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LA4 - Galway Urban District Council, Minute Books of

Ref No	LA4
Title	Galway Urban District Council, Minute Books of
Description	Three of the four volumes contain minutes giving the date of meetings, attendance, correspondence and business transacted. The first volume also contains the minutes of the Galway Town Commissioners for the period 6 November 1890 - 31 December 1898, although this is one physical item it can be considered as two items for the purposes of description and arrangement. One of the items in this collection LA4/4 is a letter book which contains copies of correspondence and other items such as reports and for the period 4 May 1922 - 20 December 1922 it includes the copies of the minutes of council meetings. There are no minutes for the period 12 October 1912 - 16 December 1916, however there are some copies of letters for this period. The volumes in this collection are in good physical condition.
Date	1899-1922
Extent	4 Volumes
Arrangement	The minute books are arranged in chronological order, the letter book has been arranged after the minute books because the the section of the letter book which includes copies of minutes comes after the last minute book chronologically.
Administrative History	Galway Urban District Council was set-up after the 1898 Local Government Act, it replaced the Board of the Galway Town Commissioners. As an 'Urban District Council' rather than a 'Corporation' the body was subordinate to Galway County Council, in administrative terms this put Galway City on the same level as towns such as Athlone and Clonmel. Galway Urban District council was responsible for the upkeep of Galway?s roads, street lighting and the collection of tolls. Unlike it predecessor body the Galway Town Commissioners it was also responsible for the provision of 'social housing'. During the period covered by this collection a number of housing schemes in Galway city were undertaken by the Urban District Council, including the construction of 'working class' homes in Henry Street. The period covered by this collection also saw the replacement of the tram service to Salthill with a bus service. The minute books of the Galway Urban District Council also include a number of references to political events of the time including The First World War, The Conscription Crisis and the War of Independence. A resolution passed on 17 June 1920 explicitly stated that the Urban District Council recognised "the authority of Dail Eireann as the duly elected Government of the Irish people".

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