Trees of Terryland Forest Park: Hawthorn (Irish = 'Sceach Gheal'). ‘The Fairy Tree’- Symbol of Magic and of Summer.

May is the month of the white blossom when hedgerows and field boundaries across rural Ireland are dotted with trees covered with what from a distance looks like snow but is instead the beautiful white flowers of the Hawthorn tree. Associated with the fairies, the hawthorn or whitethorn was oftentimes feared by Irish people and in many parts of the country was never brought inside a house. People of my generation were the last generation to truly believe in its connection with the Sí (sidhe) and my own wife for this reason stopped me planting hawthorns in our garden when we first got married!

The remains of prehistoric dwellings known as ‘fairy forts’ dot the Irish landscape and are usually evident by the presence of clumps of hawthorn bushes. Solitary hawthorn trees can also be seen in many farmed fields in rural Ireland. In both instances, local people in my time would never cut them down lest bad luck would befall them. This fear may also have something to do with the scent of the hawthorn flower. It is the chemical compound triethylamine, which is one of the first chemicals produced when a human body starts to decompose.

But triethylamine is also found in human semen and vaginal secretions. So no wonder the tree with its white blossom symbolised the lusty month of May, the arrival of summer as the season of fertility and growth. It was when a hawthorn branch on a tree would be decorated with ribbons, pieces of cloth and flowers requesting a good harvest. As with the ash, it was also associated with holy wells which were also linked to female fertility. By September, the pollinated flowers become lush red fruits known as haws. The April leaves were used as a green salad in sandwiches. Jelly was made from the red berries.

Scoil Shéamais Naofa Bearna san Fhéile Eolaíochta!

Tá Rang 6 i Scoil Shéamais Naofa, Bearna ag obair do dian ar ábhair ag baint leis an téama Gníomhú Aeráide chun taipseántas a thabhairt ag Féile Eolaíochta in Ollscoil na Gaillimhe ar an Domhnach 24ú Samhain. Tá foirne difriúla sa rang ag fiosrú topaicí mar chumhacht athbheochain, cosaint bhitheagsúlacht, bealaí glasa, bia orgánach i mblialanna áitiúla, siopadóireacht ghlas agus ar thraidisiúin feirmeoireachta agus baile sna blianta caite a bhí níos fearr don talamh agus don saol inbhuanaithe. Roghnóigh an rang na topaicí is fearr leo chun iniúchadh níos doimhne a dhéanamh orthu agus a chur i dtaispeántas na scoile ag féile na míosa seo chugainn. 

-Ealaín álainn de nádúir an fhómhair ar bhallaí Scoil Shéamais Naofa!

Sixth class in Scoil Shéamais Naofa Barna is actively researching material based on the theme of Climate Action for their exhibit at the Science Fair on Sunday November 24th in NUI Galway. Teams of pupils are undertaking research into topics such as renewable energies, biodiversity protection, greenways, local organic foods in restaurants, green shopping and on traditions in farming and homelife in times past that were better for the soil and for creating a more sustainable lifestyle. The class will select their favourite topics to delve into more fully and display at the school stand at next month’s fair.

-Beautiful paintings of Nature on the walls of Scoil Sheamais Naofa.

‘Cash-for-Cans' Suspension: an attack on Civic Volunteerism & Environment!

Yesterday I took two bags of beverage cans to Galway City Council's recycling depot. As I normally do, I had separated their contents out from the contents of five full bags of mixed rubbish (see photo) that our volunteer group had collected last weekend in Terryland Forest Park.
But when I arrived at the depot, I was shocked to see a big notice on display stating that the ‘cash-for-cans’ scheme was suspended until further notice. I asked the three staff members on duty why was this the case and when would the suspension be lifted. They told me that they did not know and stated that an official from City Hall had come to the depot to put up the notice and did not give any explanation on why this course of action was undertaken.
As a community representative (Galway City Community Forum) I had originally proposed such a scheme in 2008 and had lobbied the government to implement it nationwide. In spite of years of making submissions and holding meetings with the Minister of the Environment and his staff, we failed sadly to get government to adopt such a policy. We then decided to concentrate on getting it introduced locally. Thanks to proactive Galway councillors, particularly Catherine Connolly (who was fantastic), and the support of local council officials, a cash-for-cans scheme was adopted by Galway City Council in summer 2011. As a result, Galway became the first local authority in the country to do so (and today it is probably the only one operating such a municipal service). But such a pro-recycling service is nothing new to this country. As a child, I grew up in an Ireland where pubs and other commercial outlets gave money for each individual beverage container returned. The latter were primarily glass bottles and were cleaned and reused by Irish-based bottling companies. I used the money that I collected from returning bottles to buy comics and toys!

