Connacht Tribune
Call for survey on rail use as greenway row flares up again
A call has been made for a survey to be conducted across the West of Ireland to determine if there is a demand for the Western Rail Corridor to be reopened for the purposes of carrying freight.
The ongoing row over the provision of a greenway along the route of the Western Rail Corridor again erupted at a meeting of Galway County Council this week.
There have been two motions before Galway County Council over the past year asking that funding be sought for a feasibility study into the provision of a greenway from Athenry to Tuam and on to Claremorris.
On the first occasion the motion from Cllr Shaun Cunniffe from Tuam was defeated and when it was put to councillors on a second occasion, it was deferred pending the publication of a rail review by Iarnród Éireann.
The decision to defer the motion came as a result of an amendment tabled by Cllr Billy Connelly who is strongly opposed to a greenway along the Western Rail Corridor. Cllr Connelly was co-opted onto Galway County Council in place of the now TD Sean Canney who is vehemently opposed to the line being used for such recreational purposes.
Cllr Cunniffe wanted to know which rail review Cllr Connelly was referring to. He asked if it was the national rail review or the review into the Western Rail Corridor.
In response, Cllr Connelly said that he was only referring to the national rail review and could not understand why there would be any confusion. He understood from Deputy Canney that it would be completed by the end of the year. “There is so much rubbish going on about this,” he added.
Cllr Cunniffe said that he wants a greenway included as part of a plan for Galway going into 2040 and he could see no demand for freight along the Western Rail Corridor.
“I know of no company that wants such a facility and I think that we should conduct a survey to determine its potential use in this regard,” he suggested.
He said that, in any event, the greenway would not impact on the rail corridor as the Tuam-Athenry Greenway Campaign were advocating a dual alignment. “The greenway would be one side and the rail track the other with a good space between them”, he added.
Cllr Jimmy McClearn said that it was not national policy to run a greenway alongside a railway track and that prompted a heated exchange between both councillors.
Tuam’s Cllr Karey McHugh said that thousands of people in Tuam had walked and signed a petition for a greenway along this State-owned corridor.
“Our health policy dates back to the ‘40s; our transport policy goes back to the ‘20s and if we were to take heed of all of these policies then there would be no progress whatsoever in Tuam,” Cllr McHugh added.
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.
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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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