News
Drunk driver’s victim was tossed 30 metres from car
A young woman walking home from a party died instantly when she was thrown nearly 30 metres after being struck by a car, a Galway Inquest heard.
Tracey Melia (24) of Tumnahulla, Corrandulla suffered ‘catastrophic head injuries’ when she was hit by a drink driver who left the scene in the early hours of May 10 last year.
Tracey and her boyfriend, John McDonagh, had attended the after-party of a wedding in Peggy’s Bar at Aughclogheen, Corrandulla and had decided to walk the half mile home to her parents’ house.
They had been with Tracey’s parents earlier in the evening at the party and had enjoyed a night among friends and neighbours before heading home shortly after midnight.
The Coroner’s Court heard that there was no footpaths or public lighting and that John had used the torch on his mobile phone to assist them and alert motorists too of their presence.
They had just crossed the road as there was a wider road margin when they heard the noise of a car revving and then coming at high speed.
They jumped up onto the high verge but the car kept coming at them. John told the Inquest he kept waving his torch but he knew they were going to be hit.
Next he knew he woke up on the road and called Tracey’s name but he got no response. Then he saw her lying motionless on the road and he thought she had lost her leg so he ran for help as his phone was dead.
He ran the wrong way and got to Tracey’s home where he found a phone in her dad’s van which he used to call the emergency services.
Meanwhile, passing motorists had also called the emergency services and the road was closed to passing traffic.
A statement given by the drink driver – also a neighbour of Tracey’s – Stephen Flaherty was read at the Inquest.
He admitted to having drunk about 15 pints that evening in Peggy’s Bar and had driven home. However, he had no memory of the accident and was found unconscious in his car in his own driveway by Gardaí. He later cried in the hospital when he was told what had happened.
Flaherty has since been convicted of drunk driving and received a five year prison sentence and has been disqualified from driving for twenty years. He had a blood alcohol reading of 261mg/100mls.
Garda Ollie White, a road traffic accident forensic specialist, said he had concluded that the driver mounted the raised ditch before hitting the pedestrians and that there had been no evidence of him braking.
He estimated that the driver was doing between 59km and 72km per hour at the point of impact and judged this on how far Tracey had been thrown after the impact.
Dr Michael Curtis, pathologist, in his statement, concluded that the cause of death had been from catastrophic head injuries as a result of being struck by a car and thrown almost 30 metres. Her injuries would have caused instant death.
A jury of six returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.
The Coroner, Ciaran McLoughlin, said it had been an extremely difficult and tragic case saying his heart went out to the whole family on the loss of a young vibrant woman.
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