Though City Hall never really developed the scheme after 2011 and subsequently reduced the money given for each bag of cans (from €3 to €2) as well as curtailing the amount of bags that each person could bring(max of 3), nevertheless it was/is a very positive pro-environmental service that incentivised people to collect rubbish from public parks, woodlands and shorelines.
The scheme was also an outstanding example of City Hall listening to the community sector and working together for the greater benefit of society.
Now when large scale voluntary cleanups are becoming more frequent thanks to the great efforts of voluntary groups such as Clean Coast Ireland, Galway Atlantaquaria, Serve the City Galway, Friends of Merlin Woods, Terryland Forest Park Alliance, Conservation Volunteers and resident associations, as well as civic-minded individuals such as Sharon Shannon, this action by Galway City Council sends out the wrong message.

On so many levels this council sadly (in spite of the great work of some very good councilors) is undermining the quality of our natural environment and devaluing the activities undertaken by volunteers week-in, week-out. So it is now time once again for concerned citizens to take action to get council to change policy that is damaging our quality of life, harming biodiversity and is the antithesis of sustainability.
Hence there will be a protest once again outside City Hall at the next meeting of Galway City Council on April 8th over the failure to appoint park warders and related issues. Details to follow tomorrow.

A fruit (apple, pears) trees pruning workshop mentored by Padráig Keirns will take place at 11am tomorrow (Saturday March 9th) in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden, Galway city.
The garden in located in Terryland Forest Park.

All are welcome and the workshop is free!

'Pruning' is the selective removal of certain parts of a plant such as branches, buds or roots. With fruit trees, it relates to removing dead, damaged and diseased branches in order to help prevent decay organisms from entering the tree and reducing dense canopies to increase air and sunlight. The process benefits the health of the tree and increases crop yields.

My friend Chris Coughlan - The Legend and the Legacy.

Thanks Mayor Niall McNelis for making such a wonderful speech and unveiling a plaque at the Computer & Communications Museum NUI Galway in honour of my friend Dr. Chris Coughlan - The Legend and the Legacy., co-founder of this important technology heritage learning facility.
I was honoured on the night to follow the speech of the Mayor by saying a few words of my own on the legend that was Chris Coughlan.
He was truly a giant amongst men and has left a powerful beneficial legacy on so many fronts in Galway that will last for generations to come.

Chris was instrumental in establishing the TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, the Galway Technology Centre, WestBic, the Digital Entreprise Research Centre (DERI) NUI Galway as well as the computer museum that we co-founded along with Liam Ferrie (Celtic Rambler), Pat Moran, Frank McCurry and Tom Frawley. He was a director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Galway, adjunct Professor of Business at NUI Galway, former President of the Galway Chamber of Commerce, former President of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland and former chairperson of the Galway Civic Trust.
A man on a mission with a powerful vision of where Galway needed to be, Chris did not take fools gladly and was refreshingly honest, blunt and forthright in his views. He had a generosity of spirit that was unique and he served as an important mentor to so many people from the world of business to that of the arts. Chris also had a deep sense of social responsibility and secured for instance the provision of computer facilities to a number of educational establishments in disadvantaged communities over so many years. He and myself would agree to disagree on a number of political issues but that never got in the way of us seeing a common goal or aspiration that we worked towards for the good of society. Anyway he told me often that he looked on himself sometimes as a bit like me, “a good natured Bolshie” which pleased me no end! We shared a lot of other things in common too including early careers in our youth as managers of small computer stores! 

