The west of Ireland has more resentment towards membership of the European Union, according to a Roscommon- Galway TD.

Michael Fitzmaurice made the comments in the Dáil yesterday evening during a 15 minute speech about Brexit and Ireland’s place in the European Union.

He stressed that the Good Friday Agreement must be respected, but that Ireland might not be as pro-Europe as some suggest.

“In fairness the government have been involved in a lot of talks behind the scenes and I welcome that,” said the independent TD.

“I saw the other day the guy came and he went to the border where the cow was eating grass and he said one foot you put is in northern Ireland and on the other side, you were in southern Ireland.

“And he says ‘how would the cow know?’

“The cow wouldn’t know for sure,” Deputy Fitzmaurice added.

Poll suggests 88% of Irish people want Ireland in EU https://t.co/pGGnlKeaHL

— Gerard Keown (@gerkeown) August 1, 2017

He went on to say that Ireland might not be as pro-Europe as some suggest.

“I can tell you that in my opinion, while polls might show something different in a lot of countries, there could be an awful lot of a different answer when you go down and talk to people on the ground,” Deputy Fitzmaurice said.

He also suggested that the West could be less pro-Europe than the rest of the nation.

“If you punish a child bad enough, they won’t like it. There will be resentment.

Maybe the west of Ireland and along that shore has more of a resentment, but when talking to people it is very wavy. The EU thinks they can do what they like.”

If they think they are going to control our tax here, the game is up for us; we’ll have a decision to make.

I think every country should have its own control over what it does,” the TD said.

He also called for a special deal on Ireland’s debt as a result of Ireland’s good relationship with the rest of the European Union following the Brexit vote.

I wish I was on the M17/M18…

The Gort to Tuam motorway is now officially open to traffic, after being oficially unveiled by Transport Minister Shane Ross today.

The 57km toll-free route opened well ahead of schedule and will slash travel times across the west.

Laid out on a largely greenfield route, the 57km stretch of motorway should shave at least 20 minutes from journey times from one end to another (depending on traffic conditions), and will allow traffic to bypass Tuam, Claregalway, Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan, Ardrahan and Gort.

A spokesman for Transport Infrastructure Ireland said: “The new road will significantly improve safety and reduce journey times for traffic travelling north-south along the West of Ireland.

It will also improve connectivity between the Western Region and Dublin and will significantly assist in the economic development of the BMW (Borders, Midlands and Western) regions.”

The motorway intersects with the existing M6 motorway at Rathmorrissey.

It opened to traffic on a rolling basis throughout the afternoon, and is now fully open.

The project has been causing some delays in recent months, and it is expected to have cost in the region of half a billion eruo.

Picture just minutes before it opens.Tuam-Gort along West of Ireland. In distance is our farm & hopefully site of new Apple Data centre 😉 pic.twitter.com/HV5yCgAmQJ

— Noel Kelly (@noeljoekelly) September 27, 2017

With the new motorway, the stretch of the N17 which the Saw Doctors’ sang about is now defunct. But the Tuam band have ennsured that the road will live on forever, if even just in song and memory.

New motorway means the N17 from Tuam is history. Reaction from @sawdoctors and more on the new M17 on @morningireland from 7am on @RTERadio1 pic.twitter.com/NLrlBNbIEC

— Pat McGrath (@patmcgrath) September 26, 2017

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Make Twitter Great Again.

Donald Trump tweeted less than his rivals in the Presidential election last year, an NUI Galway study has found.

The former ‘Apprentice’ host tweeted just 1,904 times, compared to Hilary Clinton’s 2,906 and Dr Stein’s 2,604 tweets.

However, while both other candidates may have been more active on Twitter, the divisive and unfiltered nature of Donald Trump’s tweets were more successful in attracting media news coverage, the study found.

The research has been published by the International Conference on Information Systems(2017) in Seoul, South Korea.

It is one of the first studies to use a magical realism perspective to examine how election candidates used Twitter as a tool for creating specific narratives for their electorate.

