. He is one of those selfless visionary people who consistently speaks up for the oppressed, highlights injustice and applauds those who are trying to make a difference. He is an inspiration and is someone that regularly challenges us also to speak out and come together to do better for the greater good of society and indeed the planet. Unlike a growing number of political leaders internationally who preach hate, sow division, turn a blind eye to evil and who make personal profit and secure power out of what should be 'public service'. 

 
June 6th was one of the proudest days of my long life. It was when my good friend and our great President with his equally inspirational wife Sabina came to Galway to celebrate 25 years of the community-local authority partnership success story that is Terryland Forest Park. In the mid 1990s, the park was a dream that become a reality because of individuals demanding better, and then coming together as campaigning communities to convince local government and others of what was needed in urban Galway.
Thanks to the Connacht Tribune - Galway City Tribune for publishing my article on the celebratory day itself, and on the history, the present and future of what was labelled the"Green Lungs of the City" and the "People's Park" when it opened in the year 2000. As I state in the news piece, there are challenges and so much more has to be done to fulfill the hopes and dreams of its founders and its army of present volunteers.
But there has been so much which has been achieved that the people of Galway city of all ages should be proud of and their role in creating something that is truly beautiful and important- As the opening paragraph of the article states:
"The President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins was beaming with pride last week as he looked around at a landscape totally transformed in the heart of Galway City. “This is the Galway we want,” he enthused to a large crowd gathered in Terryland Forest Park. Where once he remembered there were barren fields, rubble and a litter-strewn river surrounded by barbed wire fencing, he now witnessed a wonderful mosaic of woods, meadows, wetlands, pasture, orchards and karst limestone outcrops populated by a diverse range of native fauna, flora and fungi. A green oasis in an urban environment serving as an ‘ecological corridor’ for wildlife connecting the vast Corrib waterways on its western boundaries through the city to farmlands on its eastern side."

 
So may I give a heartfelt 'Bualadh Bos' (round of applause) to those that made June 6th such a morale boosting event- including all in Galway City Council, Claire Power and all the team at Áras an Uachtaráin, those from the schools, the universities, the workplaces, the arts, the community and voluntary sector, the park founders and of course the hardworking members of the 'Green Army' (aka Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park).

Here's to the next 25 years!!

 

May-Jun: Educating Teenagers on the Good & Bad sides of Web Technologies.

The school year ended on a very busy note for my colleagues and myself at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics in the University of Galway as we continued to introduce teenagers to our pioneering research and in upskilling them on the positive benefits of web technologies through workshops on creative coding and hands-on smart tools such as Virtual Reality, environmental sensors and citizen apps.

But once again I devoted a lot of time in making our young people aware and prepared, through Internet Safety sessions, of the dangers that exist in social media and gaming by educating them on cyberbullying, online misogyny, porn, hate, violence, racism, fake news and addiction.

In May, I spent multiple days giving Internet Safety sessions to the first and second year students of the BISH in Galway city and to those in both the junior and senior cycles of Coláiste Cholmcille in Connemara. These presentations always include insights into using social media/gaming positively, and Wellbeing elements such as on the importance of a good night’s sleep, spending time in the real world with friends, getting out into a natural environment or undertaking outdoor sports.

As always these presentations are two-way, for I also learn a lot from the young people themselves as they make me aware of problems or sites that they encounter which I personally may not have yet come across. So I always come away better informed allowing me to constantly update my content.

In a time of AI which brings huge benefits but also dangers, regulation of the Web is now needed more than ever before. Governments have to stand up to the mega tech giants and protect their citizenry. People come first.

A Wonderful Focus on grassroots Climate Action projects in Galway City

I was honoured to be one of the presenters at the recent 'Giob Geab'/Chit Chat evening hosted in the Mick Lally Theatre.
Organised by a great proactive team of Tiaran McCusker, Paula Kearney and Fergal Cushen in Galway City Council and with actor/musician Andrias de Staic doing superb as MC, the event had 16 presentations on a selection of sustainability projects happening across Galway city & environs, primarily being led or involving community volunteering or local enterprise groups.
The project themes covered the full spectrum- ranging from native honey beekeeping, beach cleanups, youth climate assemblies, a nature-based solutions innovation hub, urban labs, the setting up of a Green Market, campaigning to protect a rural landscape in the suburb of Knocknacarra, to home energy retrofitting.
I myself gave a presentation entitled "Creating a Rainforest in the Heart of the City", on the community campaign origins in the 1990s and ongoing development of Terryland Forest Park.
Photo (L-R). your truly(!), Tiarnan McCusker (Galway City Council's Community Climate Officer), Aindrias de Staic (MC) and councillor Eibhlín Seoighthe

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).

