Climate Anxiety Among Higher Education Students at the University of Galway

As evidence of climate change becomes more apparent and the need to act becomes more urgent (IPCC, 2023), a sense of helplessness and powerlessness now filters through many sectors of society. Daily, the news brings new images and headlines about climate-related disasters — devastating storms and floods, disappearing lakes and rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and disappearing biodiversity. With the paralysis and procrastination of world leaders (and worse, outright denial) to act in the face of such urgency, it is no surprise that many are growing increasingly alarmed about the threat to humanity and the perilous state of our planet. Climate anxiety, also known as eco-anxiety, is the distress and fear related to the impacts of climate change on the environment and on future generations. Climate change is a real threat, so it’s normal to feel worried and concerned about its consequences. But worry is not the same thing as anxiety. Many people are worried about climate change, and that’s a good and healthy thing because worry as an emotion is a motivator. If you worry about something, you are motivated to better understand and act to mitigate that worry. Where worry becomes a problem is when it becomes overwhelming and debilitating, when it keeps you from living your life to its full potential. Climate anxiety can have some significant impacts in terms of a person’s mental well-being (Majeed and Lee, 2017; Charlson et al., 2022), and it can also lead to symptoms such as panic attacks, loss of appetite, irritability, weakness and sleeplessness (Swim et al., 2010).

Social scientists have contributed to a crucial body of work on how people cope with and psychologically adapt to climate change. Research findings show that climate change anxiety has two distinct effects on individuals: it directly encourages pro-environmental behaviours in some and, indirectly, may have detrimental effects on such action, such as eco-paralysis (Innocenti et al., 2023). A review of 94 studies focused on climate anxiety, involving 170,000 people across 27 countries, explored who it is most likely to affect and what its possible consequences could be (Kühner, 2025). It found that those who are more likely to experience climate anxiety include women, young adults, people with left-wing views, and those expressing concerns about nature or their future. Climate anxiety is increasing among students in higher education and among young people more broadly (Ramadan, 2023). In a study mapping higher education students’ climate anxiety across sustainability-related study fields, results place climate anxiety within a range of emotions, from sadness to hope (Khalaim and Budziszewska, 2024). Most respondents reported a mixture of empowering and paralysing emotional states, but also advised academia to rethink its time economies, prioritise transformative climate action, acknowledge students’ emotional work around sustainability issues, make climate education more humanistic, and include more-than-human-nature in educational spaces.

To better recognise and understand the local specificities of climate anxiety and its current levels in higher education, this research sought to capture how students, undertaking two sustainability-related modules at the University of Galway, feel about climate change, when their worry or anxiety spikes and what coping mechanisms they use when they experience such concerns. Although not extensive in nature and using a convenience sampling method, responses from 109 first-year and final-year undergraduate students were recieved and analysed. The student responses to these three questions are presented here in graphical form:

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

When asked whether they felt anxious about climate change, over 96% reported some level of anxiety, with the majority (70.6%) feeling anxious some of the time (Figure 1). Less than 4% reported no anxiety about climate change. When asked to indicate when such anxiety spiked, a wide range of triggers were suggested (Figure 2). The highest response (21.1%) was when students thought about their future, followed by extreme weather events and hearing about species extinction. In terms of what helps them alleviate worry and anxiety about climate change, the biggest response was ‘being more sustainable in their own lives’ (44%), followed by ‘distracting themselves with humour or entertainment’ (Figure 3).

Researchers are increasingly trying to better understand both the emotions we experience in response to ecological crises such as climate change and how these emotions may be harmful or beneficial to our overall well-being. As indicated earlier and found in this study, climate activism and personal pro-environmental behavioural change can be positive outcomes of genuine apprehension and anxiety over climate change. But the role of educators is crucial in providing the space and time to discuss students’ concerns and real fears, while also equipping them with the tools and know-how to develop tangible, transformative climate action strategies in their personal lives and in the wider community. There is also an urgent need to communicate effective coping strategies for climate anxiety to environmental practitioners, university students, and educators (Daeninck et al., 2023). Greta Thunberg’s climate activism, which was borne out of her depression and urge to make a difference in the world, is an example of the positive outcomes climate anxiety can have (Borter, 2019).