I am proud to have known Chris, to have worked with him, to have been inspired by him and to have called him a close friend.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

31 Years later: All Smiles at Our Neighbourhood Centre's First Open Day.

I was delighted to be present at today's very well attended and most enjoyable 'Open Day' for the Ballinfoile - Castlegar Neighbourhood Centre, six weeks after it opened its doors to the general public and 31 years after local community activists started a campaign to secure indoor and outdoor recreational facilities for the residents of the Ballinfoile Mór and Castlegar area.

The top photograph shows a happy bunch of politicians, community campaigners and local residents in the foyer of a very impressive state-of-the-art sports and community facility.
The bottom photograph shows a demonstration of people of all ages outside City Hall in June 1989 as a meeting of Galway City Council (then known as Galway City Corporation) voted on a proposal to provide outdoor and indoor recreational facilities in our neighbourhood. 

As a result of our campaign from 1987-1989, that evening the councillors (including Michael D. Higgins, now President of Ireland) voted in our favour. Within a 12-18 month period two playing pitches, changing rooms, a tennis court, a children's playground, car park and a most beautiful nature park with karst limestone outcrops and walking trails were provided.

Sadly we failed at the time to secure the construction of a sports and community centre. 

 

But over the next three decades in different shapes and guises we kept fighting and finally after many false promises and starts, January 2018 saw the fine building that we were in today open. In its short few weeks of existence under the auspices of the social enterprise entitiy SCCUL and supported by the community representative umbrella grouping Croí na Tuath (heart of the people/land) and Galway City, it has spawned and become home to a myriad of sporting, artistic, health and learning activities.
So many people have helped along the way; sadly some of them did not live to experience this afternoon's joyous coming together of a community. Today though was the start of the next phase in the ongoing development of the Ballinfoile Mór - Castlegar district. So we must grasp the positivity that today has meant to everyone living locally and build on this wonderful celebration of community to foster a true Sense of Place and a Sense of Purpose.
So, as they say, watch this space!

TEDx Talk - I survived!

What an experience! Having done the 'walk' so many times, I now had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do the 'talk'.
To say that I wasn't nervous having to take part in such a prestigious event and summarise such an important topic as I had in 18 minutes would be untrue. To be honest, I was a nervous kitten in the lead-up to the event. So unlike me!

But surrounded by professional speakers all experts in their own field in such a prestigious venue as the Town Hall Theatre in front of a sell-out audience who I knew would scan a critical eye over word I spoke and every gesture that I made, weighed heavily on me.
Anyway, I gave it my best shot on the night; thankfully I did not freeze or forget my words and so hopefully I gave justice to the hard work of all community campaigners, environmentalists and the socially aware Web/Internet of Things technologists of  Galway city and beyond.

My theme was on the urgent need for cities to be Green and Smart.
My advanced preamble was:
“As the Earth is being transformed into an Urban Planet characterised by an unprecedented growth in human population, energy consumption, technology revolutions, depletion of finite resources, huge mega settlements and climate change, the future of the human species is under threat.  So cities, the new abode of our race, have to radically transform in the areas of energy, transport, health, water, food, environment, social, housing, governance and work if they are to accommodate huge numbers of inhabitants in a way that gives them a beneficial quality of life that is sustainable.
Brendan Smith looks at the need to bring nature back into our everyday urban lives. Using Galway as an example he makes the case that, as well as relying on smart technologies, cities have to be characterised by organic farms, community gardens, rooftop/exterior building vegetation, woodlands, waterways, outdoor classrooms, Greenways and local community stakeholdership. “
The Galway TEDx talks will be up on YouTube in the next few months. In the meantime I will publish a longer written version of my talk in late October (when my travels to Africa and the Middle East are completed for this year).

