Billy Lawless (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Madigan on her first visit to the Seanad. As a Galway native, I am extremely proud that Galway city and county, in consideration with other great cities like Dublin, Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny, was awarded the city of culture for 2020. Galway has shown through the annual international arts festival and by twice hosting the Volvo Ocean Race that it has not only the capacity, but also that it is a world beater in the promotion of large-scale cultural and sporting events. The board that was established to deliver a successful European Capital of Culture bid for Galway in 2020 is comprised of extremely talented individuals of cross-spectrum experience. I have no doubt they will make this a global success story.

One of the highlights of 2020 will surely be the ambitious attempt to have 400 Galwegians walking a tightrope over the River Corrib to beat a world record. The Minister will be relieved to hear that I will not be one of them. I would give up on that one. In itself, this event will be a unique spectacle which rightly promotes Galway as a place of adventure and risk taking.

The express purpose of the concept of the city of culture is not just to entertain and promote Galway as a tourist destination. It is also a way of demonstrating the use of culture as a means for regional development. This is something I wholeheartedly support. The three themes of Galway's bid were language, landscape and migration. The latter is, of course, very close to my heart. A significant portion of the over 100 page bid that ultimately proved successful included the concept of ship to shore, which focused on projects that will develop long-term, tangible trans-local connections that highlight and explore shared European themes. I hope this aspect of Galway 2020, while acknowledging that it is the European Capital of Culture, does not just confine itself to the shared local connections across Europe but also extends to the United States, where a vast Galwegian emigrant population resides. As well as connecting migrant links, there is a focus on the new citizens of Galway city and county, as Ireland has become a nation of immigrants over the past two decades. A portion of the bid book reads:

Galway has known emigration for centuries. More recently, there has been an increase of immigrants to the region from all around the world, particularly from Europe. This ebb and flow of human movement has created mixed emotions, not least a sense of uncertainty and displacement. Few people are entirely alone. Those that come and those that leave bring with them a connectedness to where they have come from. So our displaced Galway and European people become remote extensions of their native cultures, creating a rich network for communication and influence. Galway 2020 is already tapping into the potential of these migratory links to Europe so as to develop projects which will integrate those who have recently arrived and those who have been left behind.

While lofty in its language and aspiration, this reflects entirely a political view which I support and which I believe a vast proportion of citizens both at home and abroad share, namely, that the story of Ireland's migration is intimately intertwined with our development into a diverse cultural and ethnic nation. This is reflected in how we celebrate Galway as a European capital of culture. This celebration should correlate to our advocacy for the undocumented abroad and our compassion for those at home.

As the Minister may be aware, I am privileged to serve as chairperson of the Galway committee of Chicago Sister Cities International. The Galway committee in Chicago has been contributing to the culture of Galway for many years in many ways. To give some recent examples, in 2003, it opened a photo exhibit, "Images of Chicago: A spectacle of urban life at the water's edge". It was the first exhibit at the new Galway City Museum. The photos were gifted to the city of Galway. In 2007, the city of Galway gifted the Grainne sculpture to Chicago. Its dedication was presided over by Mayor Richard Daley and Galway Mayor Tom Costello. Irish artist Maurice Harron created this elegant bronze statue, which stands in a park directly across from the centre doors of the historic Old St. Patrick's Church. This is the church to which all the Irish immigrants first looked when they arrived into Chicago from the west of Ireland.

In May 2014, a large delegation from Chicago travelled to Galway for the dedication of the Circle of Life national organ donor commemorative garden. The Galway committee of Chicago Sister Cities was a major sponsor of this garden, which remembers and gives thanks for the generosity of spirit of more than 2,500 people in Ireland who have given the gift of life through organ donation. The garden was established by Denis and Martina Goggin, parents of Éamonn Goggin, a young man from Spiddal who was involved in a fatal car crash in 2006 and became an organ donor. The garden in Salthill has become a major attraction in the west of Ireland, serving as an inspirational setting celebrating the lives of organ and tissue donors and their recipients while offering the public a place of beauty, inspiration, healing and hope. Of all the initiatives between the two cities, this is the one I am most proud of. During the same visit, an additional gift from the Chicago committee to Galway city was the stainless steel Umbrella for Peace sculpture by the Chicago-based Irish-American artist, Matt Lamb, which was unveiled adjacent to City Hall.

These initiatives were all facilitated by the wonderful relationship that exists between Galway and Chicago and they have served to augment Galway's reputation as an authentic city of culture. I wish Galway all the encouragement and success that I can muster and will do all that I can to ensure that at least within the immigrant community in the US, if another Irish Gathering cannot be had in 2020, we will have a Galway one. I hope Galway 2020 presents an opportunity for families to rekindle and for diversity to be celebrated. As ever, I have no doubt that Galway city and county will make Ireland proud.