 

Register on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1034679533337?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

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.

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

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.

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 fifth anniversary 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.

The Aliens have landed!

Winter heliotrope, one of the invasive species within Terryland Forest

Tomorrow (Tuesday) volunteers are tackling the alien species that have invaded Terryland Forest Park and which are colonising large areas within the park forcing out the native plant life.

As part of Invasive Species Week 15th – 21st May, Galway City Council, LAWPRO and Tuatha (volunteers) of Terryland Forest Park are conducting a walk through Terryland Forest Park tomorrow May 16th to areas infested with terrestrial and aquatic non-native Invasive Alien Species (IAS). IAS are extremely difficult and costly to control and eradicate, and their ecological effects can be irreversible.

All are welcome.

We will look at the identifying the species, risks to the environment and infrastructure, management measures and best practice such as the ’Check Clean Dry’ protocol for water users to minimise the spread of aquatic invasives. Working with volunteers, we will trial a herbicide free method of controlling winter heliotrope (see photo) within the woodland.

The invasive species being discussed include Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) and Canadian Waterweed (Elodea canadensis).

 

Invasive Species Week is an annual national event to raise awareness of the impacts of invasive species and to celebrate action being taken to prevent their spread. Organisations across the UK, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, and Isle of Man join together to lead activities and share information on the simple things that everyone can do to help prevent the spread of invasive species. Each day will involve focusing on a different theme: https://invasives.ie/what.../invasive-species-week/2023-may/

 

The walk will commence at 11am Tuesday 16th May at the Sandy Road entrance to Terryland Forest https://maps.app.goo.gl/hnW2gB4gQi1LLuUX8

Goodbye dear Friend

With the passing of Michael Tiernan, Galway has lost one of its truest gentlemen and I have lost a dear friend.

Michael was full of wit and charm, was kind and considerate, helpful to all, a lover of Nature, a strong advocate of community, had a grá(love) for the Irish language, and was a true custodian and teacher of traditional Irish heritage skills and crafts. 

 

For many years, Michael Tiarnan, Michael McDonnell and myself aided by Caitriona Nic Mhuiris of the Galway City Partnership worked closely together to rejuvenate the heritage of our area of Ballinfoile Mor, which was until a few decades ago a rural parish but was now an urbanised suburb of Galway city. We established Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden in 2010 followed soon after by setting up Cumann na bhFear (Men's Shed), the latter being a training centre for metal work, beekeeping, woodturning and other hands-on traditions.

 

We also worked closely together in the regular planting of trees and wildflowers in the ongoing transformation of pasture land into what is now Terryland Forest Park. Whenever there was a woodland clean-up, a group walk along the boreens(country lanes), a 7 Galway Castles Heritage Cycle tour, a removal of litter from woods, a sowing of vegetable seeds, or a mass planting of trees and wildflowers, the ever-smiling Michael Tiernan was one of the first to arrive and to offer his services.

 

Dearest Michael, mo chara, you will always be in our hearts and your legacy to your city and locality will last for decades to come

Life Springs Eternal in the Darkest Days of Winter

Nature never sleeps. Today (Christmas Day) I witnessed the life of the next generation of Nature lying silently but proudly amongst the bare branches of the trees in an almost leafless forest.

Thousands of male flowers belonging to the alder, silver birch and hazel trees could be clearly seen hanging like chandeliers of light in a dark woodland. Over the next few weeks the catkins will quietly build up size and colour until at the beginning of the Celtic spring, they will burst into clouds of dust flowers to be carried off by the wind to meet and fertlise the female flowers of their species.

The science of Nature is so magical and never ceases to amaze and delight the human spirit.

Climate Emergency requires a United Front of Galway’s Stakeholders

 

Drowned Galway photomontage by Joe Lee, a HopeItRains project for Galway 2020

The recent United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report signed off by 195 governments is a truly terrifying read. It makes clear that Global Warming- characterised by more intense and frequent heatwaves, storms, rainfall, flooding and melting glaciers as well as rising sea levels- is due to human activity. It further stated that no part of the world is safe from its consequences and that these changes are accelerating.