Trump’s magic

The results show that Twitter served as an effective power knowledge transfer medium for the presidential nominees by enabling them to create political narratives which were underpinned by specific magical realism techniques.

Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 24 September 2017

Dr Trevor Clohessy, lead author of the study, said: “Political actors are now eager to catch Twitter users’ attention, because they not only produce word-of-mouth effects but influence other online users’ informational choices.”

“Existing research suggests that users’ experiences of the credibility of a social medial platform affect their perceptions pertaining to the quality of the message being conveyed.”

Donald Trump has been criticised recently for his tweets about Kim Jung Un and for other warmongering tweets about Iran.

The former businessman and reality TV star has also been slated for his handling of the humanitarian crisis affecting Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria devastated the island.

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The tidiest town is Milltown!

Milltown has been named Galway’s tidiest town, in the national Tidy Towns competition.

The village also received a silver award in the national category for areas with a population of under 200.

Abbey and Monivea just missed out on top spot.

Birdhill in Co Tipperary won the prize as Ireland’s tidiest town, with Listowel, Co Kerry taking the award for the country’s cleanest small town.

The large town award went to Ennis, Co Clare, while the Gaeltacht award was won by Béal an Mhuirthead, Co. Mayo.

Wexford TidyTowns took the Gum Litter taskforce award prize, and Monaghan Tidytowns won the Climate Challenge Award.

Initiated by the Irish Cancer Society and Trinity College Dublin, Cancer Week Ireland wants to start a national conversation about cancer.

The Irish Cancer Society said: “It is about getting everyone engaged in the issue of cancer and how we can prevent it, spot it earlier, improve treatment, and survive and thrive afterwards.”

3 conditions and 3,500 signatures.

An NUI Galway botanist’s petition against gender imbalances at NUI Galway is nearing its target of 5,000 signatures.

Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington won a case against the University who were found to have discriminated against her because of her gender when they failed to promote her to Senior Lecturer.

The grand-daughter of famous suffragette Hanna Sheehy Skeffington has now reached almost 3,500 signatures on her petition. It has an overall target of 5,000.

She has been asked by NUI Galway to join a task force designed to review gender equality practices.

However, Dr Sheehy Skeffington and those signing the petition are demanding the University meets three conditions before this can happen.

The Petition

The three conditions outlined on the official petition are:

1. NUI Galway promotes the five other women who, along with Dr. Sheehy Skeffington, were interviewed but not promoted in 2009. Only one woman was promoted in 2009 out of 15 applicants but 16 men were promoted out of 32 applicants. The women want their promotion back-dated to that year but are willing to forgo any damages.

2. NUI Galway admits that the subsequent round of promotions in 2014 was also flawed. There have been over 20 appeals for this round of promotions, according to the petition organisers.

3. Equal representation. The women want NUI Galway to address the issue of gender imbalance in senior posts by having an equal number of women as men in such posts. They also want NUI Galway to start to achieve this aim by promoting the same percentage of women from each level as the percentage of women at that level.

The petition now has 3,439 signatures and is within reach of its target of 5,000.

According to recent government statistics, in NUI Galway, 53% of lecturers are women lecturers but only 14% are professors.

Dr Sheehy Skeffington was awarded €70,000 damages after she took her case to the Equality Tribunal in December 2014.

She is the first female academic to achieve this in Ireland.

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Some areas are still affected.

People in Galway city, Oranmore, Salthill and Claregalway can now resume using gas, as the warning for those areas has now been lifted.

Gort, Loughrea, Craughwell and Ballinasloe remain unaffected by this issue and may continue to use gas.

However several towns are still affected, including Tuam, Headford, Ballinrobe, Claremorris, Castlebar, Westport, Crossmolina and Ballina.

Gas Networks Ireland say that customers should make sure that all appliances are switched off before turning the gas supply on.

Further instructions on how to do this are available here.

