• Accessible Restrooms
• City Streets and Places
• Access to Buildings, Facilities and Services
• Links
• Accommodation

General acess to buildings isn't that bad at all, considering that Galway has little more than 60,000 inhabitants, which makes it, for German relations, a rather tiny city. Many of the newly erected buildings are 100 % accessible, including all of Galway's major shopping centers. Eyre Square Centre is particularly nice and worth a visit due to its tasteful architecture. In contrast to Germany, where ground floors are traditionally raised almost half a level, ground floors in Ireland often have few, or no steps at all. 
Contrarily to this and most unfortunately for the disabled visitor, the city's Tourist Office at Victoria Place has an annoyingly large step in front of its entrance. I still recommend taking a look inside, because they have a large selection of brochures and can help you in finding out about accessible places and activities. 

Public Transportation is completely inaccessible, but you will have your  car with you anyway, or you won't be in Ireland in the first place. Again, there is no rental car service that's got hand-controlled cars anywhere in Ireland. Wheelchair users from overseas could fly into the UK, rent a car there and take it to Ireland. They should send the ferry ticket bill to the Irish Government for failing to ensure decent access to its country.

There is one fully accessible pub I went to, the King's Head. There's a ramp at its backside entrace on Middle Street and accessible restrooms inside. Live Jazz on Sundays between 12.00 and 15.00 is highly recommended there. The Jury's Inn also has a pub which can be accessed free of stairs and that's just one door away from the accessible restrooms in the Hotel's lobby.

The Salthill Leisureland public indoor swimmingpool is also said to be accessible to the extent that it has disabled restrooms both in its lobby and within the swimmingpool area.

For convenient shopping of larger quantities, the Galway Shopping Centre on Headford Road (ca. 2.5km north of the city centre) might be the best choice as there's plenty of reserved parking right at its main entrance.
 

• Galway Guide. Has much information, most notably a pub and restaurant guide, but lacks any wheelchair information whatsoever. Still a valuable source of information

• Galway Info at Irish Holidays

• King's Head, a popular and accessible pub

• Roisin Dubh, a famous pub and concert venue

• Jury's Inn Hotel homepage

• Galway Online Internet Guide

• Cloonnabinnia House Hotel, Moycullen

• Galway-Tourism -- seems to have quite comprehensive information, but terribly slow site

O.K., now things are getting really difficult! The good news first: There's several places offering
 wheelchair accessible rooms to stay in. The bad news: It's going to cost you a fortune, and there's
 not a whole lot you can do about it. Very disappointingly, not a single one of Galway's several
 hundred bed & breakfasts has accessible rooms. Which means you'll have to get yourself a hotel
 room and expect to pay at least 45 quid per night. 

Unless you like loud and entirely uncomfortable places. In that case, the Great Western House Hostel  could be the right place for you. Actually, they do have a fully accessible bathroom and another hardly accessible toilet on their first and second floors. A dorm bed costs 8.50, and they also have single/double rooms. I paid 20 pounds for a single room, but I deeply regret it, even though the room wasn't that bad, except for the missing bed lights and the fact that they turn off the radiators at night (in March!). The wheelchair bathroom is used by all other kinds of people, because it's the only one on that floor that has hot water throughout the day. When I first checked it out, it was a complete mess.  

Wheelchair accessible rooms are available at the Jury's Inn. They run at 50 pounds per room, breakfast not included. If you are traveling with up to three people, this is probably the best offer you can get (they actually call it "budget accommodation"...very funny) Excellent location on the River Corrib,  between the city center, the pub quarter and the beach. Due to a screw-up at their reservation-desk, I had to stay in one of their standard rooms (free of charge..once again, the legal education came in handy...). The bathroom was usable except for the bathtub.  That one also would have been accessible with a shower board or similar equipment. The indoor car park next to the hotel is accessible, but there is no accessible connection between the hotel and the car park -- a fine example for outrageous architectural stupidity. 

According to the "Accessible Holidays Guide", the Hotel Ibis Galway has five accessible double bedrooms, which cost between 39.50 and 49.50 per room. I've stayed at Ibis hotels myself without having any access problems and know of other disabled travellers who also were quite satisfied. The hotel, however,  is situated a bit outside of town on Headford Road, close to the Galway Shopping Centre. Tel. (091) 757975

Further outside of Galway, in Moycullen (Clifden Road, 16km from Galway), there are a couple of accessible rooms at the Cloonnabinnia House Hotel . My ensuite room was a bit narrow around the beds, but had a very spacious bathroom. The bathtub was made accessible with a bathtub seat -- worked very well, much better than one of those mini-sized foldable shower seats in wheel-in showers. I paid 50 quid which included breakfast and service charge. Beautiful countryside location on the border of Connemara. If you'd like to buy a cottage in that region and are looking for a partner, drop me a line!