Galway Hooker club wins €35,000 to build boatbuilding training centre

Galway Hooker Sailing Club received €35,000 from the FLAG West programme, administered by Bord Iascaigh Mhara, to develop a dedicated Boatbuilding and Training Centre at Galway Docks. The funding, awarded under the FLAG Coastal Communities Development Scheme and EMFAF funding, will support workshop space, skills development and community-led restoration projects.

The centre will provide a permanent workshop for restoration, preservation and sailing of Galway Hookers, the traditional wooden fishing vessels of Galway Bay. The club, founded in 2019 and now managing a fleet of Hookers, plans to use the space for the major community-led restoration of Claddagh and for ongoing maintenance of its boats. Having a year-round workshop aims to take wooden maintenance out of seasonal workshops and create steady opportunities in the Docklands area.

Practical training and community participation are core aims. The project will run Workshop Saturdays and public drop-ins to introduce people to wooden boatbuilding basics and maintenance. A pilot Transition Year work-experience programme will give local teenagers hands-on training in traditional boatbuilding skills, supporting apprenticeships and pathways into maritime trades. Those activities are designed to protect craft skills such as timber framing and planking while building a local pipeline for shipwright and boat-repair work.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara highlighted the investment as supporting maritime heritage and local economic activity. For the Docklands, the centre is more than a workshop: it promises year-round footfall, volunteer opportunities, educational links with schools and a visible anchor for heritage sailing events. Club members and volunteers will be able to run restoration projects from a consistent base, which should speed up work on boats like Claddagh and reduce reliance on temporary or rented facilities.

For anyone wanting to get involved, the club will be the point of contact for Workshop Saturdays, drop-ins and the Transition Year pilot. The funding does not finish the job but establishes the infrastructure needed for apprenticeships, community training sessions and ongoing restoration programmes. This investment helps translate traditional shipwright knowledge into sustained local activity, keeping wooden-boat skills alive and bringing steady-purpose to Galway's Docklands.

The next steps are setting up the workshop, scheduling public sessions and launching the Transition Year pilot. For readers, that means more chances to learn hands-on boatbuilding, volunteer on restoration projects and see Galway Hookers maintained and sailed from a permanent home in the docks.