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BIM criticised for PR spend on Galway Bay fish farm

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Bórd Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), which has applied for a licence to facilitate a massive salmon farm in Galway Bay, says there’s nothing fishy about its expenditure of tens of thousands of Euros for communications advice.

The state agency has come under fire for hiring a private public relations company that sent heavy-handed letters to editors of three Irish newspapers in relation to articles about the controversial proposed salmon fish farm off Galway Bay.

Galway Bay Against Salmon Cages (GBASC) says it is “worrying” that BIM spent over €57,000 last year for advice from a Dublin-based PR company Keating & Associates, to complain to newspaper editors and “stifle debate”.

This was just one of a litany of payments to private consultants hired by BIM last year at a total cost of €685,242, according to documents released under Freedom of Information (FOI).

But BIM has defended its outlay on consultants, and says it, like other State agencies, hires outside expertise when the need arises.

It also defended its expenditure on communications, and said Keating and Associates had provided services to BIM to cover maternity leave last year.

Data released to GBASC through FOI, shows that some €143,239 was paid to Keating & Associates for “communications advice and communications support” from January, 2010 to April 1, 2015.

This, it said, included €98,500 to cover for maternity leave for a thirteen month period. Its payments to Keating & Associates involved almost €58,000 for a “communications service” in 2014.

During that period, BIM sent letters to the editors of three newspapers, including the Connacht Tribune, Irish Times and Irish Examiner.

GBASC accused BIM of trying to “stifle debate” by issuing strongly worded letters to editors of newspapers. “We believe these letters are an attempt by BIM to stifle debate on the Galway Bay and other proposed mega salmon farms,” the group said in a statement.

It added: “GBASC are astonished that BIM, with all their highly paid staff, some of whom are earning in excess of €100,000, couldn’t find someone within their ranks to give communications advice and write a small number of letters to the media at a cost to the taxpayer of €143,239 since 2010.”

The campaign group said it was “shocked to learn” through FOI that BIM spent a total of €685,000 on consultants last year, which includes communications advice and some other outside expertise to advance plans for the salmon farm.

“This seems to be an exorbitant sum to be paying to consultants when BIM claim to be the experts in this area. BIM seems to have access to a bottomless pit of money, and unquestioning support from the relevant Minister to push their mega salmon farm on an unwilling population,” it said.

The group pointed to a recommendation in the 2009 An Bórd Snip Nua report on areas that could be cutback, which in relation to BIM said it could be subsumed within the department and “formally abolished”.

“GBASC believe that the implementation of this recommendation is long overdue,” it added.

BIM in a statement defended its expenditure.

It confirmed it had authorized Keating and Associates to issue separate letters to the editors of three newspapers on its behalf, “in order to address the publication of inaccuracies regarding BIM and the Galway Bay application”.

Two of the publications, it said, issued clarifications.

The state agency, in a statement, added: “BIM engaged Keating & Associates in order to provide the communications support needed within BIM to manage the significant workload associated with the Galway Bay aquaculture licence application, its public consultation process and the intense media activity that surrounded same. The firm also supported the organisation while the internal Communications Manager was on maternity leave.

“Like many state organisations, BIM, on occasion, engages external consultants either to provide a professional capability not available internally or to provide additional support to internal resources.”

Connacht Tribune

West has lower cancer survival rates than rest

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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.

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Connacht Tribune

Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races

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Loughrea’s Marathon Man Jarlath Fitzgerald.

On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.

But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.

“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”

We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.

Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.

To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.

He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.

Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.

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.

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CITY TRIBUNE

Galway ‘masterplan’ needed to tackle housing and transport crises

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From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.

Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.

She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.

“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.

“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.

She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.

In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.

But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.

“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.

“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.

Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.

However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.

“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.

“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”

In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.

“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”

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