“Not in my backyard.”
I love Galway. It became my second home for four long years when I made the break away from the safe comforts of mammy and her washing and cooking.
Studying Arts with English and Psychology wasn’t exactly the hardest thing in the world and to be fair the first three years of college were relatively easy, keep on top of things and you should be grand and still be able to enjoy yourself, a lot.
My first two years in NUIG, I stayed in student accommodation. It was kind of the norm for first and second years to stay in student accommodation.
First year was spent in Corrib Village and it was here where the boy turned into a man and after only two failed washing attempts (I turned my two favourite white t-shirts a pinky colour courtesy of my Manchester United jersey), it became a home away from home where friends showed up unannounced and where plans for nights out were made.
I spent my second year of college in Gort Na Coirbe and it turned out to be the best year of my college career because of the people I was living with and the environment itself.
However, come the third year, the novelty of student accommodation wears off and as much as you would love to live a life like that for the entirety of your academic years, it’s not possible.
Well, it is but it could come at the cost of your education.
I was lucky to live in Corrib and Gort and the reason I got a spot here was because I knew I was going to Galway and was able to book my place early.
Not everyone knows their college faith though and not everyone was as lucky as I was though and that is a fact that is still true to this day.
Many of my friends from school headed to Galway in the same year as me but found themselves crashing on couches and living in unaffordable digs for the majority if not the whole of their first year.
Thousands of students head to GMIT and NUIG each year but sadly, there is not the same amount of accommodation to cater for these students.
According to Galway Bay FM, “The Westwood Hotel has been purchased by the Ziggurat Student Investment Fund – which plans to replace the hotel with high-end student accommodation.”
The Westwood Hotel is idle and is screaming to be made into student accommodation but unfortunately, Dangan and Newcastle residents are extremely unhappy and have rejected the proposed development and have taken a sort of ‘not in my back yard’ stance.
CAO and Leaving Cert results are on their way and although they may change from year to year, there is always one thing that has remained the same in Galway over the last few years.
There is a student housing crisis in Galway that needs to be sorted quickly and if Westwood isn’t the answer, another answer needs to be found quickly before people are put off going to the city.
And that would be a real shame.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
