The Galway GAA officer helping to tackle lives lost to drink and drugs

Galway GAA’s Children’s Officer has seen too many lives lost to drink and drugs on nights out in the city — now he wants to help tackle the problem, writes John Fogarty.

“The Irish goodbye’ refers to leaving a social gathering without saying your farewells. One moment you’re at the bar, or the house party, the next moment you’re gone. In the manner of a ghost.”(Slate.com)

Like anyone who picks up the phone to a newspaper, Pat Monaghan had an itch he needed to scratch. When he heard a local councillor endorsing a suicide watch on the banks of the River Corrib in the city after a spate of drownings last summer, he had to speak out. The Connacht Tribune took his call.