News
Advance factory planned for Tuam IDA lands
A planning application is being submitted to Galway County Council for the construction of an advance factory on IDA-owned lands on the outskirts of Tuam.
East Galway’s two ministers are combining their resources to ensure that a major advance factory is provided so that it can whet the appetites of potential investors in the town.
Deputy Sean Canney who is Minister for the Office of Public Works and Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor (originally from Milltown) who has responsibility for Jobs and Innovation are to meet over the coming week to discuss the employment situation in Tuam.
They have confirmed that plans will be submitted for an advance factory on the IDA-owned lands on the Dunmore Road out of Tuam. These lands have been vacant for several years.
It has been stated that no new manufacturing industry will come to Tuam unless there is factory space available to them. It is an issue that has been raised on a continuous basis by the Cathaoirleach of the Tuam Municipal Council, Cllr Tom McHugh.
There has been a demand that the IDA apply for planning permission for two advance factories for their 27 acre business park in Tuam which has been idle for almost two decades.
Anger has been expressed that since an IDA representative attended a meeting of Tuam Municipal Council last year, there had been no progress on this front.
Cllr Tom McHugh of Fine Gael is livid over the fact that there has been no response from the IDA since that meeting with regard to their plans for this extensive site on the outskirts of Tuam.
There were calls on the IDA at the time to seek planning permission for two advance factories on the site at Dunmore Road in Tuam but they have failed to lodge any application in this regard.
Cllr McHugh asked a recent of Tuam Municipal Council if there had been any response from the IDA since a representative from the body attended a previous meeting in 2015.
Director of Services Liam Gavin said that there had been no response but said that if the councillor wished, the IDA could be asked back to another meeting of Tuam Municipal Council.
Cllr McHugh asked if there was any point as he said that it was obvious that the IDA had very little interest in Tuam. He said that it wasn’t asking for much for them to just apply for planning permission – if was not that they were being asked to construct the advance factories.
At the meeting last year several councillors urged the IDA not to forget the smaller towns and villages when it came to job creation. However, they were told that this was a huge challenge as investors were targeting the bigger centres of population.
The meeting was attended a Business Development Manager with the IDA, who said that they represented four major employers in Tuam who had created 440 new full time jobs in the town over the past five years.
She specifically referred to Valeo Visions Systems which currently provides more than 1,000 full time and part time jobs at its car components plant on the Dunmore Road.
Cllr McHugh said that this company was currently operating out of at least four different premises and could be accommodated in one unit within the extensive IDA Business Park.
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