Gas Networks Ireland crews continue to work on the remaining affected areas to remove the odourless gas from the network. It says its primary objective is to restore gas to all affected customers in the Galway and Mayo regions as quickly as possible, while ensuring at all times that safety is first priority.

New information in relation to the resumption of gas to other affected areas, as the result of this incident, will be advised as soon as they become available.

Customers with any concerns may contact its Customer Care line on 1850 200 694.  Customers who suspect a gas leak or smell gas in any part of the country should always call GNI’s 24 hour emergency line on 1850 20 50 50.

Safety is their “first priority”.

It is likely to be Sunday at the earliest that people across Galway can switch their gas supplies back on.

Crews were working throughout last night to remove the odourless gas from the network.

They say testing is continuing at installations throughout the county to monitor odour levels as they return to normal.

“Our primary objective is to restore gas to all affected customers in the region as quickly as possible, while ensuring at all times that safety is our first priority.

The process of restoring all customers is likely to take most of the weekend, however supply will be restored on a phased basis, as odour levels return along the network,” Gas Networks Ireland said in a statement.

They are asking customers not to turn back on their supply until they are advised that it is safe to do so.

Turning off gas

Customers can watch the video below for the necessary steps to take to turn off and on their gas supply. Alternatively they can call 1850 200 694.

Its customers are being informed directly by text, through social media and their website. They are also being kept up to date by local print and broadcast media, including Galway Daily.

Hospitals and other improtant customers have been given priority following the safety concerns, to ensure the supplies are not affected. 

Yesterday evening, it was reported that people living in Galway City, Tuam, Headford, Ballinrobe, Claremorris, Castlebar, Westport, Crossmolina and Ballina were affected.

The operator of the Corrib terminal has confirmed that a quantity of odourless gas has entered the network, affecting customers in both Galway and Mayo.

People living in Galway City, Tuam, Headford, Ballinrobe, Claremorris, Castlebar, Westport, Crossmolina and Ballina are being urged to turn off their gas supply.

The operator of the Corrib gas terminal has confirmed that a quantity of odourless gas has entered the gas network, affecting natural gas customers in Galway and Mayo.

Natural Gas is odourless, but a smell is added, for safety purposes in the unlikely event of a leak. 

Customers should turn off their gas supply at the valve in their meter box until further notice.

They are recommending this action because in the unlikely event of a leak customers in these locations only, will be unable to smell gas in the current circumstances.

Gas Networks Ireland are working with the Corrib operator to resolve this issue and remove the un-odourised gas from the network in a safe and controlled fashion.

This may take between 48 and 72 hours. 

Gas Networks Ireland has apologised to customers for any inconvenience caused by these measures.  

Customers seeking assistance can visit their “Contact Us” page on www.gasnetworks.ie or call its Customer Care line on 1850 200 694.

The city of Tribes indeed.

Galway is cited as the “most multicultural” city in Ireland in the latest census figures released today, with 18.6 per cent of its residents recorded as non-Irish.

While Galway had the highest percentage, Dublin City has the highest number of non-nationals (91,876), followed by Fingal (46,909) and Cork County (42,002) .

Leitrim (3,526) and Sligo (5,892) had the lowest.

However, just over 17% of Dublin City residents and one in six of Fingal residents were non-Irish nationals, meaning Galway is officially the most multicultural city in the country.

The figures also show that nearly half of all non-Irish nationals were aged between 25 and 42 years compared with less than a quarter of Irish nationals.

Persons aged 65 years or over accounted for less than 5% of the non-Irish population in sharp contrast to nearly 15% for Irish nationals.  In the younger age groups just 12.3% of non-Irish nationals were aged 0 to 14 years compared with 22.5% of Irish nationals.

Marital Status
Within the non-Irish national population aged 15 and over, 47.9% were married.

At 8.1%, the rate of separation/divorce was higher than that of Irish nationals (5.6%).

When looked at by nationality, over half of French, Italian, Spanish and Brazilians were single.