References

  • American Psychological Association (APA). (2010). Psychology and Global Climate Change: Addressing a Multi-faceted Phenomenon and Set of Challenges. APA, [available at https://www.apa.org/science/about/publications/climate-change.pdf].
  • Borter, G. (2019). Rising seas and stress levels spawn climate anxiety support groups. Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-eco-anxiety-idUSKBN1X21P2.
  • Charlson, F., Ali, S., Augustinavicius, J., Benmarhnia, T., Birch, S., Clayton, S., Fielding, K., Jones, L., Juma, D., Snider, L. and Ugo, V. (2022). Global priorities for climate change and mental health research. Environment International, 158, p.106984.
  • Daeninck, C., Kioupi, V. and Vercammen, A. (2023). Climate anxiety, coping strategies and planning for the future in environmental degree students in the UK. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, p.1126031.
  • Khalaim, O. and Budziszewska, M. (2024). “It should not only be technical education.” Students’ climate anxiety experiences and expectations toward university education in three European universities. The Journal of Environmental Education, 55(4), pp.308-323.
  • Kühner, C., Gemmecke, C., Hüffmeier, J. and Zacher, H. (2025). Climate change anxiety: A meta-analysis. Global Environmental Change, 93, p.103015.
  • IPCC. (2023). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, Summary for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Innocenti, M., Santarelli, G., Lombardi, G.S., Ciabini, L., Zjalic, D., Di Russo, M. and Cadeddu, C. (2023). How can climate change anxiety induce both pro-environmental behaviours and eco-paralysis? The mediating role of general self-efficacy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), p.3085 https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3085
  • Majeed, H. and Lee, J. (2017). The impact of climate change on youth depression and mental health. The Lancet Planetary Health, 1(3), pp.e94-e95.
  • Ramadan, R., Randell, A., Lavoie, S., Gao, C.X., Manrique, P.C., Anderson, R., McDowell, C. and Zbukvic, I. (2023). Empirical evidence for climate concerns, negative emotions and climate‐related mental ill‐health in young people: A scoping review. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 17(6), pp. 537-563.
  • Swim, J., Clayton, S., Doherty, T., Gifford, R., Howard, G., Reser, J., Stern, P. and Weber, E. (2010). Psychology and global climate change: Addressing a multi-faceted phenomenon and set of challenges. A report by the American Psychological Association’s task force on the interface between psychology and global climate change. American Psychological Association, Washington, 66, pp.241-250.

Let the People Sing! What’s Behind the Resurgence of the Music of the Wolf Tones?

The Wolf Tones were drifting towards retirement. As a three-piece band whose members are closing in on eighty years of age, they had a good career playing Irish rebel songs on the Folk scene in Ireland and to the Irish diaspora abroad. Some of these songs are controversial and deal with aspects of the troubles in Northern Ireland from a particular republican slant. But, by and large, the band had been successful, were well known on the Irish music scene, and had played some larger venues in Ireland and abroad over the decades.

An unlikely Irish sporting achievement was to change their retirement plans and catapult them back into the limelight and a new era of fame and notoriety. In a game played in Glasgow, the Irish women’s football team secured a famous 1-nil victory over Scotland to secure a place at the 2023 World Cup. A truly marvellous achievement, the team celebrated in style and players were filmed singing Celtic Symphony, a song by The Wolfe Tones written to celebrate the centenary of Celtic Football Club. The song featured the words ooh, ah, up the RA, a reference to support for the Provisional IRA. Brian Warfield of the Wolf Tones explained that those who were offended by the song were misguided about its intentions and that it was a direct quote from graffiti he’d seen on a wall in Glasgow, but from many politicians and those in the media, it was roundly condemned. UEFA began an investigation, and the FAI were eventually fined a total of €20,000, and some of the gloss was taken off the significant achievement of the women’s football team.

But while some politicians and commentators doubled down on the controversy, many others in Ireland simply couldn’t understand nor comprehend the fuss around singing a song that is widely known across Irish society and regularly sung and played from jukeboxes across the country. In supporting the team in the best way they thought possible, some began to normalise the chant thus inadvertently boosting the popularity of the Wolf Tones, their music, and their concert attendance.

Why this all came about is an interesting question but the answer, as always in the case of Ireland, is multifaceted and complicated.

