Connacht Tribune
Gort rises from the ashes of recession
Gort, one of the County Galway towns most ravaged by recession, is fighting back and has positioned itself to reap the rewards of recovery.
The capital of the Burren Lowlands region, which includes South Galway and North Clare, a few years ago, was an employment black spot about to be by-passed by motorway and facing a seemingly bleak future. It was flooded, too.
But, as a result of the work of the Buren Lowlands organisation, Gort, and its hinterland, has emerged strong from the bust years and is facing the future with renewed optimism.
This was the consensus that emerged at the public meeting in the Lady Gregory Hotel in Gort last week organised by the Burren Lowlands, which aims to promote the region as an attractive place to live, work and visit.
The volunteer, community-led committee has a multi-pronged plan to revitalise the area including: a new initiative to boost tourism numbers; a programme of investment to revitalise Gort town; and a plan to lure industry to the area.
NUIG economist and former head of Teagasc Rural Economy and Development Programme, Cathal O’Donoghue, a member of Burren Lowlands committee, said some years ago, the prospects for Gort were bleak.
“There were 400 jobs lost, which was a sixth of the total working population of the town over a period of five years. The mood in the area was challenged. There was worry and concern about the future. It was all doom and gloom,” he recalled.
The fruits of the recovery have been felt mostly in Dublin, he said, and while Galway City has benefited, Galway County and the West of Ireland generally has been “sluggish”.
Dr O’Donoghue said, however, that the “strong community” in the region has contributed to such an extent that Gort has “turned a significant corner”.
“Five years on and Gort has now more population than ever before and the unemployment rate is declining at a relatively quick rate,” he said.
Dr O’Donoghue, the recently appointed Dean of Arts at NUIG, said its location was ideal to attract industry due to the international connectivity offered by its closeness to Shannon Airport, and due to the abundance of highly-skilled and qualified workers in Galway, which was second only to South Dublin for the numbers of people educated to third level.
Monday’s meeting heard how Gort is poised to capitalise on the increase in tourists to the region due to its inclusion later this year in a new Burren Lowland Drive, an offshoot of the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW).
Fiona O’Driscoll said the Fáilte Ireland initiative to attract more overseas visitors inland, is a scenic, culture and heritage route that will take in Gort, Coole Park, Ardrahan and link back into the WAW at Kinvara.
This will benefit the entire Burren Lowlands, which includes areas such as Kilcolgan, Kinvara, Ballinderreen, Kilchreest, Labane, Beagh, Peterswell and North Clare’s Crusheen and Tubber.
Ms O’Driscoll said the area had suffered a triple-whammy of flooding, bypass and recession but Gort was resilient and she encouraged people to continue talking-up the area.
“If you are a tourist in Tralee, and you ask someone on the street where to visit they will send you to Killarney. If you are in Killarney and you ask someone where to go, they will say stay in Killarney. We need to be more like Killarney – stay in Burren Lowlands!”
Joe Byrne, Fine Gael County Councillor and Burren Lowlands committee member, outlined the group’s plans for a financial investment in Gort. As part of a Government initiative announced last September, the group has been given a grant of €59,000, which will be spent on a number of enhancement projects in the coming months to increase the attractiveness of the town.
Some €25,000 is for a landscaping programme at Galway Road, Corofin Road, Church Street, The Square and approach to it. In conjunction with the Brothers of Charity, some €15,000 will be spent on making the town more wheelchair accessible.
Money has also been allotted to the creation of a heritage trail booklet for Gort, a tree-planting initiative in the town’s housing estates, graffiti removal and remedial work on Ennis Road playground.
Cllr Byrne said the enhancement plan was to “help to contribute to the revitalisation of Gort”.
Fianna Fáil County Councillor, Gerry Finnerty highlighted the interconnectedness of the town and its farming hinterlands.
“Without the rural community, the town will not survive; without the town, the rural community will not survive,” he said
The diversity of people living in the region, and the importance of people from other countries – particularly Brazil – to the area, was emphasised by Annie Rosario of Gort Resource Centre, and Obert Makaza of Gort Justice for Undocumented Group.
Mr Makaza outlined the group’s campaign for a regularisation scheme for the thousands of undocumented in Ireland, including some 400-500 in Gort.
Teresa Butler, chairperson of the group, in her introduction outlined how Burren Lowlands was “liaising with the IDA” and they hope to look at ways of attracting enterprise to the area. She said the area has been designated as a REDZ, a Rural Economic Development Zone, by Government, which qualifies it to apply for funding and supports.
Ger Ryan gave a presentation about Kinvara Enterprise Centre.
It has teamed-up with Michael Smyth, CEO of SCCUL in Galway City with the aim of using the template of the successful community enterprise centre in Ballybane and replicating it in Kinvara. There is a plan to map the business in the area and create a business network for training, mentoring, networking and business development opportunities.
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.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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
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