Finally I would like to give a big public thank you and a traditional Irish ‘Bualadh Bos’ to two brilliant hard working creative gentlemen, namely Darragh O'Connor​
and Cormac Staunton who were the brains and brawn behind TEDx Galway. With a wonderful range of international, national and local speakers and an eclectic mix of subjects, they did a superb job. Darragh- you have a wonderful future ahead of you as a 'Master of Ceremonies' extraordinaire.

Tom Hyland RIP, chairperson of the Galway Science & Technology Festival.

A dear colleague and Champion of Science was buried yesterday.
Without doubt Tom Hyland was one of those legendary few individuals that can justifiably claim to have nurtured and shaped modern Galway.

As head of the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Ireland Western Region for much of the 1970s through to the 1990s, he helped attract high profile global investment and companies to Galway, ensuring that the city became one of the country's key hubs of industry and business.
Following on from the pioneering work of Bernard Kirk , who was supported by former science minister Noel Tracey and Dr. James Browne (now President of NUI Galway) in initiating the Galway Science & Technology Festival in the late 1990s, he in his capacity as chairperson helped steer it to become the largest annual STEM programme of events in Ireland.
As a member of the Festival board since the early 2000s, I saw at first hand how his single-mindedness and determination ensured that our goals and aspirations each year were met and surpassed.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

The photograph above that I took shows Tom (fourth from left) with fellow members of the great board of 2010 that was the team that successfully transplanted the Science Fair (the finale of the two week long Festival) from Leisureland in Salthill to NUI Galway.
This move represents one of the key milestones in the history of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Outreach in Galway. The university location brought science to a whole new audience with crowds of 22,000+ enjoying an array of exhibitions, workshops, talks and shows across the whole campus unmatched by any similar event nationwide.

Galway 2020 - Let's Take Ownership

I enjoyed attending, along with my lovely wife Cepta (centre), and good friends Niall O Brolchain​ and Joyce McGreevy​, the party at the Cornstore to celebrate Galway city and county being awarded European City of Culture 2020.  Good to meet up too with people such as Karl Sweeney​  who are prime proponents of volunteer leadership in our region.

Galway 2020 volunteer Marto Hoary with Cepta & Joyce

I thought that it was appropriate that the happy gathering took place outside the legendary bookshop of Charlie Byrne. His premises is of course a repository of world and Irish cultural literature. The man himself was also a fellow student (& housemate) of mine when the Galway Arts Festival, spawned from Ollie Jennings​ and his associates in the UCG ArtsSoc, was in its infancy.
As mentioned in a previous posting, the 2020 team, that included Marilyn Gaughan Reddan​, Tracy Geraghty​, Nollaig McGuinness​, Niall O'Hara and Patricia Philbin, enthusiastically embraced so many elements of local society in the bidding process- neighborhoods, localities, asylum seekers, environmentalists. schools, colleges, youth, heritage, technology, arts, science, rural and urban. All were made to feel active contributors if they so wished. In so doing, the team recognised 'Culture' as being part of everything that makes us Galwegian, from our work to our play, from indigenous to new ethnicity.

Galway's most famous photographer Joe Shaughnessy with Joyce, Cepta and Philip Cloherty

Now it is up to each of us who value our peoples to grab the opportunities now being presented and to ensure that our own sectoral  vision comes through.
I recognize this in my own professional areas of technology, science and heritage learning. But wearing 'my other hat',  I also want to encourage my fellow community and environmental activists also do likewise especially as we have recently being awarded European Green Leaf City for 2017 which was led by Sharon Carroll​, another great advocate of progressive change and a strong supporter of community engagement.
Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture​ -it is ours to lose.

Creating a 'Wild Garlic Woods' in Terryland Forest Park

Many of Ireland’s native wildflowers face extinction due to pollution, invasive species, urbanization, loss of habitat and intensive commercial farming. The use of pesticides and herbicides in farming in order to increase specific crop yields has meant that wildflowers and pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies are being poisoned. Hence flora and fauna species are declining alarmingly and a countryside that was once populated with flowers representing all the colours of the rainbows, that throbbed to the sounds of a wide of variety bees and birds is sadly becoming a thing of the past.