 

July was the hottest month since records began and possibly in over 125,000 years. Temperatures have risen by an average of 1.1 degrees since the Industrial Revolution started. A rise of 2 degrees can be expected and up to 3-4 degrees within the next few decades if urgent action is not taken. Such an increase would make life unbearable in many parts of the globe, causing large scale population migration from areas worse affected as people desperately try to escape to places more climate stable leading possibly to conflict within and between nations. Antonio Guterres, the UN’s secretary general,  stated bluntly that the report is a ‘Code Red for Humanity’.  

 

What is particularly poignant is the fact that the causes of these catastrophes, namely greenhouse gas emissions from carbon (deforestation, fossil fuels etc.) and methane (livestock, landfills etc), have actually doubled since the IPCC gave its first report in 1990 and nineteen years after the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change signed by 154 states agreed to drastically reduce these gases.

 

Linked into Climate Change is the collapse in biodiversity worldwide. The UN has stated there is an urgent need to rewild and restore an area the size of China to meet commitments on climate and help save one million species from extinction.

 

The failure of the global political system to honour these commitments represents a serious dereliction of duty as governments everywhere prioritised ‘development’ in the form of jobs and economic growth with little concern for the repercussions. Many politicians and others wrongly portrayed environmental protection as a barrier to progress. Unfortunately this outmoded and dangerous philosophy still holds a powerful influence today in our city and in our country.

 

For the people of Galway, Climate Chaos is right here, right now and it’s personal.

Most scientists accept that COVID (and other recent pandemics), which has caused so much disruption and tragedy to our lives, was due to wildlife with their naturally occurring viruses being removed from their ever-decreasing habitats and sold in food markets.

Many Galwegians use to regularly take holidays in sunnier Mediterranean climes. But this region stretching, from Spain to Turkey, is now suffering from unprecedented heatwaves, wildfires and floods, with Sicily experiencing the hottest temperature (48.80 degrees) ever recorded in Europe.

 

Lying at the political and economic heartland of our European community, Germany and Belgium were devastated in July by flooding which Belgian Minister Annelies Verlinden described as "one of the greatest natural disasters our country has ever known.” It will cost Germany €30 billion to repair the damage caused. Australia and western USA, where so many of us have family members, are caught up in a vicious cycle of  menacing heat, drought and fire.

NUI Galway’s Atmospheric Research Station at Mace Head in Carna recorded its highest ever atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.

 

Gordon Bromley, climate scientist of NUI Galway, warned that Galway will suffer badly from the rising sea levels and coastal erosion which is already happening, is irreversible and is worsening.

 

But the battle to save the human species from self-destruction and to stabilise Climate Change will not be lost or won in the shrinking tropical forests or the warming acidic oceans. It is in the cities that the ‘call to arms’ has to be heard and heeded, planetary saving technologies forged and the necessary strategies implemented.

Cities consume two thirds of global energy supply and generate three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions. It is where 56% (and rising) of the human population live and represents the primary markets for the meat and palm oil products responsible for 80% of rainforest loss.

 

Galway’s geographical position of expansive Atlantic shoreline and fast flowing high volume Corrib waterways, its high level of oil-based energy consumption, its car-centric transport infrastructure, and its urban sprawl means that it is especially vulnerable to the new climatic conditions. Unless there is a drastic cultural shift locally, it is questionable whether we can meet the required targets of a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.

 

In a time of such a crisis, the need for visionary political leadership and a unity of purpose from all sectors of local societies is called for with everyone being given an opportunity to play their part and where policy makers are leading by example. ‘Think Global, Act Local’ has never been more important.

 

Is this happening in Galway? On the positive side, Galway City Council has done some great things this year. It passed a motion to declare a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency. Additional state funding, from a government which is prioritising Climate Change, has meant that cycle ways along main roads are being bult, construction will take place of a pedestrian/cycling bridge from Woodquay over the Corrib as the terminus for the Connemara Greenway, the position of a city biodiversity officer has been advertised, the All Ireland Pollinator Plan adopted, Nature for Health and Love Your Beach programmes rolled out, planning is underway for a flood protection scheme and a decarbonisation zone in the university catchment area has been mapped out.  Mayor Colette Connolly and Deputy Mayor Martina O’Connor have publicly declared their intention to make Galway a National Park City, a designation that represents a wonderful opportunity post-COVID to reimagine our city and to build back greener and bluer.

