News
Planners to work on solution to landlocked €4m site for sports campus
Planners will prepare a Local Area Plan (LAP) for Murrough, encompassing lands owned by Galway Mayo Institute of Technology earmarked for a new sports campus.
Galway City Council has also agreed to work with GMIT to achieve “safe and suitable” access to Murrough House and surrounding lands.
The agreement by the local authority to prepare an LAP, and work towards providing access to the restricted site, could pave the way for GMIT to develop a sports campus fronting onto Galway Bay.
The third level institute’s plans to develop its lands at Murrough out the Dublin Road on the east of the city, have been hampered by the lack of an area plan and restricted access.
Located between the Dublin-Galway main railway line and Galway Bay and only accessible from the sea or over an uncontrolled level crossing, Murrough House on 20 acres of land was purchased by GMIT in 2003 for €4 million.
The house is a listed protected structure as are the level crossing gates. It has remained vacant since it was purchased 13 years ago.
GMIT purchased nearby Murrough Lodge in 2013 for €50,000 to improve access to Murrough lands.
Figures previously released to this newspaper under Freedom of Information show it is costing almost €50,000 on average per annum for maintenance, upkeep and other costs including caretaking, energy, and one-off repairs for Murrough House.
GMIT submitted its plan to the City Council, as part of the Galway City Development Plan for the next five years.
During debate on the plan, Labour Party city councillor Billy Cameron proposed that members accept the submission, with the addition that GMIT provide an area plan, and fund it.
This was seconded, but then withdrawn, by Independent Terry O’Flaherty.
Senior planner Caroline Phelan pointed out that GMIT is only a part-owner of these lands, so to carry out a full plan of the area would be difficult. She said it was misleading to say that the Council was stalling the development.
“It will be solved by making a safe access onto the site (ie. across the railway line),” she said.
Chief Executive Brendan McGrath said Murrough lands are worth developing. He said the key limiting factor is the access issue.
It would be wrong to impose requirements on GMIT when they are not the only land owners and there are various stakeholders, and they need to come together to address this, he said.
“Councillors may have a different view, but what’s needed is a willpower to tackle the problem and fund it. GMIT are saying they have a land bank and should develop it,” said Mr McGrath.
The stakeholders were: GMIT, Irish Rail, City Council, and other land owners.
The issue was parked but councillors returned to it at the next development plan meeting. They agreed a wording, which was proposed by Independent Declan McDonnell and seconded by Sinn Féin’s Cathal Ó Conchúir, which paves the way for a LAP to be drawn up, and working towards addressing access issues to the site.
“The Council will prepare an LAP for the Murrough area. The aim of the LAP is to ensure the reservation of a substantial land bank for recreational purposes. The plan will allow mixed-use development, which will maximise the development of recreational facilities and will create a vibrant area with efficient public transport links to the rest of the city. It will integrate with the amenity facilities at Ballyloughane Beach.
“The plan will take account of the sensitive ecological environment at this location and will incorporate appropriate measures to mitigate against flood risk. In order to achieve the necessary recreational facilities, two thirds of the area will be reserved for this purpose,” the development plan reads.
Councillors also agreed that the Council, “will endeavour to work in partnership with the college to achieve a safe and suitable access to service the lands that will, in turn, facilitate their use for sports and ancillary facilities.”
GMIT’s stated objective in purchasing the site was to develop the lands and sea front into a sports ground including water based activities for students.
The plan was for three pitches; and the house, measuring almost 7,000 square feet, was earmarked for marine research or possibly a clubhouse and dressing rooms.
GMIT also planned to give the Council one mile of shore frontage so that the local authority could develop a walkway from Murrough into the city and on to Salthill and Barna.
In 2008, GMIT submitted a planning application to develop sports pitches on the lands. It withdrew the application pending the drawing up of an LAP, which has now been included in the city’s development plan from 2017 onwards.
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.
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.
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.”
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