Help reverse this process and to save Ireland’s indigenous flowers and associated pollinating insects and bats. Under the expert tutelage of Padraic Keirns, Conservation Volunteers Galway and Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park are once again teaming up to organise another major re-flowering within Terryland Forest Park. This time it will be in woods near the Quincenntennial Bridge.
Over 1,000 plants have been collected for Saturday's 'plantahon' with the primary species being 'wild garlic' as we attempt to create thematic flora areas in certain locations within this 180 acres nature and farmland reserve.
So we ask you to please join us on this Saturday(May 28th).
Rendezvous: 11am near the Curry's (Galway Retail Park) entrance to Terryland Forest Park.
Google Map link: http://bit.ly/1NE6S2o

Celtic Cross Project: Volunteers Needed for Community Organic Garden

As well as the regular tasks that are undertaken in an organic garden such as weeding, sowing, pruning and repairing, the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden will this Saturday commence in laying the foundations of a large 16 meter long footpath designed in the shape of a Celtic Cross that will form a new pathway feature in this urban green facility. So lots of help is needed to create a structure that will give due recognition in a modern urban green setting to the cultural traditions of ancient Ireland and the Celtic people's strong affinity with Nature. The prominent 'Circle' in the Celtic Cross represents the 'Sun' whose different levels of light and heat though the four seasons of the year controlled their agricultural practices and associated annual communal festivals such as the Harvest Festival (Lughnasa), Samhain, Imbloc and Bealtaine. 

Hence we are appealing to as many volunteers as possible to come along at 11am on Saturday. At the end of the communal work, there is of course refreshments for all.
Google Maps location:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zy2xJB2YGAaU.kvWEedMz4s8A&usp=sharing

Happy Birthday CoderDojo Galway​

The first meeting of Coderdojo Galway city, January 2012

In January 2012, a small group of enthusiastic volunteers got together in the Computer and Communications Museum at the DERI Building NUI Galway under the auspices of Ado Bannon​ to discuss setting up a weekly coding club for children. The people present were inspired by the ‘Coderdojo’ model established by student James Whelton and entrepreneur Bill Liao in Cork six months previous.
Around the same time, the growing popularity of a free downloadable easy-to-use graphic block-based computer coding language from MIT in the United States known as Scratch made the dream of teaching every kid in the world how to programme achievable.
Attending that first pioneering meeting was Michael Madden​ Rob Stocker, Lisa Corcoran, Steve Holmes, ​Patrick Denny, Adrian Bannon and myself (Brendan Smith).
The rest as they say is history.

From day one, there has been enthusiastic support from parents, children and schools. Coderdojo Galway city now provides seven different sessions on Saturdays ranging from Arduino electronics, 3D printing to Scratch Beginners. It has spawned Coderdojos in Mayo, Roscommon and in many towns and villages across the length and breath of county Galway.
The club has endeavoured to promote social inclusion message and includes asylum seekers and travellers amongst its learners (ninjas). It has broadened its membership base to include teenagers and teen-centric sessions.
With its volunteer ethos, its local community structure and commitment towards upskilling the youth of Ireland, it is the 21st century technology version of that reputable and legendary Irish institution – the GAA. No higher praise could be given to a  movement that has captured the imagination of a whole country.
Thank you Ado Bannon for planting the seed that has grown into a giant entity with many branches that is in 2016 firmly rooted in Galway soil.

Creating an Online Archive of Life in Local Communities in 20th century Ireland

Lawrencetown National School, co. Galway, 1946

As part of my Outreach work at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at NUI Galway in association with the Galway Education Centre and Galway County Council I am providing an online facility for schools and active retirement groups to digitally archive stories, films and photographs of life in their localities over the last one hundred years as part of their contribution to the Easter Rising commemorations.