One of the first explanations is that many of these songs and lyrics are ideal to sing along to. An Irish singsong is closely associated with spontaneity, passion, drink, community and diaspora, and the lyrics and songs of the Wolf Tones lend themselves to such activity. Music of this nature plays an important role in collective identity and confirming group solidity.

Another explanation is the normal time-honoured rebellion of youth. Once it was revealed that singing along to such songs will cause offence then some will be drawn to the subversive nature of singing and supporting the group that popularised the song, The Wolf Tones. Rebellion (pardon the pun) is part and parcel of the normal rite and passage of youth.

But other reasons led to the resurgence in popularity of these songs and, thus, the Wolf Tones.

There is an interesting scene in Martin Scorsese’s award-winning The Departed In which Matt Damon’s character, in conversation with his soon-to-be psychologist girlfriend, claims that ‘the Irish are impervious to psychoanalysis’. It is an interesting statement, totally devoid of any evidence, but intriguing all the same.

Irish people don’t handle or deal with collective trauma very well: we tend to bury it and bury it deep. Our recent attempts to fully understand the immense trauma of the Civil War is a case in point. Apart from an excellent historical documentary by Throne Productions, little by way of attempting to deal with the deep family and community trauma the war has had and that is carried through generations through our genes was evident. Another case in point is The Great Hunger. Ireland suffered a calmative famine in the mid-nineteenth century and to this day we have never had a national reckoning with the events around and after such trauma. The official day of remembrance in May is not widely observed or known and there is no truly national event or activity fixed on the immense suffering and death of that period.

To this catalogue of collective suffering, we now add the troubles in Northern Ireland. We appear to be a long way from facing the terrible and deep hurt on all sides and the loss of so many lives in the later decades of the twentieth century. So, it should come as no surprise that a new generation, born after the Good Friday Agreement, would be unaware of the recent past and that the singing of some songs closely associated with the Provisional IRA would be so hurtful to large swathes of the Unionist community and others across the Island and further afield. In the absence of an understanding and public debate and discussion on the hurt from the troubles, the negative reaction to the singing of ooh, ah, up the RA might appear to be an overreaction to some innocuous remembrance and fun.

A new digital and Ryanair generation, unaware of the recent past and confident in a new sense of what it means to be Irish in the modern world, views the past through a rosy, green lens. Attending a Wolf Tone concert and singing along to the songs, as huge numbers did at Electric Picnic and the recent Point Depot concerts, is not a new surge towards militant republicanism but rather an expression of what it means to be Irish in a new multicultural Ireland that is trying to remember the past in a void of understanding and discussion.

And it is at this point I see a small comfort in the resurgence of the songs and music of the Wolf Tones. The same people who sing the songs with passion also widely cheer Rhasidat Adeleke and her marvellous achievements in athletics and chant the names of Festy Ebosele, Andrew Omobamidele, and Chiedozie Ogbene from the terraces at Landsdowne Road at Irish games. There is no evidence to suggest that renewed support for the Wolf Tones and their music has led to any significant upsurge in support for Far-Right politics. So, maybe such songs and collective singing may be an important counterweight to the anger and hate of the extreme right. While accusations of sectarianism in their songs have been levelled against the band, their supporters are in the vanguard of change in terms of social injustice and inequalities.

Visit of Douglas College, Vancouver, Canada

As part of the School of Political Science & Sociology at the University of Galway’s ongoing commitment to collegiality, cooperation, and community, Mike hosted a group of academics and undergraduate students from Douglas College, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – under the leadership of Dr Joey Moore from the Sociology and Anthropology Department – on Wednesday the 13th of June 2024. Mike provided a walking presentation and tour of Galway discussing the historical, political, and socioeconomic development of the city over the recent past. The focus for many of the undergraduate students was on urban planning and development, and they hoped to bring their learnings and understanding of what Galway is doing well and what Galway needs to improve upon and change back to British Columbia in terms of active and sustainable travel, placemaking, liveability, and improved quality of life.