 

But sadly there seems to be a reluctance by some in City Hall to move away from a ‘business as usual’ model and have meaningful engagement with those from Civic Society who represent a new way forward. The Climate and Biodiversity Emergency motion has a proviso that such a declaration should not interfere with development; policies adopted in 2002 to create a safe city wide pedestrian-friendly cycling-friendly infrastructure and wildlife corridors (linking parks and waterways) have yet to be implemented. Planning for new ‘living’ inner city villages of affordable housing occupied by families and peoples of all ages has not been prioritised. Hydro power as a renewable energy source is not being tapped and there is no plan to ensure that we know what the city’s current (baseline) carbon usage is. The call for the transformation of the Dyke Road (that is below water level) into a largely unique cycling-walking route through a riverine and woodland zone has been ignored.   The council recently failed to buy privately-owned grassland within Terryland Forest Park, which was advertised for sale at €30,000, thus impacting negatively on the city’s capability of planting new woods as per government policy and undermining over twenty years of volunteerism in developing this park as a ‘carbon sink’ and ‘wildlife sanctuary’. There is a refusal to give our main public parks the legal status necessary to protect from being used for future built development.

Some senior officials said that a proposal to include a Galway National Park City (GNPC) designation into the Galway City Development Plan 2023-2029 was ‘premature’ and could interfere with ‘development’ whilst one councillor thought it was ‘airy fairy’.

 

The GNPC designation with over 100 champions reflecting a wide strata of local society, with President Michael D. Higgins as patron and Duncan Stewart as its national champion is clear, with a mission statement for our beloved city “achieving a Greener, Bluer, Healthier, Safer, Beautiful, Sustainable, Equitable, Harmonious and Wilder environment where people value, benefit from, and are strongly connected to the rest of Nature.” It is about promoting a strong sustainable development ethos in our buildings and neighbourhoods as much as in our open green spaces. Its champions and their organisations are already working together on new exciting cross-sectoral eco-projects around concepts such as the Outdoor Classroom, rewilding, the Circular Economy and renewable energies. It is attracting offers of funding for eco programmes from philanthropists and corporations.

When London became the world’s first National Park City, its Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “This status is a truly fantastic reflection of our vibrant and dynamic city and our amazing network of green spaces, rivers and natural habitats…(will)…help tackle the global climate emergency and ecological crisis and address the decline in biodiversity.”

Lord Benyon, UK Minister for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity, stated last month that the National Park City model fitted in with government policies, offering an opportunity to deliver a quantum shift in improving access for all to green spaces, protecting more natural landscapes and helping in nature restoration as well as in benefiting the mental and physical health of citizens.  The government of South Australia wants its capital Adelaide declared a National Park City in time for COP26. Environment and Water Minister Derek Spiers said this designation was a call to action for the people of Adelaide, was leading to increased community involvement particularly in restoring and in enjoying the natural world. Kathryn Tierney, GNPC European Champion and a former policy coordinator at the Directorate General Environment of the European Commission, pointed out that the Galway National Park City, with its grassroots and wide cross-sectoral champions membership base, is the embodiment of  the EU ‘Green Deal’ in action at a local level.

 

The Climate Chaos that is upon us will impact on all aspects of our lives. Galway can only become resilient and ensure a viable future by an active partnership of all key local stakeholders. ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’. The city belongs to us all and local government cannot do it on its own. City Hall has to reach out and embrace partnership not ignore it. The GNPC membership represents the widest potential collaboration possible with an array of expertise and talents that should be enthusiastically welcomed and be put at the service of our citizenry. Membership of the ‘coalition of the willing’ includes world renowned scientists, engineers and others involved in habitat restoration, renewable energies, climatology, green innovation, waste reduction, marine science, smart technologies; medical professionals who are using Nature as a ‘green prescription’; teachers, artists, community volunteers and waterways advocates; youth wanting to play their part, have their say and implement their ideas; architects promoting new sustainable built development; and businesses using green jobs and eco-industrial processes such as SAP whose strategy is to be carbon neutral by 2023, and Thermo King whose parent company is committed to reducing its customers’ carbon emissions by one gigaton by 2030 – equivalent to 2% of the world’s annual emissions.

 

Thankfully the council has agreed with our request to participate in a September meeting addressed by Daniel Raven-Ellison, founder of world’s first National Park City, and internationally-renowned UK-based developers (who are supporters of the London National Park City). It will be chaired by Dr. Micheál Ó Cinnéide, ex director of the EPA and of the Marine Institute.