Indian nationals were the most likely to be married (69.3%), Latvians had the highest separated/divorced rate (15%), while 5.1% of UK nationals were widowed.

There was severe overcrowding at University Hospital Galway’s Emergency Department earlier today, due to a long backlog of patients waiting for admission.

Management at the hospital told RTÉ that 37 people were awaiting admission to hospital this morning.

They said that anyone travelling to the Emergency Department will face significant delays.

Efforts are being made to discharge patients to free up bed space and the hospital’s full capacity protocol has been implemented.

Hospital management have apologised to patients and their families for any distress caused due to the delays.

It is understood that there were also a significant number of patients on trolleys throughout the day.

Whatever floats…

Galway Harbour Company has ruled out any possibility of a floating student accommodation in the city’s docks.

According to Galway Bay FM, harbour CEO Eamon Bradshaw said a lack of space in the inner docks was the reason for rejecting the proposal by a local property management firm in an effort to alleviate the accommodation crisis facing NUI Galway students.

Last month Winters Property said it was in talks to bring to the city two purpose-build apartment barges, with a capacity of more than 400 between them.

The company’s managing director Enda McGuane also said he was discussing the possibility of mooring at the private Mud Dock owned by Capt Sam Field-Corbett, the champion of waterside accommodation behind the Naomh Eanna restoration.

This would have been an innovative step towards a solution to the student accomodation crisis.

As some students head towards week four of the academic year, the extent of the lack of adequate student accomodation is unprecedented.

Wellies are the new black hoodies.

It’s impossible to escape from the nationwide debate on next year’s referendum on the 8th Amendment. 

And with both sides upping the ante trying to win over those who are undecided, creativity is needed to attract attention.

That’s exactly what was on offer today at the Ploughing Championships, with Galway Pro-Choice making some interesting badges for their trip to Co. Offaly.

With the social war that is about will divide the nation, it seems that half of Ireland will be wearing badges and hoodies supporting both sides of the debate.

This particular badge went down very well indeed, (at least with pro-repeal activists).

I’d LOVE one! but I’m working in Dublin. Where can I buy? Pease Please Please

— Saundra Stephen (@hiheal) 19 September 2017

How can I get one of these??? Not at ploughing 😬

— Liz Carolan (@LizCarolan) 19 September 2017

Can you keep one for me? I can meet you at the March

— Gaye Edwards (@BrennanGaye) 19 September 2017

Love them 👌 #repealthe8th!

— Rob McDowall (@robmcd85) 19 September 2017

Let us know what you think!

Culture Night kicks off in Galway city on the NUI Galway campus with a unique lunchtime event in a hidden part of the University.

The public is invited to wander through the old Geology and Physiology floors upstairs in the Quadrangle building, under the eye of the iconic clock tower.

Taking the theme of ‘Time’ as inspiration, ConTempo Quartet, the Galway Ensemble in Residence, will join with students of Drama, Theatre and Performance, the NUI Galway Staff Choir, the Arts Office and the Discipline of Earth and Ocean Science for a lunchtime feast of music, drama, photography and song.

The free event begins at 1pm in the Geology corner of the Quadrangle, on the left-hand side underneath the Archway.

Other Culture Night events on campus include the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, which will open its doors from 5-7pm.

The public are invited to step back in time to the early days of computer gaming and enjoy the sights and sounds of the great classics, like Space Invaders, Pacman and Sonic, on renowned vintage consoles such as Atari, Nintendo, Sega Mega Drive and Playstation 1.

The O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance on campus will host ‘The Spaceman’, a one-man show by Galway playwright, actor and Colours Street Theatre founder, James Fleming. The show begins at 6pm and entry is free.

The James Hardiman Library will host special talks by archivist, Fiona Kearney, on the theme of ‘Periodical Literature in the Muintir na Tíre archive’, and Special Collections Librarian, Marie Boran, on the theme of ‘James Hardiman, the Historian of Galway’. These events commence at 6.30pm in the Hardiman Building foyer.