Galway Advertiser 1993/1993_02_25/GA_25021993_E1_010.pdf 

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L E T T E R S

IT N A Y L O O K L I K E IT, B U TI T ' S NOT T H E E N D
HERE is certainly no point in trying to downplay what last week's shock announcement about Digital means for Galway. As commentators have already pointed out, we are not talking about simply the 1,100 full-time jobs, but at least 250 parttime jobs, and probably at least another 1,000 jobs that will feel the effects of either a shut-down or, what seems more likely now, a radical slim-down that will preserve the software section of the com pany. Also there are the countless ways in which such a sudden loss of employment will affect a whole range of smaller business and in dividuals. And then there is the human cost - the effect on wives and husbands and children - which is, quite simply incalculable. There is an obvious desire to assign blame, to find a culprit, a scapegoat, to load with our anger and feelings of intense disappoint ment and depression. Could the Irish Government have done more? Ought they to have foreseen this disaster coming? Should we direct our anger and resentment at the British Government for putting the pistol to Mr. Palmer's head and threatening future contracts if he pulled out of the plant at Ayr? Have our Government ministers been remiss or careless in exploring every avenue available to avert this closure? Readers can add to this list of questions others of their own. But what's the point. Whatever happens to Digital in Galway, it has to be seen in the context of the world-wide shift in the computer industry. Silicon Valley, once the Mecca of the quintessentially late 20th century industry, has been in decline for at least the last two to three years. IBM and Apple - the giants who set the pace for the rest - felt the chill wind of change at least eighteen months ago, if not longer. Last year Digital offered redundancy to a number of its staff. Those who decided not to take advantage of it clearly felt that the company would weather the cur rent wrld-wide chill. Sadly, this obviously has not been the case. As Mayor Padraic McCormick, who led the emergency delegation to Boston this week, accurately said, "Digital is part of Galway and Galway is part of Digital". Digital has been good to Galway. And Galway has been good to Digital. It's been, for many years, since Ken Olsen brought the company here in 1971, a very effective two-way benefit. The company brought employment in large numbers, in a comI pany that demonstrated in many little and large ways its appreciation I of its workforce. Its generous sponsorship of the arts and other com munity ventures, such as the Old Folks Park in Sal thill, showed a com mitment to Galway that was valued by us all. And Digital, through the educational programmes set up in con junction with U.C.G. and the R.T.C., was able to bring into the com pany "the best and the brightest", exposing them to and involving them in a sophisticated system of management and high-tech develop ment. It is worth reflecting that any company with as complex a pro file as Digital relies to a large extent on an educated workforce. The experience of companies and businesses who have set up in countries where costs are cheap have often learned the hard way that unless there is such an educated workforce, such as Galway provides, the savings made are lost in other, perhaps more important ways. Yet, despite the disaster looming, we really should not feel like its the end. Over the twenty years that Digital has been in Galway, the whole face of Irish industry and business has changed. You only have to note the numerous Galway firms that have received the ISO 9000 Quality Awards to appreciate the exceptionally high standards Irish companies and businesses now exhibit. We have the skills and abilities, as a people, to surmount this undeniable and major set-back. Although it would be quite understandable to fear such an outcome, we must not let it destroy all the advances that have been made in the last two decades.

SETBACKS ARE ONLY TEMPORARY
Dear Editor, By way of offering some consolation to the people in Digital who are affected by the current crisis, the im mediate question to ask is, "What are the core values that make you tick as a per son?" If our hopes and self worth are based on our careers, houses, employers, politicians, governments, economic treaties, etc, we are building on the sand and are bound to be disappointed. St Paul, when he wrote to the Colossians, urged the people to "set their affec tions on the things above, not on things on the earth''. He later explains to the Hebrews that there is only one kingdom (administra tion) that cannot be shaken. We are witnessing the shak ing of everything else at the moment. There are not too many unshakable places left to invest our treasures in. Ultimately (and who knows when) we will all face a day when someone will judge our works here on earth. The long term in vestments we make in the here and now will be the ones that will bear fruit on that day. Any temporary set backs in the current period are just temporary. Invest carefully for the future. Yours sincerely, Seamus O'Callaghan 68 Ardillaun Rd., Newcastle, Galway.

