Galway Advertiser 2008/GA_2008_01_03/GA_0301_E1_016.pdf 

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GALWAY VOICE

January 3 2008

Lack of seating left me seething at Shannon concert
Dear Editor, Tickets for the Sharon Shannon concert on Saturday the December 29 were bought online with no indication that it was a standing-up concert. The word "unreserved" prompted us to queue early outside Leisureland to secure a suitable seat. What a disappointment on entry to discover that there wasn't a seat in sight in such a spacious venue. I find this selling of tickets under false pretences quite annoying. Yours Margaret Desbonnet, Roscam, Galway.

Galway girls eat, smoke, drink, and vomit too much
Home for Christmas reader is smitten by Eastern beauties
Dear Editor, I was home for an enjoyable Christmas in Galway but I noticed one big change -- the beautiful, smiling, happy, and slim Polish, Romanian and other Eastern European women. Wow! What a pleasure to meet them and I am sorry to say what a contrast with our Galway cailins. Yes, a Galway Cailin is great craic with fags, binge drinking, a little overweight tummy and her late night vomiting. I suppose it is fun to behave like that and maybe I am just intolerant, but I couldn't help noticing the Polish and other foreign girls with their lovely smiles, great sense of fun which is old fashioned, amusing conversation -- and a modest consumption of alcohol. It's probably not politically correct to say that most of the foreign girls have stunning figures, walk tall with a straight back and look elegant in jeans. I am sorry that not only Galway girls, but most Irish girls have lost the plot when it comes to having a good night out. I am looking forward to coming back in the summer and meeting some of these beautiful Easter European girls. Yours, James London NW11 (Full name and address with editor)

Time to disband this city council
Dear Editor, What is it about our city councillors? How come they cannot meet and agree about anything before the meetings descend into chaos and name calling. It is behaviour you would expect to see in a schoolyard. And now just before Christmas, we have further ignominy brought upon the city when it emerged that two councillors squared up to one another in full view of the public at a public restaurant. I know they justifed this by saying that they were boisterous because they had more drinking time as the meeting ended (in disarray once again) three hours early, but really is this an excuse from the people who represent us? Was this meal paid for by the mayor's allowance or was it paid for by the councillors themselves? If it was funded from the public purse, then I think that it has given the public a greater right to call for this city council to be disbanded because they do not reflect the city I live in and love. They seem to be a band of arrogant, ill-behaved representatives. How come the county council do not behave in this manner? Granted, they did not cover themselves in glory towards the end of the year when they took a decision that was most baffling regarding the absence of a councillor for some time. But despite this, they manage to remain courteous and well-behaved, never resorting to name calling or insults. Galway is falling behind in terms of infrastructure, transport, facilities and at a time when the Celtic Tiger was strongest, the best chance to redress this was wasted by the election of undoubtedly the worst group of councillors this city has EVER had. If this is the best that we can expect, God help us at the next election. Yours, M Kelly, Knocknacarra

Why are all our monuments off limits? Minister is brave to mess around with
Dear Editor, I passed the Wilde monument in William Street this week and it was cordoned off with protective fencing for some reason or other. The Browne Doorway has been cordoned off for nearly three years now. Padraic O Conaire is cordoned off in a museum where nobody can see him. Galway -- a city of the arts? Don't make me laugh. All our public sculptures are off limits at some stage or other. It is a pity that our elected representatives in City Hall are not given the same treatment. Yours, Johann Gurgstem, Tirellan Heights, Galway.

FF-supporting hunters
Dear Editor, It has been suggested in recent weeks that Environment Minister John Gormley might be playing a dangerous political game in taking on the stag hunters. Certainly, millionaire businessmen with close links to Fianna Fail are not folk to mess around with. Ward Union Joint hunt master Michael Bailey is a long time supporter of the main government party and a very powerful man indeed, as are many of the other fans and members of the hunt in question. But surely the Minister has displayed great courage and ecological foresight in seeking to protect a precious part of Ireland's wildlife heritage, the noble stag; the animal that once occupied pride of place on our pound coin, before the accursed euro took over. His aim has been to prevent the infliction of unnecessary suffering and distress on the stags that the Ward Union hunt, up until recently, was free to hound to exhaustion and often agonising injury. If the hunters can't operate the new licence conditions controlling their

hobby, they can always switch to drag hunting, where none of those irritating restrictions will apply and they can ride to their heart's content. They can gallop as free as the wind, blow their horns, listen to dogs snarling and barking as before, and then drink hot toddies or whatever in the pubs afterwards. Drag...versus pure bloody boring. Which is it to be? For all their big talk about bringing the Minister to heel on this issue, I reckon he is a master political

tactician, superior to anyone these high fliers have heretofore encountered in their bid to dress up cruelty and countryside mayhem as sport. If they try to outwit him, it will, I suspect, be a case of the unspeakable in full pursuit of the unbeatable, with apologies to Oscar Wilde. Yours, John Fitzgerald, Callan.

`Deflated' hunters are like spoiled children
Dear Editor, Refering to the articles on the stag hunt, I'd like to comment on Michael Bailey's , Master of the Ward Union Hunts quote 'we're so deflated, its all about the thrill of the chase and that was lost here today'. Apparently St Stephen's Day's hunt left them so upset they couldn't look at each other in the pub afterwards. Well poor them! What comes to mind is a spoilt child who has had his ball taken away despite having a box of other toys. This hunt could drag hunt, which of course is not good enough for them. The bloodlust is so strongly enshrined in these people's mentality that they openly admit that the cruelty involved in stag hunting is acceptable as long as these spoiled children are amused. There are people without homes, children on the streets, poverty and real problems out there and these stag hunters can do little else but moan that it's like having the smell of turkey without turkey! What a lot of selfish thoughtless people they are....even overlooking the unnecessary cruelty they want to continue with. Yours Bernie Wright. Association of Hunt Saboteurs. PO BOX 4734. Dublin 1.

Too much Twink -- Mike Murphy DVD was rubbish, says disappointed viewer
Dear Editor, On Christmas day I received a gift of Candid Camera I'm Mike Murphy from RTE DVD. I was delighted as it brought back floods of memories as I'm sure for many people, of sitting at home with my parents in two channel land watching pioneering television (for its time) in fooling the Irish public with various pranks. Prior to the release of the DVD I had often said it's a pity that RTE never aired the series again. After watching the entire DVD including the bonus, section, I must say I was never as disappointed with what I can only describe as rubbish. It was not what I expected at all. The entire DVD is produced as an interview with Mike Murphy, Fran Dempsey and Adele King. This had already been aired on RTE some time ago. They jump from scene to scene, talk over all the scenes, indeed, Twink only features in one of the gags, yet she is talking for over half of the DVD. I just wanted the DVD to show the original series back to back the way it was produced for television -- like what you would expect when you buy the Father Ted box set etc. They don't even show the infamous Gaybo gag which everyone remembers in its entirety and yes they all talk over that one too. What RTE have released is what you would expect to find on the `extras' section of most DVDs. So needless to say I will not be buying anymore DVDs released by RTE. It's up there with interrupting the epic film Titanic by showing the news and weather on December 27 last -- and they wonder why they are losing ratings! Mise Le Meas, Aidan Coughlan 5. Father Griffin Ave., Galway

GALWAY VOICE - HAVE YOUR SAY

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