Galway - Geography and Local Government

Geography and Local Government

See also: Galway City Council and Mayor of Galway

With a population of 57106, Galway is the fourth most populous city in the State and the 23rd most populous area of local government. It is located on the River Corrib.

Services such as waste collection, recycling, traffic control, parks and housing are controlled by a fifteen member city council elected to five year terms by proportional representation through means of the Single Trandferable Vote PR-STV. The City Council is chaired by a mayor who is elected to a one year term by their fellow councillors. Their role is mainly ceremonial, although they do have the casting vote. The first mayor was Peirce Lynch fitzJohn, elected in 1485. The current mayor is Cllr. Terry O'Flaherty, who was elected Mayor in June 2012.

The symbols of the office of the Mayor and the emblems of the dignity of the City Council are the Civic Sword (1620's) and the Great Mace (1710) which are carried in procession before the Mayor and Council on solemn civic occasions. When not in ceremonial use they can be seen at the Galway City Museum.

Galway City is part of the Galway West constituency of Dáil Éireann. Its TDs (parliametary representatives) are:

  • Noel Grealish (Independent). A Native of Cearn Mór.
  • Derek Nolan (Labour). Galway City based. He is a new TD for Galway West.
  • Éamon Ó Cuív (Fianna Fáil). Corr na Móna in Conamara based. He is the former Minister for Social Protection.
  • Brian Walsh (Fine Gael). Galway City based. A native of Mervue.
  • Seán Kyne (Fine Gael). Based in Moycullen.

The current President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, was TD for the Galway West parliamentary constituency, of which Galway City is a part, from 1981 to 1982 and from 1987 to 2011.

The highest honour the city can bestow is the Freedom of the City. Among the names on the Roll of Honour are: Douglas Hyde, President of Ireland, 1939; Eamonn de Valera, Taoiseach, 1946; Sean T O'Kelly, President of Ireland, 1950; Robert F Wagner, Mayor of New York, 1961; John F Kennedy, President of the USA, 1963; Pope John Paul II, 1979; Ronald Reagan, President of the USA, 1984; Hilary Rodham Clinton, 1999 and Aung San Suu Kyi, 2005.

Read more about this topic:  Galway

Famous quotes containing the words geography and, geography, local and/or government:

    At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.
    Derek Wall (b. 1965)

    Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and Boston Bay, you think paltry places, and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography. But here we are; and, if we tarry a little, we may come to learn that here is best. See to it, only, that thyself is here;—and art and nature, hope and fate, friends, angels, and the Supreme Being, shall not absent from the chamber where thou sittest.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    There is the falsely mystical view of art that assumes a kind of supernatural inspiration, a possession by universal forces unrelated to questions of power and privilege or the artist’s relation to bread and blood. In this view, the channel of art can only become clogged and misdirected by the artist’s concern with merely temporary and local disturbances. The song is higher than the struggle.
    Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)

    Doctor, I want you to make it known to your government that it can trust us implicitly, for we do not want any of your territory. We only want your trade.
    William Howard Taft (1857–1930)