Dr Joey Moore and students from Douglas College in Eyre Square

B.Sc. (Social Sciences) Placement/Internship Work on Digital StoryMaps brings Galway’s Heritage to Life

Mike is the Programme Director for the B.Sc. (Social Sciences) programme and a crucial element of this degree is a semester-long work placement/internship, undertaken by third-year students in their second semester. The programme, in close cooperation with Emma Marron in the Careers Development Office, has worked tirelessly over the past number of years to link with local, regional, and national organisations, institutions, NGOs, businesses, and industry to provide essential opportunities for students to develop their employability skills and obtain real-world experience of work within these organisations and companies. One exemplary organisation that the programme has worked closely with over the past few years has been Galway County Council.

This year, B.Sc. (Social Sciences) student Natalie Cyrkel worked with the Heritage and GIS teams of Galway County Council to convert historical data from sources, including O’Donovan’s Ordnance Survey Letters, Griffiths Valuation, the Down Survey, and the 1901 and 1911 censuses, into digital formats. Spearheaded by Galway County Council in conjunction with Galway County Heritage Forum, The Heritage Council, and local community and heritage groups, ‘Galway County Heritage Trails’ showcases the cultural and historical significance of almost half of County Galway’s 4,556 townlands through meticulous research and the application of cutting-edge technologies.

Natalie, with fellow University of Galway students Dylan Reilly and Joseph Ennis, worked on one of the standout features of the project, the creation of StoryMaps, a series of interactive maps combining geographical data with multimedia elements to guide users through the historical landscapes of County Galway’s townlands, towns and villages. One hundred sixty-one townlands in the civil parishes of Kiltartan, Kinvaradooras, Kilcolgan, Kilthomas, and Killinny were digitised. At the same time, online StoryMaps have also been created for Oranmore, Mountbellew, Monivea, and Ballyglunin, bringing to 2,000 the number of townlands now digitised through the project.

At the official launch of StoryMaps at Galway Co Co, attended by Cllr Liam Carroll, Cathaoirleach of the County of Galway, Liam Hanrahan, Director of Services, Director of Services for Economic Development & Planning, Marc Mellotte, Head of Engagement at the University of Galway, members of the Heritage Council and local community and heritage groups, Marie Mannion, Heritage Officer with Galway County Council, stated:

in addition to the academic aspect of the project, there is a strong emphasis on community engagement. Galway County Council and the students have worked closely with local heritage and community groups to collect and present local heritage information that enriches the content of the StoryMaps. This collaborative approach ensures that the digital heritage trails reflect the authentic voices and experiences of the community.


For some media coverage see The Irish Examiner (USA), Irish Heritage News, Galway Bay FM, Irish Central, Tech Buzz Ireland and Tech Central. To view the StoryMaps and Townland research, visit The Galway Co Co Maps Page.

Letter to the University of Galway Management Team (UMT) about our growing concern with the situation in Gaza

The following is the text of a letter signed by numerous academics and staff from the University of Galway – myself included – and forwarded to the University’s Management Team (UMT) about our growing concern with the situation in Gaza.

Dear UMT, 

Like many others in Ireland and further afield, we have been deeply affected by the intolerable suffering of the people of Gaza over the past three months. The University made a statement on the conflict on the 18th of October, rightly acknowledging the suffering of both the people of Gaza and Israel. Since then, however, it has been reported that over 25,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Gaza, with thousands more missing or still buried under rubble. This figure of 25,000 includes more than 10,000 children. Countless more children and babies have been maimed or orphaned, leading to the coining of a new abbreviation used by humanitarian organisations, WCNSF, or ‘wounded child, no surviving family’, and to UNICEF spokesperson James Elder declaring it a ‘war on children’. Millions of Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, and several international humanitarian organisations such as the United Nations have warned of the escalating risks of starvation and death by disease due to the conditions that have been created. Taking into account statements of Israeli leaders and the relentless bombardment of civilians and civilian infrastructure which appears intended to create conditions that are incompatible with human life, the South African government has brought a case to the International Court of Justice alleging that the attacks by Israel against Gaza amount to a campaign of genocide. This is a claim supported by many international human rights scholars.

