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12 per cent drop in unemployment in Galway over past year
Galway Bay fm newsroom – The unemployment rate in Galway is down almost 12 per cent since last year, despite a slight rise in the month of December.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that there were just over 12 thousand 400 people out of work in the city and county at the end of last year.
This is a drop of more than 16 hundred from the end of December the previous year.
There was a mixed bag in terms of unemployment figures in Galway last month, with some areas seeing a decrease while others experienced an increase.
Overall around 100 more people joined the Live Register in Galway in December.
The biggest rise in unemployment was in Ballinasloe, where an extra 48 people signed on.
There are now just over 14 hundred people without work in Ballinasloe.
Clifden also saw an increase in unemployment last month, bringing its jobless figure up to 937.
In Tuam, there was a similar increase with 33 more people joining the Live Register in December.
There are now just over 18 hundred people out of work in Tuam.
Gort also experienced an increase with unemployment figures rising by 33, bringing its jobless figure to 938.
Bucking the trend last month was Galway city, where 38 people came off the Live Register last month.
There are now just over 6 thousand people out of work in the city.
A slight decrease of 4 in Loughrea last month left its jobless figure at just over 12 hundred.
Despite the slight increase in unemployment in many areas in December, the rate is still down 12 per cent on the same period in 2016 with a total of 12 thousand 422 people out of work in Galway.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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