According to legend, opening “Pandora’s Box” unleashed evil forces into the world. But ‘Hope’ remained and Hope springs eternal.  Yet we may still feel that the small population of Galway can have little impact on tackling global Climate Chaos. But not so. For we only have to pay heed to what EU President Ursula von der Leyen, quoting American anthropologist Margaret Mead, said at the  launch of Green Week 2021, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” 

 

This article first appeared in the Galway Advertiser on August 25th 2021. I wrote it in my capacity as  Convenor, Galway National Park City initiative

A ‘Green Highway’ in Galway City - Build It & They Will Come!

 

The survey of the Terryland River and its surrounding area, presently been undertaken by full-time summer intern Tara Speares and her supervisor Dr. Colin Lawton of NUI Galway, is further reinforcing the scientific evidence from over many decades that the community-driven council-managed Terryland Forest Park is having a significant positive impact on the numbers and species of biodiversity in Galway city and shows the critical importance of an ‘ecological corridor’ or 'green highways' (one of the objectives of its founders) in restoring wildlife in urban environments. Terryland connects the Corrib Waterways into the farm lands of east Galway. The park is Galway’s largest and oldest (2000) ‘rewilding’ initiative but hopefully not its last. With the continued huge growth in human populations and cities worldwide, it is crucial that we make significant spaces in urbanised areas to serve as wildlife sanctuaries as well as ensuring their protection from human footfall. Otherwise we destroy the very thing that we are trying to nurture and preserve. Parts of Terryland Forest Park as with parts of the other borough parks (Merlin Woods and Barna Woods/Rusheen Bay) across Galway admirably fulfill this function.

Photo shows Dr. Colin Lawton and intern Tara Speares with wood mice temporarily captured in ‘traps’ whose data was recorded before being released back into the wild. I enjoyed watching the freed little mammals disappear into the undergrowth of the woods and riverbanks.

Colin has a long and distinguished role in assessing the impact of Terryland on the city’s biodiversity as he has been undertaking different types of mammal surveys on its lands since 2004. His efforts provide important scientific data to policy makers, scientists, and environmentalists. Thank you Colin- we really admire and appreciate your great efforts!

The Kids Know What is Best for Our City! Let's Listen & Learn from them!

 

The benefits of a partnership and inclusive approach towards developing a future Galway city that is sustainable and integrates nature into its infrastructure was shown yesterday when children from 13 city primary schools took part in Glór na Óganach ('The Voice of Youth') organised by the Galway National Park City (GNPC) initiative supported by the Galway Education Centre. It was an online event chaired wonderfully by Fionnghuala Geraghty, a teacher of Scoil Chaitríona Senior, where pre-teen students gave their opinions by way of talks, pre-event surveys and classroom discussions about what they want in a post-COVID Galway. This event was unprecedented and amply shows the important need and role of a multi-sectoral movement such as the Galway National Park City initiative.

We often talk about what children want but very seldom give them the opportunity to voice their own opinions on how they wish society to develop.

But their answers and comments yesterday were breathtakingly fresh, honest and full of common-sense. They displayed an awareness of the benefits of looking after nature in the city and having increased areas for biodiversity, in planting more trees and having more wildlife; in the need for information noticeboards in areas of nature; in the need to lessen screen time and to play outdoors in clean, safe green spaces and in playgrounds with flowers, more hands-on play equipment and having both walls and trees that they could climb; in the attractions of having lots of classes outside; in having safe walking and cycling routes to school and in/around the school, in banning once-off plastics and in increasing the possibilities of enjoying the local waterways.

Interestingly the overwhelming majority of these boys and girls felt that it was the woods, the seashore and the wildlife that they most liked about Galway city.

They were also fully aware of the dangers of biodiversity loss and of climate change.

So it was heartening to know that our youngest generation have strong feelings of what is most beautiful about our city, are expressing deep concerns about what is wrong with it and know what needs to be done to make it better for both people and wildlife.

So the challenge is for the adults to listen and to learn from the children in order to ensure that we hand them over a ‘liveable’ planet.

We will publish a summary of proceedings over the next few weeks.

Glór na Óganach was the first gathering of pre-teens on the subject of a future city. But not the last. There will be a follow-up in November as part of the Galway Science and Technology Festival and a third will take place in Spring/Summer 2022. A similar thematic gathering of teenagers from second level schools will hopefully be hosted in the festival also. Yesterday’s was the first such event and we will all learn from the experience, improving on it and looking at the possibility of hosting a children’s forum tríd Gaelige and a forum for infants, 1st and 2nd classes.