Of particular relevance to the University of Galway is the fact that all of the universities in Gaza have now been destroyed and many leading academics in Gaza appear to have been killed deliberately in targeted strikes. Attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime unless the infrastructure is in active use by combatants, which has clearly not been the case, given that controlled explosions have been used to destroy university buildings. As we know, a university is more than just a building, it is a place that symbolises growth, creativity and nurturing of life and learning within a community. As a national SDG champion and a member of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), the University has committed itself to the promotion and protection of human rights, access to education, sustainability, and conflict resolution. These attacks on Gazan universities and academics place particular demands of solidarity on us as a university community and entreat us to uphold our responsibilities as an SDG champion and UNAI member, and to embody those principles. Indeed, the ceaseless attacks on healthcare facilities and healthcare staff also demand particular solidarity from those of us who work in the health sciences, as does the destruction of Gazan museums, culture, and artefacts of cultural significance to our colleagues within the arts. We also have a duty of care to our Palestinian students and a responsibility to offer recognition and support consistent with the recognition and support rightly offered to Ukrainian students, in particular. For clarity, we also categorically condemn the abduction and killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas on October 7th and wish for an immediate safe release of all remaining hostages; however, these atrocities do not justify the appalling actions of the Israeli government. We also echo the concerns of our University of Galway Students Union and wholeheartedly support their recent statement condemning antisemitism and highlighting the importance of support for our Jewish community at this time. We, the undersigned, therefore request that the University make a strong statement condemning unequivocally the destruction of universities in Gaza and the apparent targeting of academics as well as attacks directed at healthcare facilities and healthcare workers, calling for the release of all hostages and demanding an immediate ceasefire.

Signed,

Submission to An Coimisiún Toghcháin on its Research Programme and Research Priorities

As a Lecturer and Researcher at the School of Political Science & Sociology, the University of Galway, I am strongly supportive of the need for new and significant research on electoral policy and procedures to help bolster and support democracy in Ireland and add to our overall body understanding in these domains. While the Irish public is evidently optimistic about our democracy and the democratic process, this should not be taken for granted, and, as evident from across Europe and elsewhere, conditions can change swiftly and markedly to impearl our democratic system and undermine our institutions. We must seek to collect as much data and information as possible on the electoral trends in attitudes in Ireland, which will provide deeper insight into how social and political processes have changed over the recent past and whether these have been positive or negative in terms of our democracy. Such research and analysis will help policymakers and civil society better understand what conditions lead to positive political and societal changes and perceptions of fairness, political efficacy, and trust in such political and societal systems.

I am strongly supportive of the guiding principles for such research: independence and impartiality; inclusivity and fairness; the advancement of scholarship and debate; and peer review and scrutiny. Of particular interest is the advancement of scholarship and debate as Ireland lags behind other nations in our understanding of the distinctive attitudes, motivations, and practices underpinning electoral policy and procedures in the country. There is a need for much more research, public debate, and scrutiny on what makes our democracy thrive and the potential challenges and pressures that undermine our democratic processes. The five proposed thematic research strands will require substantive data and research to be realised and such research will need to be appropriately funded and resourced. Longitudinal studies will allow for a more accurate analysis of attitudes, motivations, and electoral practices over time, and these are to be welcomed as empirical evidence will be needed to underpin any electoral reform that may be deemed necessary over the coming years.

While strongly supportive of the Commission and the need for such research, I do wish to add the following supportive recommendations and remarks:

  1. All commissioned research should have a clear and transparent application process in which all organisations, groups, and individuals across society have a reasonable chance of applying for and successfully competing for
  2. All commissioned research must be properly and sufficiently funded and resourced, and the Commission must fully support the dissemination of results through its communication channels and mechanisms
  3. Of particular concern at this moment in time is the rise in online dis/misinformation amplifying bad actors and allowing manipulative individuals and groups, both internal and external, to have oversized influence and sway over our democracy. Therefore, the Commission should strive to understand how such dis/misinformation emerges, the actors involved in creating and disseminating such dis/misinformation, and its impact on democracy in Ireland through a series of robust research calls
  4. All collected data from all research projects funded by the Commission should be freely available to academics, organisations, groups, and interested individuals to allow for the production of new analyses and understandings through secondary data analysis
  5. The Commission should provide a central online repository to house the updated Electoral Register, past electoral and referendum results from all constituencies, and all conducted research, results, and associated data
  6. The Commission should facilitate communicative processes on the state of democracy in Ireland through a series of public events, conferences, and community engagements throughout the country
  7. The Commission should strive to promote its work and associated research through bespoke and audience-specific communicative processes to all sections of society in Ireland: school children, teenagers, young adults, mid-life adults, and elderly citizens.

