Galway Advertiser 2004/2004_01_01/GA_0101_E1_034.pdf 

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34 N E W S

Galway Advertiser

January 1 2004

"He hid the cameras in the corner of rooms he rented out to his tenants. They were in the bathroom, bedroom and living room, and were connected to a video recorder which in turn was connected to a computer belonging to the accused." Inspector Tony O'Donnell describes the high-tech surveillance system that Galway landlord Hugh O'Donnell had set up in his house at Gleann Dara. Apart from the images of the female tenants in the bathrooms and bedrooms, his computer was found to contain 100 child porn images downloaded from the Internet. "Prepare to meet your maker." What a Galway barman was told when a broken ashtray was held over this lead during a robbery in a city bar -- 180 was taken in the raid. "Always a bridesmaid never a bride, my foot. I have my very own Oscar now to be with me until death do us part. " Cleggan-born Peter O'Toole speaking after he was given an honorary Oscar at the ceremony in Hollywood. He had earlier refused to take it, saying he wanted to win one for his work, but he later relented. "I thought they were making a movie, but it soon became apparent they were real." An eyewitness who was in Eyre Square when a group of men used baseball bats to smash the winds of an occupied car before a high-speed chase in the city centre. The incident was feud related. "If you bought a bike ten years ago with the intention of getting fit and you're climbing over it to get to the lawnmower, then we'd love to have it." Gort St Vincent de Paul made a successful appeal for bicycles for the hundreds of Brazilians who have made the town their home. The bikes were repaired and handed out to the grateful South Americans. "Was it windy or cold that night?" Judge John Garavan asked a Mayo student after the student pleaded guilty to exposing himself after his friends had stripped him on a night out. "I won't be starving myself after all. I was very frustrated when I made those comments." Cllr Michael "Stroke" Fahy eating humble pie after he threatened to starve himself on the steps of County Hall unless his concerns about planning matters were dealt with. He said however, that he does not make statements for the benefits of the ballot box.
Mould-maker Kieran McGlynn, who has worked at Royal Tara for 40 years, after staff were told of the closure plans. Photo by Aengus McMahon

Yes, it would, Martin. Former mayor Martin Quinn after he proposed that one of the days at the Galway Races and Galway Arts Festival be declared drink-free. "Cometh the icebucket, cometh the mayor. Her name was drawn from the icebucket and so she'll be the nominee." The PD reveal how just how "high-tech" their selection of mayor Terry O'F;laherty over party colleague Paul Colleran was. "I was always a local politicians. I attempted a national nomination after Bobby defected to the PDs but it didn't happen." Cllr Micheal O hUiginn looks back on his career after he announced he will not be seeking re-election to the council in June's elections. That month, he will have served on the council for 40 years. "From the ferocious O'Flahertys, Lord preserve us. It won't be a case of that." Mayor Terry O'Flaherty tells Galwegians that they have nothing to fear from the latest batch of the O'Flaherty clan to lead Galway when she followed in her mother's footsteps and became first citizen in July. " When a doctor, lawyer, engineer makes a formal report, their formal qualifications are normally appended to it. Why can that not apply to the city planners who make so many decisions on behalf of the city." Watchdog group Cairde na Gaillimhe announce they are making an appeal for all planners qualifications to be revealed. "I haven't spoken in public about this because it's a personal thing but now that I've been asked, yes, it was a bit of a low when I found out that I had cancer of the prostate, but I've dealt with that the best I can and everything is under control." Former minister and PD founder Bobby Molloy speaking in July about how he was diagnosed with cancer just months after retiring in 2002.

"I remember Bishop Casey telling people at the cathedral the week before the Pope came that if they were going to Ballybrit, they should make their own seating arrangements. So I rang a company in Blackpool who made beach chairs and bought 45,000 of them. How mad was I? Within four days I had sold them all and made a quid on each of them." Eyre Square trader Gerry Devaney recalls how he took a gamble in 1979, as he celebrated in May being 40 years in the square. "Tiocfaidh ar la" A homeless man shouted the well-known nationalist phrase as he was led away after being charged with being drunk and disorderly. "If organs are to be retains, next of kin should give informed consent. If not, it's a case of going back to grave snatching." Former Western health Board chairman Dr Noel Rice hits out at reports that staff at University College Hospital Galway removed brains from deceased adults and retained them for research without consent. "I'm 51 years of age, so it's not looking good for me to work in another factory," A heartbroken worker at Royal Tara reacts to the news that the factory is set to close at at the end of the year. "By the time we had reached the bottom, it had become very hot and it was hard to breathe. Roselle was beginning to pant and wanted to stop to drink the water that was pooled on the floor." 9/11 survivor Michael Hingson told a Galway audience how his guide dog Roselle led him from the 78th floor of the World Trade Centre to safety. "If one is completely deprived and at the bottom of the scale in this consumer society, it must be impossible not to be tempted to steal." Judge John Garavan sympathising with the plight of a refugee who was facing a second conviction for shoplifting in May. "If I were to die and come back, I would like to come back as myself again." PD TD Noel Grealish tells us just how happy he is to be himself. "These declarations of interest have gone over the top. Now you have to add in the interest of your partners, wives, stepchildren maybe even unknown children." Deputy Padraic McCormack hits out at the stictness of the new ethics in politics rules. "Bertie should spend a night in a corridor in UCHG and then he'd know what's really happening." A Galwaywoman, whose elderly mother was one of 26 on trolleys in the corridors of the hospital in early June, invites the

Taoiseach to come and sample a night on the wards. "Somebody said it was appropriate that there should be someone lying outside a pub." City Manager John Tierney jocosely explained how why some of the matchstick men were lying flat out in the model of the new look Eyre Square. "It might be a bit off the wall, but to tell people they can enjoy themselves without a drink would be a challenge."

Camilla Lofqvist of Moore Group Archaeological and Environmental Services at the Eyre Square site where human remains were unearthed. Photo by Aengus McMahon

Former Miss Ireland Vivienne Doyle pictured after her wedding to Aer Lingus pilot Kevin Quinn at St Mary's Church, the Claddagh.