Finally I extend a big 'Bualadh Bos' (round of applause) to Fionnghuala Geraghty for her awesome work in preparing the teacher/student surveys and in chairing the event, to the Galway Education Centre for its support and of course to the teachers from the 13 schools who made it all possible in the final week of the school year when they are exceptionally busy. We really enjoyed working with ye all. Go raibh míle maith agaibh!

I am deeply worried about the future of my beloved city of Galway

In response to the COVID pandemic-which is just another of the painful but connected symptoms of unstable destructive weather, global warming, rising sea-levels, flooding, desertification, marine acidification, loss of soil fertility and biodiversity collapse that is harming our personal, collective and planetary health- progressive political leadership in cities across the world are working in partnership with scientists, engineers, health professionals, neighbourhoood groups and others to put community, sustainability, public transport, walking/cycling, parks, woods and wildlife sanctuaries centre stage in a radical rethink, redesign and rebuild of their urban infrastructure.

However the recently published report from the council’s Chief Executive, in response to submissions made by so many enthusiastic members of the general public last March on what should be included in a plan that will shape the city development until 2029, scares me.

The top official in City Hall considers that the ‘Galway City National Park City’ initiative (www.galwaynationalparkcity) which he admitted was supported by numerous submissions-and which wants to make Galway a city where places, people and nature are better connected-was “premature to incorporate into plan policy at this stage”.

I am deeply worried that our city could now find itself on the wrong side of history with outdated policies as we witness other cities across all continents rise to the challenge of building a better urban future and who are coming together to follow the inspiring lead of London which adopted this designation in 2019.

I am earnestly hoping that the majority of our councillors will display the vision, the courage and the political leadership that is so needed at this critical time in the history of humanity as we try to navigate through uncharted waters in stormy unpredictable dangerous weather. But as Duncan Stewart stated recently the National Park City initiative could make Galway the “Lighthouse of the World.”

Please read my article on this issue from a recent edition of the Galway Advertiser

Friday May 28th: The 'Outdoor Classroom' in a clean green & blue Dyke Road-Terryland Forest.

 

On Friday I took a group of primary school children on a guided walk from the Woodquay 'Plots', along the banks of the River Corrib to Terryland Castle and on into the woods and meadows of Terryland Forest Park. The teachers and pupils interacted with this beautiful natural environment using their senses, making boats from reeds to float in the waters of the Corrib, studying the diverse range of flowers and trees and enjoying the new educational heritage sculpture trails.

Thankfully there was no major occurrence of litter either along the river banks or in the woods. It was very clean. But a weekend of partying near Terryland Castle has subsequently done so much harm.

In 2019, Galway City Council abolished the Cash-for-Cans scheme that was introduced in 2011 at the instigation of community lobbying supported by councillor Catherine Connolly (now TD). I have to compliment the then City Hall officials for their support in implementing this pioneering scheme, the only local authority in Ireland to do so but a scheme that did and still does exist in many other European countries. Sadly the government that year refused our demands to bring in a similar nationwide initiative that would also include glass bottles. However the present government has promised to roll out in 2022 a new deposit and return scheme for plastic bottles and cans. This is welcome news. But it needs though to be extended to include glass bottles and metal cans and it should be introduced NOW! Every day that we don't act the natural environment suffers.

Likewise the present council needs to be more proactive and show leadership on this. We have to wait until 2022 for full time wardens for all three main parks to be introduced- thanks to Councillor Imelda Byrne for tabling a great motion supported by all councillors and for working closely with me on this. I can understand at one level (budget) why it will not take place until then. But, in the interim, why can the council not put in place, as promised, bins at the entrances to major green areas and to work with the community to set up and support units of park volunteer wardens? Ryan Crowell and myself showed a few weeks ago (see a previous posting from last month) that having a presence on the ground and talking to those socialising outdoors can make a huge positive difference.

Furthermore there has to be a much harder line taken against those littering with a need for more prosecutions. However for that to be effective, on-the-ground wardens are required.

There is also the ridiculous situation that, due to GDPR, we are told the names of those that are actually prosecuted cannot be published in the media. Local government and national goveernmment need to take a test case to Europe on this- laws are suppose to help society and the public, not to protect the anti-people protagonists.