Friday 12th January 2024

GovERN Research Community Workshop

Dr Mike Hynes of the Governance and Sustainable Development Research Cluster in the School of Political Science & Sociology at the University of Galway led a hybrid workshop of the GovERN research community at the L’institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE) in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux, France on Wednesday 18th October 2023. This workshop preceded a public conference organised by the GovERN the previous day titled The Natured-based Solutions We Want: Shifting Perspectives on Rural and Peri-urban Nature-based Solutions attended by academics, practitioners, government agencies, and civic organisations from across Europe and Canada. GovERN is an international research community that seeks to advance collaborative research on social challenges and emancipatory opportunities when governing rural and peri-urban Nature-based Solutions. Members of the collective represent academic, government, and civic organisations and institutions in France, the UK, Finland, Spain, Italy, Canada and Ireland and are actively engaged in collaborative research and writing, teaching, and research funding applications and opportunities.

Dr Mike Hynes leading the workshop and discussions on the application and implementation of Nature-based Solutions for the GovERN Research Community

First-Year BASS Fieldtrip

Dr Mike Hynes, Programme Director for the B.Sc. (Social Sciences) programme, led a first-year class on a fieldtrip to several sites and locations in the Connemara region on Friday 13th October 2023. A group of 26 students first stopped off at Oughterard to explore and investigate from a social science, planning, and semi-rural redevelopment perspective the village and its surrounds before heading to Ballinahinch to view and walk a portion of the Galway to Clifden Greenway. A 6-kilometre section of the Greenway runs through idyllic native woodlands before and after Ballinahinch Castle, and the students discussed such a cycle and walking network that connects the city to Clifden in terms of its economic, social, and environmental value. The class then travelled to Roundstone village where a discussion on the world-renowned cartographer Tim Robinson, who made the village his home for many years, was had before the group walked the short distance to Gurteen Bay. After more discoveries and discussions on the physical landscapes of the area, the group returned to the village and began the short bus journey back to Galway. A very successful and enjoyable fieldtrip, such activities are embedded within the ethos of the B.Sc. (Social Sciences) programme as students are continually encouraged and supported to apply the understanding and knowledge they obtain in the classroom to the city and wider region that is illustrative of the culture at the University of Galway.

The first-year BASS students on the section of the Galway to Clifden Greenway at Ballinahinch

Submission to the Galway City Development Plan 2023-2029

It is important that the Galway City Development Plan 2023-2029 include the provision of – and support for – residential housing for all socioeconomic groups and diverse family units to be developed throughout the city centre. Providing such multipurpose and varied residential housing and accommodation within the city centre areas is extremely important for Galway’s future viability and sustainability. Proper planning practice encourages the development of residential housing for different types of people of various ages, incomes and backgrounds, and not just single-purpose use such as student accommodation. Providing city centre residential housing encourages families to once again live in the city and to work, shop, and enjoy all that Galway City Centre has to offer. Diverse housing options are a cornerstone for the redevelopment and regeneration of neighbourhoods, and it has been proven that housing investment and development of this nature have a powerful and positive effect on a neighbourhood’s vitality.

First Principle of City Planning: Get people to live in the city

There is a clear consensus among those who plan, maintain and study cities that it is essential they find ways to enable and encourage people to live in them. Cities that use planning and public policy to enable people to live in the city centre, and near city centre neighbourhoods, are more economically and culturally viable, and more sustainable. We know this because in the 1960s and 1970s cities made a variety of planning and public policy mistakes that ended up hollowing out the city centres of many across the world. The problems were multifaceted but at their core city leaders failed to focus on enabling people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, family sizes, ages and incomes, to live in their cities and provide the kind of amenities and policing that made urban living attractive and safe. One of the biggest mistakes made was to think of the city as a place to be commuted to for work and left again at night. This kind of thinking left large parts of many cities bereft of life after working hours. Another mistake was to concentrate social housing in only certain areas. Viable and sustainable approaches to city centre regeneration require that we integrate where people live with where they work and socialise. This integration and meshing of residential uses and people of all backgrounds has always been at the core of urban living and thankfully it is once again being embraced in many cities across the globe. Making the city viable requires enabling people to live in the city again, encouraging a mixture of residential uses, and improving its public realm. Galway needs to be mindful of this as it chooses its pathway to develop and grow as a vibrant city over the next two decades.

