Galway Advertiser 1998/1998_03_26/GA_26031998_E1_016.pdf 

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l e s r R i a n i s a r i o n "Just a place for a bollard!", the Councillor cried As the crew he led round by the ear "Place another right here! and we'll hold back that tide! What the motorist thinks I don't care!" Soon the bollards were up and the street was bereft From the edge of Moon's corner on down Not a single combustible engine was left: All the cars had been driven from town. But the people still walked on the pavements in dread Though now a broad walkway lay clear While outside the town there was anger instead Surely soon someone would pay dear. The men from the Claddagh declared with a curse That the new plan was nothing but s -- e "How is it, they asked, that things always get worse And they always get done overnight? O poor persecuted pedestrian! O motorist driven half mad! Perhaps we should all go equestrian I'm sure all the dogs would be glad.

'Youth' article makes reader's blood boil
Dear Editor, Reading your article in Vol 28, No 11, 'Galway Youth Get Their Say' got my blood boiling. As a parent of two teenagers and someone who works with teenagers in my spare time, I am appalled by the stupidity of your hope fully ironically meant article. Not all teenagers understand who Dr Ross and Nurse Hathaway are, as not all teenagers watch the slime that is pro duced by adults. If the writer of the article would take off his/her blinkers and talk to teenagers or go into schools and see how young sters get involved in things like Greenpeace and Amnesty etc, he/she would see/hear how young people of the age groups described are articulate and more outspoken than the majority of people my age - 4 0 something - that I meet in pubs, ie drug-abusing alcohol. Teenagers these days are as good and as bad as we were when we were young. Sorry 'old folks', just go back a few years in memory and try to think how delighted you would have been about such a so-called 'ironic article'. Yours disgusted, Peter Lochmann Castle Creevy, Corrandulla, Co Galway

The late Tommy Tierney
Dear Editor, Allow me to offer my condolences on the death of Tommy Tiemey, former mayor of Galway, to Peggy his wife, and his family. Tommy, Peggy and I go back a lot of years. When they lived in Bowling Green we played together and grew up together in Galway. Tommy was a popular mayor and excelled himself when he visited the USA while mayor of Galway and I, for one, was proud of him during his term of mayor from 1967 to 1968. The man from Bowling Green did Galway proud. Yours sincerely, Willie Fahy 5747 Spring Moon, San Antonio, Texas 78247

At last it's o v e r
t last it's over. On Tuesday of this week the Supreme Court gave the green light to Galway Corporation's plan for a sewage treatment plant on Mutton Island. At the same tune the Supreme Court decisively rejected the appeal made by the Save Galway Bay Group against the High Court decision last summer that also dismissed the group's objections to the Corporation plan. What is of the greatest significance, however, is the Supreme Court's unequivocal recognition of Galway Corporation's careful and responsible approach to the provision of a treatment plant for Galway, stating that the body had complied with the requirements of the Foreshore Regulations in respect of its application for a licence for the Mutton Island project Furthermore, said Mr Justice Justice Keane, who delivered judgement, the Environmental Impact Study undertaken by the Corporation "dealt comprehensively with the visual aspects of the proposed development and with its possible effect on the ecolo gy of the area, including the fauna and flora and, in particular the wild bird population, together with any possible implications for public health". At last it's over. The 17 year saga of Galway's efforts to provide a sewage treatment plant has been an unholy mixture of farce and frustration, anger and obfuscation, much smoke and only occasional flickers of light What has been now vindicated as a perfectly responsible plan for Galway's badly needed sewage plant was portrayed by the Save Galway Bay Group as if it was the very height of carelessness and irresponsibility. Time and again the terms of the argument were redefined, the goalposts moved, and it seemed as if anything that could be used to bring discredit to the corporation's carefully researched plan was per fectly admissible. A thoroughly objectionable seizure of the moral high ground was carried out by those calling themselves 'ecologists' and 'environmentalists' in such a way that the impression was conveyed that anyone who happened to disagree with them was not merely wrong but 'bad' into the bargain. The idea that even 'ecologists' and 'environmentalists* could be wrong, could be in bad faith, was simply not allowed to arise. Perhaps the most serious consequence of the the campaign against the corporation is the decision taken in 1995 by EU Regional Policy Commissioner Monika Wulf-Mathies to withdraw EU binding because she accepted the Save Galway Bay Groups argument that it would have a major negative environmental impact Has the commissioner any understanding of what subsidiarity is all about? Former minister for the environment Brendan Howlin has also served this city badly. Readers will recall that Mr Howhn's indefensible about-turn, having forthrightly backed the Corporation plan, within weeks he then decided that the corporation would have to drop the proposed causeway out to the island, causing further unnecessary confusion. Galway Corporation and the vast majority of Galway householders and citizens who backed the plan and, as the letters page of this newspaper amply demonstrates, found themselves in despair at the annual summer stench, found they had also to cope with selfproclaimed 'experts' from around the country who, as 'environmentalists' obviously had a much greater understanding of what ought to be done in Galway than the majority of Galwegians. The Irish Tunes, in its editor! alyesterday on the Supreme Court decision, continues to adopt this condescending attitude to the people who actually live here and those who have the heavy responsibility of running and maintaining the city and infra structure. To these know-it-alls we say: Thank you but mind your own business. At last it's over. And if there are any positive things to emerge from this fantastically cosdy and unjustified delay one of them is certainly that we may rest assured that the treatment plant will be built to the highest standards, and that the city's new amenity - the causeway - will be developed and landscaped so as to be be a credit to Galway. We are sure that it will be. Let the work begin. And not before time.

A

Young" people out of control
Dear Editor, I am living in Castle Park on the east side of the i and I have had trouble for some time now with groups of young people gathering on street corners and alleyways. Even as I write this letter they are outside my house, shouting and screaming and behaving in a downright loutish fashion. It has come to the stage where my family and I feel that we cannot go outside when they are there because the abuse that is shouted is unbelievable. The guards cannot do anything about them as majority are underage and it would only be a waste
Dear Editor, I have been researching the history of the Martyn/Martin family, better known as one of the Tribes of Galway, for over two years, from the earliest origins of the family and its con nection over the centuries with the history of Ireland in gen eral and Galway in particular. I would love to hear from anyone of the name of Martyn/Martin or anyone who may be descended from a member of the family, so as to include them in a forthcoming book I am presently writing. I intend to conclude my research at the end of this year (1998), so I would urge anyone interested to get in contact with me at the address below at their earliest convenience. Yours sincerely, Adrian James Martyn PO Box 170 Galway City E-Mail: martyn@netaccess. ie

Researching the Martyns of Galway

Reader seeking information on great-grandparents
Dear Editor, I am seeking for information about my great-grandparents and their parents. Mary Cumin was born in Galway or Clare in 1826. Her parents were Edmund Curran and Brigit Allen. James Cullen was born in 1827. His parents were Jacobi Cullen and Mary Hughes. My great-grandparents sailed to America during the 1840s and settled in LaPorte, Indiana and later in Niles, Michigan. They named their four sons Michael, James, John and Edmund. I will be most appreciative of any information from your readers. Cordially, Mike Cullen 4240 Stowe Way, Sacramento CA 95864 USA E-mail: captaui@2xtreme.net T H I S W E E K . . .

Tie up those bin
Comment and Letters page of the a question to the people of Galway? i their refuse sacks? On bin day and ere is always a mess where a refuse