News
CCTV captured violent late-night attack
Garda street cameras captured “crystal-clear” images of two youths knocking two others unconscious during a violent and unprovoked attack in Eyre Square late one night.
The footage led to the positive identification of both accused who each received three-year sentences with the final year suspended.
Michael Mongan (20), of 5 Cois na Coille, Ballybane, and Michael Barrett (20) from 46 Beal Srutha, Ballybane, both pleaded guilty to affray at Eyre Square on March 2 last year when they first appeared before Galway Circuit Criminal Court in February.
The matter was adjourned for sentence and for the preparation of reports on both accused.
Garda Paul McNulty told the sentence hearing that images of a violent incident involving a large number of youths was captured “crystal-clear” on Garda street cameras outside Supermac’s, Eyre Square at 2.24a.m. on the date in question.
Barrett can be seen on the CCTV talking to another young man. Barrett is aggressive and he is seen striking the other young man in the jaw.
Michael Mongan then rushes in and punches the young man into the side of the head, blind-sided. The young man falls unconscious to the ground where Barrett kicks him in the head.
Another young man is captured on the CCTV coming in to diffuse the situation. He is seen talking to Barrett and holding out his hand in an attempt to shake hands but he too is struck and falls to the ground unconscious where he is again attacked.
Both victims lay on the ground unconscious for a number of minutes while both accused are seen fleeing the scene.
“This was a totally unprovoked assault and makes for gruesome viewing,” Garda McNulty said.
Barrett was arrested on June 5 last and replied “no comment” to every question put to him during interview, even when the graphic CCTV footage was shown to him.
Mongan came to the Garda Station three weeks later and said he wanted to give a voluntary statement but then changed his mind and left.
Garda McNulty said both accused were now in custody serving sentences for other offences.
Barrett, the court heard, is a trained boxer with 29 previous convictions, two of which are for serious assaults for which he received sentences totalling 18 months last year.
Mongan has five previous, including three for robberies and is currently serving 14 months for those. He also received a three-year sentence last July for robbery, with the final two years suspended
Defence barrister, Aisling Wall said Barrett’s sentence for the other assaults was due to expire in November.
He had a record of offending from the time he was 15 years of age and admitted he had a violent nature when he had drink taken, she said.
Mr Tony Buckley for Galway City Partnership spoke very highly in Mongan’s favour. He said Mongan had done a lot of voluntary work in his neighbourhood and he saw some good in him
Ms Wall said Mongan’s current sentences would be served by September
She said he suffered from ADHD and had not been taking his medication for the condition at the time of these offences but was back taking it again now
Both accused, she said, had drank a lot of alcohol prior to the affray
Judge Rory McCabe said this was a vicious, nasty and unprovoked assault on two innocent young men
Nobody, he said, could blame alcohol for such an attack
“Nobody put a funnel in their mouths and poured alcohol into them,” he observed.
Both accused, the judge said, were no strangers to the court and had committed significant crimes of violence already in their young lives
Reading from a prison governor’s report handed into court which stated both accused had disciplinary notes on their files, the judge said the appropriate sentence in each case was three years in prison with the final twelve months suspended for three years, on condition both accused be of good behaviour during the period of the suspension
The sentences, he added, would run concurrently to the sentences both accused are currently serving
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
