Green & Eco Programme for Galway City- August - September 2011

Information session on Garden Herbs
Tutor: Dolores Keegan
Venue: Lus Leana Community House
Date/Time: 7-9pm, Wednesday August 4th
For further information, contact Caitriona at 086-8537434




Guided tour of Gortard/Slieveaun Allotments
Clarinbridge Community Open Day
Information on seed planting, poly tunnels
Date/Time: 12.00-4.00pm, Sunday August 7th
For further information, contact 086-8351230
www.galwaybayallotments.webs.com


Galway City GIY
Kay Synott of Living Gardens will be talking to us about 'Keeping the vegetable garden going through autumn and winter.' All invited.
Date/Time: 8pm, Tuesday, August 9th, Áras na nGael, Dominick Street, Galway city

For further information, contact Mary at whiteravenie@yahoo.co.uk

Zoology Museum Guided Tours, NUI Galway
Guides: Eoin McLaughlin, Prof Noel Wilkins & friends
Date/Time:: Saturday August 20th, 10am & 12noon
Archway, NUI Galway
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946. Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie

A Walk in Terryland Woods, Galway city
Guide: Michael Tiernan
Date/Time:: 10am & 12noon, Saturday August 20th, Black Box carpark
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946.
Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie



Historical Overview of Galway Fishery
Guide: Seamus Hartigan, Inland Fisheries Ireland
Date/Time: 3pm Wed August 24th, Spanish Arch
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946. Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie


Herb Walk, Barna
Dr. Dilis Clare
Date/Time: 3pm. Thursday August 25th, Cappagh Rd. sports ground carpark
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946. Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie

Birdwatch Walk, Nimmos Pier, Galway city
Guide: Tom Cuffe
Date/Time: 10.30am, Saturday August 27th, Nimmos Pier
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946. Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie


Exploring an Esker: Tullykyne
A guided walk along an esker ridge explaining how this feature has shaped the wildlife and landscape in the locality
Guide: Caitriona Carlin
Date/Time: 2.30-4.00pm, Sunday, August 28th
For further information, contact 091-495921 or elaine.oriordan@nuiglway.ie

Clean-Up of new Castlegar 'Off the Beaten Track' Route
Community Clean-up of new potential walking and cycling route in Castlegar along the perimeter of Curraghline bog along a botharín connecting Headford Road and Tuam Road near Clooncauneen Castle.
All welcomed!
Date/Time 10am, Saturday Sept 3rd, Ballindooley Stores, Headford Road
Contact: Councillor Frank Fahy, 087-2345852

Clean-Up of Liosbaun Woodlands, Terryland Forest Park
Under the Glan Suas Gallimh initiative, the residents of Lisbrook House Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre are organisign a clean-up of the neighbouring Lisbaun woodlands that forms part of the Terryland Forest Park
Date/Time: 2pm, Saturday Sept 3rd Lisbrook House
Contact 087-2935106, speediecelt@gmail.com

Ballinfoile Mór Harvest Festival
The residents of the Ballinfoile Mór are hosting a community festival to celebrate locally produce organic vegetables and fruits in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden. As well as food stalls, there will be music, face-painting, bulb-planting, bike maintenance workshops, crafts exhibits, scarecrow displays, nature walks of neighbouring woodlands...
Date/Time: 12.00-2.30pm, Saturday Sept 10^th in 'An Ghairdín', Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden

Expose the Business Polluters Part 1- Advance Pitstop

Front of Advance Pitshop, Headford Road, Galway city

While hundreds of ordinary residents are now volunteering their time and effort to take part in the monthly clean-up of Galway city's public parks and woodlands under the auspices of City Hall's Glan Suas Gaillimh that was inspired by Friends of the Friends campaigners, certain property developers and business owners are destroying the attractiveness of Galway city by a callous disregard for the upkeep of their properties.

It is time for the council to take action under the power invested in it by the 1990 Derelict Sites Act that allows prosecution of their owners and in fact to take over their properties if they fail to comply with the regulations.

Irresponsible Absentee Landlords Destroying Neighbourhoods

Yet it is not only abandoned buildings that need immediate attention for the sake of beautifying our city. The Celtic Tiger stimulated a massive upsurge in the sale of rented accommodation. Many of these absentee owners saw their new properties purely as investment opportunities, as a source of rental revenue and cared little for their upkeep. One of thousands of badly maintained rented houses in Galway City

The inevitable result was that there are thousands of rented houses in Galway housing estates with badly maintained exteriors contributing to serious lowering of community moral amongst local residents. For why cut your lawn and paint your wooden fence when the house next door has a pampas-like front garden and woodwork that is rotting away!
This situation will get worse as so thousands of rented accommodation lie empty as the downturn in the economy leads to an return of Eastern Europe workers (i.e. former tenants) to their homelands

But even prominent city centre commercial properties can have a dirty, grimy, derelict look.
One example is Advance Pitstop on the Headford Road adjacent to Aldi and Lidl.
The owner(s) lets his perimeter wall crumble, the pathetic looking puny shrubbery is almost permanently covered with discarded bottles and cans. and the rusty railings have not seen a a coat of fresh paint for years.
Starting now with Advance Pitstop, I am going to publicly report every week a business that is allowing its property to become an eyesore.

Latear in the year, I hope to start a community campaign to get City Hall to introduce bye-laws to secure a minimum standard of upkeep on all commercial premises and rented properties.
It is critical that developers are not allowed to undermine the attractiveness of the city for tourist and resident alike.

Photo shows the rusty railings, broken wall and litter covered shrubbery that forms the front of Advance Pitstop
on the Headford Road
Galway City

New Community Clean-up of Galway city's Forests & Parks Gets Underway

In spite of the atrocious weather, over 80 people turned up to the Terryland Forest Park to take part in Galway city's inaugural clean-up organised by Galway City Council working in partnership with the Friends of the Forest group.
The initiative, known as 'Glan Suas Gaillimh, was a great success with thousands of pieces of litter were gathered from one section of the Terryland Forest Park. However beverage cans represented the largest class of items collected at 35% followed by drink bottles at 32%.
Time now for John Gormley, the government Minister for the Environment, to finally take action on our proposal to re-introduce a national refundable levy on drinks cans/bottles. We have been lobbying him on this issue without success since 2007.
For more information on the Terryland Forest Park clean-up and the refundable levy proposal click here