As people came together to celebrate the New Year yesterday, many people will be reflecting on 2007 and wondering what it will be remembered for locally.

Unfortunately, for many people 2007 in Galway will be remembered as a year of strife for the city, with the discovery of a body in a freezer in the city centre, the brutal murder of a young student and the start of the first murder trial in Galway City.

Locals in Henry Street were also shocked in June with the discovery of a body in a freezer. There was further shock with the revelation that the body, which was identified as that of Patrick McCormack from Artane in Dublin who had gone missing in 2003, could have been in situ for four years.

A terrible shadow was cast over the city in October when young Maneula Riedo's body was discovered on a walkway known locally as 'The Line'. The student was horrifically assaulted and murdered as she set out to meet friends in the city centre. A further shadow was cast over the city with the charging of a local man, Gerard Barry, with her murder.

Last year will also be remembered as the year a county councillor was tried and convicted of fraud and theft charges, then released pending a retrial. Cllr Michael 'Stroke' Fahy was given 12 months in prison and a €75,000 fine in March but was released and welcomed back to Galway County Council in December when a retrial was ordered.

2007 may also be remembered as the year the downturn in the economy became evident locally with the loss of a number of jobs in the city, the most high profile of which was the loss of 500 jobs at Abbott Vascular in Ballybrit.

Of course, 2007 will be remembered for the series of water crises and, in political circles, for Election 07. Galway citizens rolled with the punches in March when a mystery bug hit the water system. However, with little signs of the crisis abating, temperatures were raised as people and businesses had to continue to shell out for bottled water.

Hopefully, last year will also be remembered for a number of highs. It was the year the breast screening service, BreastCheck was rolled out locally; the year Spiddal Parish Priest Monsignor Brendan Kelly was appointed Bishop of Achonry; the year the Galway Outer Bypass came a step closer; the Killanin Stand at Galway Racecourse opened on time and on budget; and the year Galway was named as a stopover port in the 2009 Volvo Ocean Sea Race.

Happy New Year!

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