Connacht Tribune
Long-awaited ‘Bish’ relocation takes step forward
The long-awaited move of St Joseph’s College (the Bish) from Nuns’ Island took a step forward this week as a design team was appointed to draw up plans for what will be a 1,000-pupil school on a site in Dangan, adjacent to the NUI Galway campus – with the move expected to take place by 2025.
Principal John Madden said this was the first step in a long journey, but all at the school were “absolutely delighted” that plans to move to a site big enough for its 760 pupils were moving forward.
“The design team is talking about probably five years [before a new school opens] because it will take time to get everything in line – they must first identify a number of designs. They then have to be brought to the Department of Education to sanction it, and that could take up to a year.
“Then it must go for planning permission and that process takes time,” said Mr Madden.
The Bish was a flagship school for the Patrician Brothers worldwide, he said, and while it would be moving out of the city centre after 158 years, they would be ensuring to take the school’s long-held tradition of excellence in education with them.
The school had outgrown the 1970s-build in Nuns’ Island and in order to adapt to the needs of students in the future, by expanding subject choice and offering on-site sports facilities, a move was necessary, said Mr Madden.
“Because of a lack of space, we haven’t been able to offer our students practical subjects. We are awaiting temporary accommodation so we can offer Home Economics and Technology to our first years next year and we have been able to offer Art, Music, Spanish and Graphics for this years’ first years.
“It is great for students to get as broad an education as is possible and to enable them to make choices, rather than be confined to a limited number of subjects. That has worked well for us in the past, but we want to offer choice in the future,” he said.
Plans for the Bish to move to Dangan were first mooted 20 years ago and despite a major setback in 2005 – when city councillors voted not to rezone lands necessary for the development – a change to the City Development Plan in 2017 has enabled plans to progress.
A land-swap is understood to be the basis of proposals, with NUIG to take ownership of the site at Nuns’ Island if the move goes ahead. NUIG and Galway City Council are currently engaged in developing a regeneration masterplan for the wider Nuns’ Island area.
Meanwhile, Mr Madden said Covid-19 had put in focus the lack of space at their current site, with social distancing requiring the setting up of additional classrooms on- and off-site.
“Up to three weeks ago, we were operating from four buildings around the city. We’ve since been able to add four classrooms on-site by converting an old bus garage, a bike shed and a weights room. We’re also leasing the Presentation Building on Presentation Road for our sixth year students.
“We had Nuns’ Island theatre on the go for a few weeks too, and we have been using the monastery building across the road [from the school] for a number of years, which had allowed us to grow our student numbers up to 700. The building we’re in was built for about 500 students,” said Mr Madden.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
