Galway Advertiser 1980/1980_11_06/GA_06111980_E1_004.pdf 

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This photograph, taken from an old Glass slide shows Lord Haugh ton's carriage being escorted from the Great Southern Hotel after an official visit to Galway in 1905. His escort consists of some liveried gentlemen in front and a mounted police (R.I.C.) escort behind. You can see a foot policeman on the far right. Notice the tramlines coming from the tramyard further down Forster Street. We presume the street was named after the Blake-Forsters, an eminent family, serveral of whom were mayors, including the last Mayor of Galway under English rule. The street appeared on early maps as Boherbcg (as opposed to Bohermore). It appears on an 1820 Eyre Document as The Mail Coach Road. The small black hut just past the Southern was a toll box, known locally as the Custom box. The corner where Fox's p u b is now was then Holland's Bar (The American Bar), next door was Lizzy Rooney, then Mrs. Donoghues, Sarah Gannons, Mike Gallaghers, Durkans, Amby Roches. The big building was Powells. Part of the ground floor was occupied by a lady known as 'Girleen' Grealish who had an ice cream shop.

There was also a large archway in the building which led into the tramyard. A Walsh family lived in here also. Next to Powells was Mahon's Hotel, which had previously been known as Madigans. In the distance you can barely- see the Railway bridge. Under it were two houses (on the Magdalen side) occupied by Kennedys & Nees. Incidentally there is in the Magdalen chapel a beautiful stain glass window by Evie Hone (1952) called Sacred H e a r t , Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Mary Magdalen. At this end of Forster Street on the left (where Sammons is now) was Michael John Lydon's pub. Next door lived Kathleen Ita O'Donoghue who c o m p o s e d p o e t r y and printed beautiful Christ mas cards. Next was Tessie Lydon's House, then Fahys the coachbuilders, Greaneys public house, Miss Kynes flour s h o p , Duffys, Flatterys, Joyces, Tom Fahy's (previously Billy Forde's), Murty Rabbittes, John Mahon's, Phillips' ( M r s . Betty W a l s h e ) , "Copper" Walsbc's, Johnny O'Leary's, Nurse McKeon's, The Gate of St. Patrick's, " M a m o " Spellmans, Harry Clare's, Isaac's, Mike Spellmans,

and finally Kings. In Frenchville at the time lived Mary Heffernan, Christy Burke, Tomeen Cullinane, then Gallaghers workshop, a blacksmith's forge, and Healy's Manure store. Our thanks to John Francis King for all the

information. And finally this week we must apologise to The Old Galway Society and The Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. In our enthusiasm last week we b r o u g h t their lectures forward a week, when in fact t h e y b o t h take place

tomorrow night. The Old Galway Society's lecture is by Donal Taheny and is entitled "This Man is an Island", and takes place at O'Neill's Hotel in Eyre Square at 8.30 p.m. The Archaeological Society's lecture is by Michael Ryan, the keeper of

antiquities in the National Museum and is entitled "The Derrynaflan Hoard". This of course was the find of the century in archae ological terms. The lecture takes place in the Kirwan Theatre at 8.30 p.m. It's a difficult choice, but we highly recommend both.

galway eanings

i Donegal, where the crucial i By-Election takes place I throughout the entire country today, contains the largest Gaeltacht in Ireland. It also contains the largest concentration of Gaelta-cht industry developed over the years by Gaeltarra Eireann and now under the supervis ion of Udaras na Gaeltachta, as Minister Maire Geoghegan-Quinn remin ded us recently. Speaking at the official opening of a new project in t h e central G a e l t a c h t p a r t of the country -- an area much neglected in the past but now, curiously, demand-ing unusual attention from all types of politicians -- she said that some 40% of the total employment which had been p r o v i d e d with assistance from her D e p a r t m e n t , a n d its development agencies, over the years was located in Donegal. Different Donegal G a e l t a c h t regi-ons will argue that their particular communities have seen little of it, and the charge will be made that most of it has been concentrated in the one big industrial estate in Gaoth Dobhair. Maires constituents in that other big Gaeltacht, in Connem-ara in West Galway, will also be interested in the statistics, while the people of Corca
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Duibhne in West Kerry will re-assert their frequent charge of neglect, in spite of their status as a strong Gaeltacht community. Whatever the merits of the respective claims how-ever, it should not be forgotten that Donegal is the place where the By-Election is being contes-ted. Hence Donegal is in as far as Fianna Fail and indeed all the o t h e r p a r t i e s are concerned, at present at least. WHAT'S IN A NAME? It should be stressed that the holding of the Oireachtas the big traditional cultural festival -- in Gaoth Dobhair at the end of the month, was decided upon a very long time ago -- long before there was any talk of a ByElection. But the fact that the 10 day festival concludes only a few days before the poll, may help to make the Gaeltacht and Irish culture a key issue. At least that was the hope until that other p r o m i n e n t F i a n n a Fail female, Sile De Valera made her speech at the week-end making the headlines in at least two of the five Sunday papers which are now published in Dublin, and sending Donegal "Republica n s " into the type of consterna-tion which we last

