The Gluaiseacht book project began as an idea to collect in-house anecdotal stories as we came up to our 10 year anniversary. back in 2010. However the project grew in scope and interest, as various interviews were collected with members past and present, and so various chapters took shape under common themes that came up in the collective interviews. For various reasons and time constraints of our volunteers, the book was not finished. We learnt that writing a book collectively is not an easy task!
“I would say that from day one in Gluaiseacht we were joining the dots. It’s easier when you are with a group of people. In Eco Soc [NUI Galway ], there were lots of people into the ecology and environmental side but barely into the directly or expressly political stuff. Iin Gluaiseacht there was a higher concentration of people who were highly critical of the system, you were less of a lone voice. There was support and inspiration from other people.”, Chapter 1. Environmentalism from Limerick to The Hague to Faslane, 2000-2001
We have now decided to round up this pending project because we believe it is important to share our learnings and reflections of Irish activist history that we have been part of, and supported in parallel with many other important groups and campaigns in Ireland. We plan to have the book project completed during the summer of 2026, and hopefully present it at Climate Camp 2026. The book will cover the first 10 years of Gluaiseacht, from 2000 to 2010.
(Above photo: Protest at Sellafield 2001 with various student groups from around Ireland)