 

Junior Infants class, Creggs National School, 1971

The BEO (Irish for ‘alive’) project is a wonderful opportunity to commemorate the struggle for Irish independence and its subsequent impact on the lives of of ordinary people. It provides a way to capture online the changing face of local communities throughout a century, that experienced phenomenal economic, social, cultural and political change, by collecting and digitizing the pictures and words of ordinary people that have been handed down through families over many decades. 

 

At Coxtown Bog, Kiltormer, co. Galway, 1940s

In spite of the massive transformations that Ireland has experienced in technologies, economics and population movements since 1916, the parish school in many parts of the country still serves as the heart of its locality and the people that reside there. It is probably the only vibrant communal institution left that can act as the gatherer of such heritage material. 

 

Donkey & Trap, McEvoy family, Roscommon, 1909

The BEO project has been in operation for a number of years at this stage and has provided a lovely way particularly for the Irish Diaspora to re-connect with history of their youth, or that of their parents or grandparents. 

Honeymooning in Killarney (Carmel Garvey), 1957

Participating schools as well as heritage and active retirement groups are encouraged to host social evening BEO local heritage events for members of the local community, where attendees bring along or enjoy viewing images and artifacts of their school and geographical area in times past that offer a unique insight into an older Ireland of communal harvesting, livestock markets, religious devotion, a belief in banshees and fairies, turf cutting, dance halls, the ‘Big House’ and the small family farm. Much of this priceless heritage material brought to the school or community hall is often kept in family photo albums stored in attics, wardrobes and drawers often forgotten about as the years pass. 

 

Harvesting, Eyreville, co. Galway 1940s

The digitised images are then placed on a shared website for the benefit of present and future generations. There will be an information session for schools interested in taking part in the BEO project at 5pm on Tuesday next February 2^nd in the Galway Education Centre.

Scanning old photos. BEO Local Community Heritage Night, Lawrencetown School 2015

3 Athenry Castles Trail Revisited: A Magical Mystery Tour through east Galway

Michael Keaney with the cycling group in front of Castle Ellen

The recent Three AthenryCastles looped heritage cycle tour as part of Galway Bike Week 2015 was truly a magical mystery tour across the bogs and botharíns of east Galway. Some of the participating cyclists knew the route and individual castles and villages that we were going to be travelling too. But this time each of us at each stopoff encountered something different, something exciting and at times even exotic. 

The Emerald Isle Express at Ceannt Station, Galway

From our arrival at Galway’s Ceannt Station where we gazed in awe at the classical Emerald Isle Express steam engine and luxurious rail carriages with its international clientele that was straight out of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express; to the food fair market with its mix of food, beverageg and crafts stalls that preceded by a guided tour of the hugely impressive medieval castle with its battlements, keep and towers in historic Athenry; then on the road pass small fields, bogs and the village of Newcastle before we came to view the carnivorous Venus Flytrap plants  and frogs of Monivea Bog; then down into the underground vaults of the aristocratic ffrench family castellated mausoleum with Russian, Maltese and Anglo-Irish coat-of-arms that lays deep in a forest to look at the lead coffins still decked with a wreath of flowers that was placed there in 1938. 

Coffin of Kathleen ffrench, ffrench Mausoleum

Then it was a journey through the woods to look at owl boxes positioned high in the trees by Norman Clune and his friends from the Monivea Wildlife group. In the McGann hostelry of the nearby colonial plantation village, we were served up a fine country spread of sandwiches and teas. 

MacGann's pub in quaint village of Monivea

After being thoroughly refreshed and energised, we cycled on through a picturesque landscape of traditional stone walls and fields populated with sheep and cattle to the Georgian splendour of Castle Ellen to be greeted by the ebullient Gaelic lord of the manor himself Michael Keaney. Every time we visit his historic demesne we encounter some new treasure. This time Michael brought us into a 19^th century garden ‘folly’, comprising a maze of arches and pathways. 

Alexandre Herman in Arch's Bar, Athenry

Our final stop was the new Arch Bar in Athenry which has been transformed into a fine trendy crafts beer and dining establishment. 

Cycling group in front of Athenry Castle

We look forward with anticipation to our next journey on this trail!

