St Brigid’s Hospital, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.

18/05/2026

Said the Dead is a new fictional book by Doireann Ní Ghríofa based on patients from Cork asylum Our Lady’s.

Forgotten psychiatric patients are resurrected with imagination and compassion in this extraordinary book

21/04/2026

What an unlikely source of information - the one and only Timmy Mallett. Ballinasloe Life Magazine offering some insight.

08/04/2026

posted these photographs from inside St Bridget’s 2026.
Look away if you don’t want to be enraged and saddened.

I went in to the main building in 2023 and the deterioration in those couple of years is breathtaking.
As custodians, we have failed the buildings. They have been ransacked, exposed and defaced.
We all know it’s a right of passage in Ballinasloe for kids to go there, drink and party. They light fires in filing cabinet drawers and graffiti every surface. The roof is falling in from thieves stealing the lead and copper.
I know some people don’t appreciate Urban Explorers and their role in this, but they are the least destructive of all. Their whole ethos is ‘leave no trace’. They want to photograph and document the decay. Usually that is all. I’ve met several now and believe this to be true.
Without them we wouldn’t see, in real time, what’s happening. For that I’m grateful to them.

The destruction is heartbreaking.
When will it end? When some teenager lights a match some night and the whole place goes up?
I truly hope that doesn’t happen.

Here are some recent photos taken by A World of Decay. Some incredibly poignant, eerily beautiful photos documenting the destruction of this important building.
(Thanks John for sending the link)

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HesFUtZWZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

19/03/2026

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

ADA ENGLISH SPORTS STORIES

I’m gathering stories about the early days of women’s camogie in St Brigids.

If any one has any information on Ada, any anecdote to share, please get in touch.

If you have any other unpublished photos of Ada English to share please send on.

19/03/2026

REQUEST FOR PHOTOS FROM 1970s

Anyone have any photos or team sheets of a Ladies Football team that existed for a few years in the 1970s.
This is for a piece in a forthcoming GAA history of St Brigid’s Hospital.

19/03/2026

Six minutes in you can test your Gaelic with Damian Mac Con Uladh and Sean Tully
Great St Brigids getting more air time.
Thanks to TG4

The day's main news stories from a regional, national and international perspective.

11/03/2026

Tonight Bressie will narrate the story of St.Loman's hospital. ( RTÉ tonight 9.30)

Damian Mac Con Uladh was on Galway Bay FM talking about the documentary and unmarked graves.

To listen back, go to the 10 March 2026 show and fast-forward to around 62:00..

They don't seem to have clips of individual interviews.

Galway Talks is a mix of current affairs, human interest stories, entertainment and even some live music thrown in for good measure. From local and national pol...

22/02/2026

Tune in to RTE March 11th to watch a new documentary on St Loman’s.
Read about it below in Westmeath examiner

Thanks John for sharing the details.

A powerful new RTÉ documentary on St Loman’s Hospital, Mullingar, is set to bring long-forgotten lives back into public view, and at its heart are photographs taken decades ago by author, broadcaster, photographer and well-known Gaeilgeoir Matt Nolan.

18/02/2026

Another one to share - if anyone has any ideas how to help please get in touch. I have all the contact details of the man looking for answers.
Look at the generational trauma caused by actions so long ago.

Received message:

I was contacted recently by a man from UK, who thought I might be able to help him in some family research.
His great-grandmother was admitted to St. Brigid's Asylum in Ballinasloe in 1914, and died there in 1939, having been 'inside' for 25 years.
He is unable to find out why she was there, and moreover, why she was not allowed back into regular life, with her family. She had had 9 children in her 15 years of marriage and was only 37 when she was admitted as a patient in 1914.
No one in his extended family seems to know anything about why she was put in the asylum in the first place, nor why she wasn't released after 'treatment'. He is unaware of any history of 'phycological' illness in his extended family.

So; My question for the group is
'Is there a resource or group page where someone such as this gentleman can access records, or speak with someone about his great-grandmother's confinement in the asylum?'
Like most of us he finds it incredible, inconceivable and unconscionable that anyone would be 'locked away' for so long without review or access to some form of release.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or information.

02/02/2026

Happy St Brigids day to one and all.
To those with instagram…sharing this little bit of history on the woman herself.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUNUCezDaXx/?igsh=MTdlc3NodzN1bTN1ZA==