News
Charity’s new scheme allows families to foster a pet
This year you can have a puppy just for Christmas – thanks to a Galway animal rescue charity that wants to place their pets with foster homes for the festive season.
MADRA’s resources are so stretched at this time of year that they are promoting pup fostering scheme – and that will give families the chance to see if they are suitable, without making the mistake of getting a dog they’ll find they cannot cater for.
MADRA – Mutts Anonymous Dog Rescue and Adoption – is a volunteer-led dog rescue charity based in Camus but rehoming nationally.
Their dogs come from the general public, local authority pounds or veterinary clinics – as well as dogs rescued from cruel and abusive situations.
On arrival all dogs are assessed by a vet, they are vaccinated, wormed, treated for fleas, neutered and micro-chipped. All MADRA dogs are temperament-tested as well as medically treated.
The Galway charity rescued a total of 777 dogs last year – 474 of those dogs came directly from pounds. In total MADRA succeeded in rescuing eight per cent of all dogs transferred to rescue organisations nationally.
The latest report from the Department of Environment reveals that last year 2,896 dogs were put to sleep in Ireland – that’s down 620 on the previous year.
MADRA Chairperson Edel Commerford is ‘happy to see that the number of dogs being euthanized has come down further this year’.
“In our own county, we are delighted to see that the put-to-sleep rate has been reduced this year to 7%. When we first started working with Galway County Council this figure was 83% and that was only eight years ago,” she added.
And although reducing the number is a positive step, MADRA has ambitions beyond that. They actively support, encourage and promote the neutering of dogs as an ethical solution to the over-population and killing of dogs in Ireland.
Eileen Keleghan of MADRA claims dogs end up in pounds primarily due to “lack of neutering and lack of thinking.”
MADRA’s mission is to match the right dog to the right owner – and in order to do this they need as much information as possible and ask people to fill out an adoption questionnaire.
They ask that potential foster homes are equipped with adequate space; they must also provide for the pooch to sleep indoors and must be available to spend time with them.
“These are frail little pups. They need company, love and attention,” says Eileen.
All new foster and adoptive owners will be provided with a free consultation and training session with a qualified trainer – MADRA is run under the management of registered dog trainers Marina Fiddler and Tara Nic Dhiarmada. A full back-up service is also available should somebody encounter problems with their new dog.
MADRA rely heavily on donations to meet their costs of over €100.000 per annum. The Department of Environment allows a grant of €3,000 – the rest of their income comes from the general public. Those wishing to adopt a MADRA dog or surrender a dog to MADRA are asked to make a donation – to cover the costs of neutering, vaccinations, micro-chipping, food and veterinary care.
Persons interested in volunteering, fostering or adopting can contact MADRA via their e-mail address madradogrescue@gmail.com or alternatively text 086 – 8149026.
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