experienced following the De Valera speech at the Liam Lynch commemorat ion over 12 months ago. Her speech on that occasion was seen as helping Jack Lynch into retirement and in assist ing Mr. Charles J. Haughey to gain the office of Taoiseach which he had been watching for so many years. Few people can now recall what was said on that occasion. But the fact is that Ms. De Valera has only to open her mouth to gain media attention. Her family b a c k g r o u n d and the international reputation of the name " D e Valera" throughout the world is such that the poor girl has to be very careful indeed in what she says. Certainly if and when she decides to take a marriage partner she will have to be at least as careful as "Johnny Geoghegan's daughter" in ensuring that her political pedigree is retained in a double-barrel form on the voting paper. Not that Maire has ever tried to make political capital of that name. Any more that she has tried to emphasise the fact that she is the most successful Irish female politician, of our time. RECORD IS THERE And what did Sile De Valera say in Donegal, that caused all the fuss and prompted Fianna Fail to officially state that her views were her own? Ingoring the possible political reactions is it really possible that Mr. Haughey offlcialy disagr-eed with her suggestion that Mrs. Thatcher and the British Government were hypocriti cal where human rights were concerned? Charlie may have his own political reasons for keeping on the right side of the Iron Lady at present -- but the record is

thing provided all opinions are given a platform) but because the factual presentation of the issues was i n a d e q u a t e . F o r example the suggestions that concern for H-Block and Armagh is confined to Provos or even "Provo sympathisers" can hardly make sense in the light of what so many prominent Churchmen have said, years ago. The simple fact that the seven men now fasting to death contain I.R.S.P. as well as I.R.A. members may be seen by some as a cynical propaganda move. But it is also an easily established fact which one does not have to wait for Peter Taylor or some other British journalist to bring to our attention. Again, one does not have to wait for Bernadette DevlinMcAliskey to point out that she was harrassed in the Euro-election campaign last y e a r by P r o v i s i o n a l AN EMOTIVE ISSUE s u p p o r t e r s because she The H-Block issue is an made H-Block an issue. The emotive one and this column facts are on the record. has deliberately refrained from dealing with it over the TERRIBLE PROBLEM long torterous months and We are not going into details years since 1976. Not of the facts, never mind because we are afraid to face rebuttals of opinions here. the truth of the situation, We have been told that but rather because it was felt G a l w a y is in g e n e r a l that the full t r u t h is agreement with the line of important and is best left to opinion, and in spite of our t h o s e w h o c l a i m a best investigative instin-cts, professional interest in the have to accept this -- until full truth. indications to the contrary MORE THAN PROVOS are forthcoming as they may In spite of a continuing be at the week-end protest effort over the years to try meeting But let us be clear and bring some of the about one basic crucial and realities of the Northern critical fact. tragedies to readers, the When the people on the comment of last week was in blanket say they want the opinion of thiscompillor "Special Category Status" seriously defective, not just and the Tories say there is no because of the opinions such thing, would they mind expressed (expression of telling us what then are the opinion is always a good b r o t h e r s , relatives and
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there for those who wish to examine it. Again Ms. De Valera seems to have been disowned by her party colleagues because she suggested Mrs. Thatcher and her Tory friends had been cold-hearted on the HBlock issue, and made the factually true statement that Cardinal 6 Fiaich seemed to have shown more concern than most politicians in Britian or in Ireland, North or South. Witness, for e x a m p l e , the clever announcement by John Hume of the SDLP who has o f f e r e d h i m s e l f as a "mediator" after 4 /, years? -- thus ensuring that he does not have to take up a public attitude of any sort, and even though he knows full well that the men in Long Kesh and the women in Armagh have stated again and again that they will do their own negotiating, and make their own decisions.

friends of the people in HBlock who have had that special status since 1972, supposed to be enjoying? Why is it that people sentenced before March 1976, are in a different " c a t e g o r y " to t h o s e sentenced for the same offences after that date? If, as is suggested, there is no such thing as "special status", then what do the people in H-Block before 1976 have, and if the British want somebody to define clearly what is being sought so "unreasonably", then one can only conclude that they do not known what is going on in their own prisons. The factual truth is that Britian set up a "special" prison regime in 1972, because, politically, it was the pragmatic thing to do at that time. She withdrew it in 1976 -- again because this was the political pragmatic thing to do. And then she insists that there is no such thing as political pragmatism in the Northern prison system. Any honest examination of the record shows that far from being an issue of "principle" for Britian, prison regimes are a political issue to be switched on and off and to be changed at every twist and turn of the political attempt to "solve" the Northern problem. That is why H-Block is political in the most basic sense. Its long and terrible tale derives from the failure of the British, or anybody else, for that matter, to devise a political solution to a long sad and terrible problem.

Compiled by Nollaig O Gadhra.