Athenry Food Market

Botharín in Tiaquin

Venus Flytrap, Monivea Bog

ffrench's Mausoleum, Monivea

Sculpture of Robert Percy ffrench, ffrench's Mausoleum

German Stain Glass windoww, ffrench's Mausoleum

Victorian era Folly (paths and arches), Castle Ellen

Details of our previous Three Athenry Castles Heritage Cycle Tour in August 2014 are here

 

An Urban Forest's Weird & Wonderful Arthropods at Galway Science Fair

4th year science students Paul Brett and Lauren Browne showed visitors to the Terryland Forest Park stand at the Galway Science & Technology Festival Fair, samples of the dozens of species of arthropods that they discovered in the Terryland Forest Park. 

Paul's research provides ample proof that the man-made woodlands of this urban natural heritage area is a vibrant treasure chest of invertebrate animals that include spiders, beetles and millipedes whilst Lauren uncovered nymphs, water beetles and crustaceans in the Terryland River. 

Both students are working under the supervision of Dr. Michel Dugon aka 'The Bug Doctor'. 
The completed report of their findings should be available for viewing to Terryland volunteers and supporters early in 2015. 

We thank all three university personnel for their invaluable research that will contribute so much in helping to make Terryland Forest Park a major Outdoor Classroom and Outdoor Laboratory for the schools and colleges of Galway.

Galway is ‘Youth Coding Capital’ of Europe

Coderdojo session, NUI Galway

An information and registration event for both young people and parents interested in having their children learn computer coding will take place from 2pm-3pm in the Insight Centre for Data Analytics in the Dangan Business Park, NUI Galway.

Coderdojo session, NUI Galway

The event will introduce attendees to the programming and electronics courses being provided in a relaxed social environment from mid October by Coderdojo, Ireland’s fastest growing youth movement. Sessions will be held in the IT Building and at Insight in the university. At a dojo (Japanese term for training centre), young people between the ages of five and seventeen learn how to code, develop websites, apps, programs and games. Dojos are set up, managed and taught by volunteers. The first Coderdojo was established in Cork in June 2011 by James Whelton and Bill Liao. Since then it has become an Irish technology export success story active in forty-three countries.

Coderdojo session, NUI Galway

According to Brendan Smith, one of Coderdojo Galway’s co-founders, “There is a real appetite amongst our young people to learn how to code. They want to move on from playing computer games to making their own versions. This is shown by the fact that every Saturday, in towns across Galway including Athenry, Clifden, Eyrecourt, Kinvara, Loughrea, Mountbellew and Tuam as well as in NUI Galway, hundreds of enthusiastic children and teenagers create their very own games, digital stories and web applications facilitated by volunteer Coderdojo mentors. 

Coderdojo session, NUI Galway

The language used for beginners to coding is Scratch. Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Scratch is the most popular computer language for young people worldwide, being a significant catalyst in the huge uptake in coding across the world over the last few years. It has a cross-disciplinary ethos and structure that combines mathematics with elements of arts, engineering and personal development. So we are using this opportunity to encourage our young coders or ‘ninjas’ to showcase their projects to the general public.” 

Computer Coding class in Galway Primary School, mentored by Insight volunteer

Brendan goes on to say that “Coding is the new literacy of the 21^st century. It will be as important for our children to learn how to programme as it is how to read and to write. It is the foundation stone on which the modern technology age is being built. Hence for Ireland to develop a sustainable knowledge economy and society, it is vital that we harness the creativity of our youth to innovate the beneficial products and processes that the world needs. Thankfully there is at present a convergence of a diverse range of digital initiatives happening in this region that could transform Galway into becoming the Youth Coding Capital of Ireland and indeed of Europe.  The success can be demonstrated by the fact that during the inaugural Europe Coding Week held last November, not only was Ireland the most active country but Galway city and county hosted the highest concentration of events of any location in Europe.