Benefits of Living in Galway’s City Centre for People and the Environment

By encouraging people and families of all socioeconomic backgrounds and sizes to live in the city, Galway will benefit by having:

  • Less Traffic: Urban residents can walk to attain their daily needs for exercise, to socialise or for community activism. They can also easily make use of the public transport system. Galway has a severe traffic problem; providing housing in places where people do not need to drive cars daily is a key part of solving our traffic problem
  • Having families living in the city centre will regenerate the life of the city and add to the sporting, cultural and economic vibrancy and sustainability of Galway
  • More residential apartments, flats and housing: Galway is in serious need of more housing units of various types and as of this writing the lack of available housing in Galway is severe. There are significant tracks of land available within the city centre to build more residential apartments, flats and housing
  • More eyes on the street reduces crime and anti-social behaviour: ‘Eyes on the street’ provides informal surveillance of the urban environment. For residents and visitors to move safely through the streets, other people need to be present, contributing to a general atmosphere of safety and welcome
  • More business for local shops, restaurants, and pubs: This is important especially when tourist numbers are low in the winter and during economic downturns. Having people living in the city sustains local businesses on all levels
  • A Lower carbon footprint for the city: Less driving and the economies of scale associated with urban living will reduce Galway’s overall carbon emissions
  • More walking, cycling, and public transport use enable increased physical activity and reduce general healthcare costs and air pollution.

Considering these benefits, it is imperative that the Galway City Development Plan 2023-2029 include the need, and support for, the development of multipurpose residential accommodation for people of various ages, family compositions, incomes and backgrounds, particularly in the city centres area.

Submitted to Stage 1 ‘Pre-Draft’ the first phase of public consultation on Friday 5th March 2021

The Battle for the ‘Heart’ of Galway

As the new year begins it’s time to reflect on two major recent planning decisions in Galway that have the potential for long-term adverse impacts on the sustainable development of the city and its hinterlands. Although separate schemes both are very much interconnected to a wider vision of how, and in what way, Galway should grow and develop for the betterment of people who live, work and travel into and out of the city. The first of these is located within the city centre, the other is set to traverse the city but allow the expansion of the city in an unplanned ad-hoc manner.

The €104 million Bonham Quay scheme has recently been given approval by An Bord Pleanála. The development has an adjacent separate €25 million accommodation scheme for 345 student resident units, which has also received planning permission. The Bonham Quay development was granted permission by An Bord Pleanála after the developers successfully argued that the student accommodation fulfilled the residential component of their application. In October 2018 the Cabinet approved the €600 million proposal for a bypass project in Galway City. The proposed 18km route runs from the east side of the city to a location close to the village of Barna and will mean about 40 properties along the preferred corridor will be subject to compulsory purchase orders and demolished to accommodate the road. Advocates for this new road argue the scheme will reduce traffic congestion and improve journey times in and around Galway.

It is envisaged that the construction of the seven-story building at Bonham Quay will employ some 500 people construction workers and on completion, the site will accommodate some 2,600 office workers. But how many of these will live adjacent to their workplace? And yet, it was argued that this particular development will have minimal impacts on traffic in and around the city centre. The conflicting signals given with regard to automobility in the city are stark. Part solution to Galway’s sporadic but chronic traffic congestion is to reduce or eliminate the use of private cars from the city centre. Yet, at the same time and with one single development, several thousand workers will seek to travel directly to the city centre without any alternative sustainable ways of doing so other than driving a private car. No reasonable attempt has been made to provide additional living accommodation for these workers close to their work who, based on evidence from previous CSO figures, will largely come from outside the city; and there are little or no attempts to provide and promote active or sustainable modes of transport such as cycling or public transport for these workers. But a number of enlightened solutions to tackling traffic gridlock and regenerating the city already have been fleshed out and are available in the progressive Galway City Development Plan document, which seeks to span from 2017-2023.