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A Galway Suffragist

T THIS TIME in [ 1860 an import ant legal case was heard in the Rolls Court in Dublin. It was between Ashworth and a number of individuals in Galway and related to the fishery rights Dear Editor, in the city.
The antiquity of these rights were not in question. They went back to the early thirteenth century and had been granted to William de Burgo, the leader of the Normans who came to Galway. Of course the fishery rights depended on the Norman conquest and many Irish people felt that this was an infringement of older and more just claims. The case, however, centred less on the claim of Galway people to older rights dating back to pre-Norman times than on the view that the legal title was limited to the area between the west bridge and the salmon weir. Indeed a court in 18SS had decreed that the title to the Galway fishery which the Ashworth family bought under the Encumbered Estates Court at the time was valid. The 1860 court case was an effort to limit the area of the river involved. The Galway citizens involved claimed that they were entitled to fish the river from Menlo to the weir and from the bridge to the sea. Obviously Galwegians were fighting a rearguard action to curtail as much as possible the rights of the new owners of the fishery. They were to be unsuccessful and the Ashworth family was to establish its claim. It is interesting to note that the family was one with a liberal history. Henry Ashworth was afounderof the Anti Com Law League, a friend of William Cobden and a close associate of John Bright. His publications include a great deal of biographical information on Cobden. This liberal tradition lasted in the family and it explains perhaps why Galway can boast of having among its citizens a lady who was a great pioneer of women's suffrage. She was Lilias Ashworth Hallett who inherited the Galway fishery. P. O'Neill.

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CAR RALLY

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SHOULD CONTINUE?

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SUPPORT FOR N O N SMOKING PUR
Dear Editor, I am encouraged by your editorial supporting the recently proposed idea of a non-smoking pub. The main reason I rarely go to a pub is because of the heavy smoking, coupled with the lack of adequate smoke filtration/extraction systems. Apart from the obvious pro blems of a haze in the pub and the smell of one's hair and clothes, there is the more important health issue. Smoking and passive smok ing have been conclusively linked to numerous serious health problems. Simply put, I would be happy to freuqent a non smoking pub that served a good pint and had traditional music. Such an establish ment would be truly a "breath of fresh air" in Galway! I hope a publican has the courage to give it a try, even if only for one night a week. Properly advertised, it could be the key to attracting new, and grateful, customers. Sincerely, Debbie Putnam Middle Third, Maree, Oranmore, Co. Galway

As I walked in Coole Park on Sunday, February 7th, to get away from the noise and fumes of the city, I was looking in vain for the peace, silence and tranquili ty normally present there: the roar from the Galway Rally ripped through the forest, aggresively assaulting my ears and nerves, and there was no getting away from it in the vicinity. What purpose is this event serving, other than grandious macho egotripping and making money out of hype and sensa tionalism? Is there anything sane, healing, nourishing in it? The cars are built and maintained at great expense to the environment, using toxic materials and fabrica tion methods; petrol and oil are burned and wasted which is pollution, i.e. destructive to nature, and the noise created rips

asunder the country silence - and for what end? So that one person or team can be a "winner" - tasting victory and superiority over other unfortunate losers for a very short time, as that kind of satisfaction is a short-lived kick, like the high of any drug. In other words, we are paying with the resources of our natural environment and have to sacrifice our per sonal health and freedom to exist in peace and tranquili ty in order to facilitate these aggressive macho-pushers. I am herewith registering my strongest possible pro test about this onslaught called "sport", which has nothing to show for it but destruction and triumphalism and the highs bas ed on titillation by danger. A sorry state when "fun" and incomes are based on this! Yours sincerely, A Voice in the Wilderness.

M T R RALLY SHARES OO
Dear Editor, I refer to a letter in your edition of 11 February last. I wish to confirm that Galway Motor Club shares a concern about the environ ment and arranged for the retrieval and removal of several loads of rubbish materials from roads in the Kilcolgan area in the early part of last week. Much of this rubbish was food wrappings, uneaten food and indeed unused food which may be attributable to mobile and other food ven ding outlets, none of which was invited along by Galway Motor Club. Their only contribution to the ral ly was the rubbish to which Mr. Quinn refers. Our concern for the en vironment led to the in troduction this year of a special award created by Alan Murray from bog oak and presented to Kenny McKinstray, whose Subaru was second overall, and us ed unleaded petrol during the event. Safety tapes on gates I understand have now been removed - each hard working stage crew had two stage roads from which to remove safety tapes, and could not do this work suc cessfully in the dark. Yours faithfully, Brian G. Thornton Event Press Officer.

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