The region has elements that could allow it to become known as the ‘Silicon Galway Bay’, a European version of California’s Silicon Valley. Many of the world’s leading corporations in the biomedical and information technology sectors such as Avaya, Boston Scientific, Cisco, Electronic Arts, Hewlett-Packard, Medtronic and SAP, are already based here. These industries have developed links to research centres located in GMIT and NUIG such as Insight, Ryan and REMEDI which are providing the scientific expertise to sustain their presence in Galway and underpin their status as leaders in cutting edge product development. Insight at NUI Galway for instance is part of a cross Ireland university research centre designed to provide a national ICT research platform based on world-class research programmes that will serve as a global beacon for the science and application of Big Data Analytics. 

Digital Female Solidarity: 'Rail Girls' workshop Insight NUI Galway June 2014

There is also the presence locally of Irish-owned high tech manufacturing and services industries such as Creganna and Storm Technologies. But we can be even better than Silicon Valley in many respects. For whilst the San Francisco Bay area is the world’s premier powerhouse of leading edge industries, technological innovation and research, nevertheless there are serious social and economic problems that  manifests itself in a high income disparity, a disconnect between businesses and local communities as well a low percentage of quality opportunities available for the indigenous population with approximately 50% of the jobs in the high tech sector being taken by people from outside the United States. Yet Galway has traditions and characteristics that, supported by new government education policies, should ensure that our local school-going populations and communities secure the maximum benefit vis-à-vis employment and services. 

091 Labs stand at the Galway Science & Technology Festival, NUI Galway

Key to this development is the teaching of coding to our young people in schools and clubs, which is happening at a higher level here than anywhere else in Ireland thanks to the volunteerism and deep sense of ‘community solidarity’ that is such a strong feature of Galway society. 
This is epitomized by the actions of the prime ‘movers and shakers’ in the industrial, political, educational and local government sectors who have over the years collaborated under the auspices of the Galway Education Centre, Junior Achievement and the Galway Science and Technology Festival, to deliver important learning initiatives in schools and colleges across the Western region. 

Computer Coding class in Mayo Post-Primary School, mentored by Insight volunteer

Modern version of Meitheal reaching into schools
 In a modern industrial urban version of ‘Meitheal’ that was once the hallmark of traditional Irish rural community support, these visionaries have promoted and harnessed an army of young professional mentors from industry and third level colleges who give their time and energies to teach in primary and post-primary classrooms delivering science courses whilst acting as positive ‘role models’ for our young generation.  

School Mentors, Hewlett Packard

Over the last year, volunteer tutors from Hewlett Packard, GMIT and NUI Galway have worked together to coordinate the delivery of computer programming courses to thousands of pupils and students in over sixty primary and post-primary schools across counties Mayo, Westmeath and Galway.

Local young people’s clubs such as ‘091 Labs’ and the Coderdojos are providing informal after-school digital makers’ environments. 

Ciaran Cannon TD for east Galway and former Minister of State at the Dept of Education has taken a very pro-active ‘hand-ons’ approach in promoting digital creativity in schools and amongst communities. Government educational reform has ensured that five decades after the tentative introduction of computing into Irish schools, coding will soon become part of the national post-primary curriculum at junior cycle level.  We are therefore witnessing the birth of the first generation of Irish children that can code, people who are truly ‘digital creators’ rather than just passive ‘digital users’.

Bernard Kirk(director of Galway Education Centre; Dáire Smith (Coláiste Iognáid); Brendan Smith (Insight & Coderdojo) & Ciaran Cannon TD)

There is a vibrant digital buzz about Galway that is found no where else in Ireland which also finds expression not just through youth-based coding clubs, high tech manufacturing sector; business associations such as ITAG; presence of world renowned IT research third level institutes but also through perpetual trophies such as ‘John Cunningham Memorial Coderdojo Awards’; the annual ‘Rails Girls’ conference which highlights the role of women in technology; and the popularity of the NUIG-based ‘Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland’ which give due recognition to the strong historical connections of Galway with the origins of the global village and its five decades long associations with leading edge computing.”

Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland, Insight NUI Galway