The need for diversity and mix-use development is incredibly important for city (re)development and regeneration. This was first suggested by Jane Jacobs in the early 1960s and still retains its potency and relevance today. To truly understand cities we need to acknowledge and embrace the notion that combinations and mixtures of use and residential diversity are essential components to improved urban liveability and quality of life. Moreover, the contemporary trend in the US, for example, is for large employers and corporations, particularly in the tech industry, to relocate to city centres when local environments merit such moves.

The Housing Strategy seeks to ensure that a mixture of house types and sizes is provided to satisfy the requirements of various categories of households, including the special requirements of elderly persons and persons with disabilities and to counteract undue segregation in housing between persons of different social backgrounds.

(Galway City Development Plan, page 24)

This provides us with a tremendous opportunity for the proper development of the Galway dockland brownfield sites (the Ceannt Station site is the next major development to be decided upon in this particular locality). But the best and brightest talents that major companies and corporations must attract and retain are no longer interested in suburban living, with its associated long daily commute. They want to live close to their work and enjoy the vibrancy of city community living, with its rich and varied quality of life. These workers are not seeking unaffordable housing with long commutes to a job where they work in isolation. They prefer the accessibility, infrastructure and cultural vibrancy that cities provide and where innovation thrives.

New residential development in particular has contributed to the vibrancy of the city centre. The Council will continue to encourage residential development by requiring a residential content of at least 20% of new development in the city centre. Exceptions may be made on small scale redevelopment sites. On certain key sites in the city centre namely the Ceannt Station lands, Inner Harbour and the Headford Road LAP areas, a higher residential content of 30% will be required.

(Galway City Development Plan, page 36)

The aim of any city (re)development and regeneration plan should be to create attractive and balanced residential neighbourhoods; transforming the prospects of a place depends on creating environments in which people would choose to live in and which provide benefits for existing residents. What point is a city in which no one wants to live? The Galway City Development Plan specifically focuses on this and – although I don’t agree with every facet of the plan -thus is a considered strategy for the future planning and development of Galway in a sustainable manner. But on their first test of credibility city planners, decision-makers and, indeed, An Bord Pleanála have all failed to satisfy conditions they themselves support for the better (re)development and regeneration of the city. Even if you were to argue that student accommodation alone is appropriate as a residential component – it isn’t – do 345 units make up the 30% as set out in the Plan? And what about transport in and out of the city centre? How does the construction of an expensive ring road around the city fit into this particular overall planning approach? On the one hand, we are asking motorists to avoid coming into the city centre, and at the same time planning for approximately 3,000 workers to do just that on a daily basis.

The objective of the strategy is to help address the transportation issues experienced in the city and the environs. It recognises the need to do so in an integrated, sustainable manner that aligns transport investment with settlement patterns, travel movements and also supports a sustainable use of land as promoted in the Core Strategy. This implies an approach that supports opportunities that will reduce congestion and car dependency through increased capacity of reliable public transport and the promotion and facilitation of cycling and walking, which in turn promotes the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

(Galway City Development Plan, page 15)

The City Development Plan clearly outlines the strategy objectives with regard to reducing car dependency in the urban environment but, in the case of the Bonham Quay development and proposed ring road, does not have any plan or approach to dealing with the potentially significant increase in commuting into and out of the city centre. Why make progressive and forward-thinking plans if we don’t even attempt to stick with them? I don’t feel obliged to be a cheerleader for economic development over and above the other pillars of sustainability – the social and environmental – (many of our politicians and decision-makers do that often enough) so I can be forgiven for not joining in with the chorus of approval for the new Bonham Quay development or the proposed ring road as its currently envisaged. Of course, it’s crucial for such large brownfield sites in the city to be redeveloped – I grew up, raised a family, and continue to live in the city centre; who doesn’t want a future for their children close to their family home – but such schemes must be accomplished in a holistic and sustainable manner. Galway City Council commissioned a way forward in this respect with the City Development Plan so why then, at this first opportunity, is this progressive strategy for the (re)development and regeneration of the city cast aside in favour of developer-led planning? And why do we continue to send out conflicting and confusing signals to motorists that we want them to avoid coming into the city centre but would like them to work, but certainly not live, there?