Mayor's Car for Auction on eBay!

Former Mayor of Galway Cllr. Niall O'Brolchain has put the mayoral Prius on eBay to raise money for the 15 charities that were beneficiaries of that scary veggie hippy/interesting delicious alternative (delete as appropriate) Mayor's Ball in May.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a huge fan of cars in the Jeremy Clarkson sense, but by golly I'd love a Prius. They are so quiet they could nearly pick your pockets without you noticing.

Mind you it'll take a good few more caricatures before I can afford one!

Just when you thought it was safe to drink the water...

...it isn't. Surprise surprise, Galway City Council have announced that they won't have a safe supply by next Friday after all. Not content with deliberately neglecting Galway's water supply for ten years (to be fair the County Council are equally complicit in that one) we now are guaranteed a third world water supply at the peak of the tourist season.
Prospective tourists should be assured that most hotels and restaurants have their own filtration systems in place and provide safe clean water. The people of Galway, however, will have to make do with continuing to buy water.

City Council to recycle water bottles for free.

From Galway Water Crisis:

FREE RECYCLING OF WATER BOTTLES WILL BE AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY. Just put them in clear plastic bags and put them out at your normal day/time. This was announced at the 23 April meeting of the City Council in a letter to the councillors from the manager.
Here is an excerpt of the city manager’s letter:
This issue of disposing of the bottles is primarily bulk and not weight. The best advice is to squash the bottles after removing the caps. This allows a reduction in bulk in the green bin and also allows the refuse freighter to compact the bottles more efficiently.
The following measures are being put into place:
(i) Bottles which are put in clear bags will be collected with green bins as per normal collection dates. It is important that water bottles are not mixed up with other waste to facilitate recycling. Free clear bags will be made available from the Environment Department, City Hall, on request.
(ii) A container will be available in Sandy Road Depot from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturday to facilitate this collection of plastic bottles.

Also let me give a plug to the Galway Wants Water forum, which has been set up to give Galwegians a voice in the current crisis.

Beleagured Galway Mayor gets even more beleaguered...

...or is about to! Mayor of Galway Niall O'Brolchain gets a caricature makeover at the Mayor's Youth Conference today.

Photo courtesy of Aengus McMahon.

Feeling thirsty?

Galway Water Crisis Protest

Following on from my last post, The Looking Glass has asked me to post on a protest that's happening over the water fiasco:

"Protest going ahead Monday 23 April. Assemble at City Hall, College road from 6pm. Please text people about this and ask them to pass it on. Also can you copy and paste this and post it as a bulletin yourselves. Its crucial we get large numbers of people at this protest. Thanks"

See you there and bring your own water!

Macnas Parade Cancelled

I'm really disappointed to read that the Macnas Parade won't be happening this year during the Arts Festival. I had my suspicions that something like this was coming but it's still a blow when it comes. It's clear that between the Arts Council and the Galway City Council that the value that the parade lends to the city during the summer is meaningless. The Arts Council especially is culpable in this: in my last years in Macnas it was becoming increasingly antagonistic to Macnas and actually froze its funding. I don't know whether this was ever remedied but an institution has been allowed to flounder and let's be clear, this could mean the end of Macnas in the not too distant future. Consider the Macnas Parade to a white elephant like the Abbey Theatre: good millions are being thrown after bad there, while all Macnas needed was something in the region of €70,000 (my estimate) to keep the ball rolling. After years of loyal service Macnas are like the greying mutt kicked out into the back yard.
What is needed is a cash value being put on the parade: the first thing most of the audience does is turn around and find the nearest pub or restaurant. This year that nice little spike in takings one Sunday in the middle of July won't appear. Therefore it makes good economic sense for every business that does well from the parade to put a little outlay, tax-deductable, into ensuring an event that fills their premises actually occurs. In short the arts aren't just for looking at but can present a genuine marketing opportunity for the enterprising trader. But by the sounds of it, the eleventh hour has come and gone as regards this year's parade.

So long the Macnas Parade. You gave me the shteart in my career. Hope to see you next year but I won't hold my breath.