History of Galway History of Galway Galway, one of the largest cities in Ireland, situated on the west coast of Ireland, has a complex history going back around 800 years. The city was the only medieval city in the province of Connacht. The city takes its name from that of the river, the "Gaillimh". The word "Gaillimh" means ""stony"" as in ""stony river"". Today, the river is commonly called the River Corrib, after Lough Corrib, just to the north. In Irish, Galway is also called "Cathair na Gaillimhe" ("city of Galway") which is a modern creation to prevent confusion with "Contae na Gaillimhe"
County Galway local authority ranks equally as first level local administrative units of the NUTS 3 West Region for Eurostat purposes. There are 34 LAU 1 entities in the Republic of Ireland. The remit of Galway County Council includes some suburbs of the city not within the remit of Galway City Council. Both local authorities are responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, the collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing. The county is part of the Midlands–North-West constituency for the purposes of European elections. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is part of