Tynagh

Infobox Irish Place
name = Tynagh
gaeilge = Tíne
crest

motto =
map

pin coords = left: 132px; top: 70px
north coord = 53.1700 | west coord = 8.3700 | irish grid = M621163
area = | elevation = 85 m
province = Connacht
county = County Galway
town pop = | rural pop = 842
census yr = 2002
web = www.galway.ie
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Tynagh ("Tíne" in Irish) is a village and parish in south-east County Galway in Ireland. Situated between the towns of Loughrea (15 km) and Portumna (13 km), the place is probably best known for the Tynagh mines which opened in the 1960s and were an important source of lead and zinc concentrates at that time. For almost twenty years Irish Base Metals Tynagh Ltd was a major source of employment for east Galway. This all changed in 1981, however, when the mines closed with the loss of 350 jobs.

In 2004, after lying dormant for over twenty years, part of the site was redeveloped for industrial use with Sperrin Galvanisers (Ireland) Ltd opening a steel galvanising plant, and Tynagh Energy Ltd a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, the first in Galway.

Tynagh has very strong hurling links. Between 1920 and 1929 no club in Galway went as long unbeaten in senior hurling. Also during period, Tynagh had no fewer than six members on the Galway team that won the All-Ireland in 1923, another unrivalled county record.

The origin of the name Tynagh is unknown, although some claim it means "house of the witch", while others say it refers to the number of houses that were once in Tynagh. Paul Keating, the former prime minister of Australia, visited Tynagh in 1992 while tracing his ancestry, and found that he was related to a Paul Molloy from Tynagh.

External links

*Tynagh Energy [http://www.tynaghenergy.ie/]
*Sperrin Galvanisers [http://www.sperrin-galvanisers.co.uk/]
*Irish Farmers Journal report on environmental pollution in Tynagh [http://www.farmersjournal.ie/2003/0628/farmmanagement/environment/feature.htm]