Letters to the Editor
27th October 2022
Dear Editor,
Credit to you for your recent editorial, (Galway Advertiser, 20-10-2011) in which you point to a long list of malaises which for some time have been stealthily eroding the quality of life and the visitor experience in Galway city.
This brave, if somewhat belated, cataloguing of issues highlights problems surrounding planning, traffic, littering, housing and culture.
To this can be added a lack of protection for both our built heritage and Galway’s indigenous family-owned businesses – two of the areas which once gave the city a very unique and distinctive feel. The latter of these problems is most obviously apparent in the closure of so many varied, independent, locally-owned retailers to be replaced with multi-national chain stores and transitory eateries on Shop Street and beyond.
In a week when our capital’s main thoroughfare came in for so much scrutiny and criticism, Galway should be reminded of what poor planning and general apathy can lead to.
While your editorial refers to the allegory of the Emperors New Clothes, the fable of killing the goose that laid the golden egg would also seem an appropriate comparison.
Galway does indeed need to take a long hard look at itself and the resulting conversations need to be had while there is still time.
Yours,
Mick Quinn
Corofin, Co. Galway
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