PEOPLE OF GALWAY; THIS IS SINÉAD

We’re having the chats with #PeopleofGalway for the craic — messers and chancers, artists and tourists, buskers and shopkeepers, and any other unwitting victims we meet on the street.

#ThisIsGalway “I would say my forest firefighting would be my proudest achievement. It’s a really male dominated industry – I’d say about 15% would be female. Last year, there were three girls on our crew, and 17 guys. To be honest, I’ve dealt with a lot of shit. I started out in this crew of three, and it was supposed to be me and these two other guys. I was moved crews straight away, and I asked why, and they told me that it was because they didn’t want to be in a crew with a girl.

Then, this last year, I was on a pretty militaristic crew, and we were sandbagging in the flood season, and one old man came up to me and said: “Oh, they’ve got girls doing this now? Do they even know how to fight fire?” I just smiled and told him to have a nice day. It doesn’t really affect me, it’s just the way it is. You have to deal with a lot of shit like that.”

– Sinéad

Photo by Ciarán MacChoncarraige