Flying whales, octopuses, and other marine life transformed Galway’s Salthill at the weekend during a number of separate events along the popular promenade.
The Salthill Kite Festival incorporated the wider An Tóstal programme this year, with currach racing, sea swimming and a number of activities on and off water.
Ocean Giants: A giant blue whale kite drifts above Salthill beach during the Galway Kite Festival as families gathered along the shoreline for the An Tóstal weekend celebrations
In Salthill Park, African communities celebrated food, fashion, music and art at the annual Africa Day. Mayor Mike Cubbard praised Galway’s diversity and multicultural spirit, while Labour councillor Helen Ogbu – also a candidate in the Galway West by-election along with Cllr Cubbard - highlighted the importance of visibility, belonging and representation.
A call for greater awareness of the value of organ donation among coastal communities was a theme of a north-south gathering in Salthill’s Circle of Life garden – Ireland’s national organ donor commemorative public space. Nine-year-old Daithí MacGabhann from west Belfast was one of the guests of honour at the event, which was planned to highlight the value of cross-border organ donation on the final day of Organ Donor Awareness Week.
Both Daithí and President Catherine Connolly unveiled a heritage stone from 6th-century Bangor Abbey in Co Down, which was gifted by Northern Ireland’s organ donation and transplant community.
Stone of Hope: President Catherine Connolly attends the Circle of Life garden event in Salthill where Martina Goggin assists Dáithí Mac Gabhann with the unveiling of a heritage stone from Bangor Abbey alongside Denis Goggin. Photo: Andrew Downes
Daithí has been on a waiting list for a heart transplant for eight years, defying all odds in relation to his survival rate when he was first diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He has had two surgeries for the condition, where one side of his heart is underdeveloped, and his last option is a transplant.
“We think he may be the longest young child waiting for a heart in the world, and he is a living miracle,” his father, Mairtín MacGabhann, says.
Hope and Courage: Dáithí Mac Gabhann pictured in Galway during Organ Donor Awareness Week events highlighting cross-border cooperation on organ donation services
More lives could be saved if there is greater collaboration on organ donation between Northern Ireland and the Republic, according to Prof Peter Conlon, new clinical lead of Organ Donation Transplant Ireland (ODTI). Prof Conlon said that collaboration between north and south of the island “needs to be strengthened”.
The Republic now runs a "soft opt-out" system, where adults are presumed to have consented to organ donation upon death unless they officially register their objection. Dr.Conlon said there had been much success with Ireland’s organ donor programme, in place since 1962, with almost 4,000 people living as a result of the generosity and selflessness of organ donors and their families.
Outcomes were very positive, with kidney transplant patients living up to 50 years after a procedure. Also speaking was Deputy Mayor of Galway Alan Cheevers (FF), who said he has been on dialysis since September 2024 and is awaiting a kidney transplant.
“I see lives changed by the generosity of others that inspires me,” Cheevers told organ donor families, organ recipients and representatives of the medical profession and health services from north and south of the border. He also paid tribute to Circle of Life garden founders, Martina and Denis Goggin and the Strange Boat Foundation for their work in creating the public space in memory of their only child, Éamonn.
The 26-year-old sound engineer died 20 years ago this July in a car accident in An Spidéal, Co Galway. As he was in intensive care, his parents were able to make the very difficult decision to consent to the donation of his organs.
President Connolly paid warm tribute to the Goggins, along with the volunteers maintaining the garden, and described it as “like a wonderful embrace”.
Ryan Wilson, director of secondary care with responsibility for organ donation in the Northern Ireland Department of Health, spoke about the impact of his department’s long-term commitment to building a positive culture around organ donation.
