Connacht Tribune
Concern over deterioration of Barna Pier
Barna resident Frank Fahy has called on the Galway County Council to carry out maintenance work on the run-down Barna Pier. Mr Fahy described a number of issues that need to be addressed and despite workers being sent out in recent weeks to work on the pier, Mr Fahy thinks they are only “papering over the cracks.”
“I’ve been plugging away at this thing for the best part of two years. From my point of view, what they are doing is they’re papering over the cracks. They’re doing a small bit now and a small bit later but nobody is actually tackling what the problem is,” he said.
There are two major issues in the eyes of Mr Fahy, namely two abandoned boat wrecks, one of which is built from timber, that have been moored at the pier for a number of years, and an unguarded culvert, both of which are dangerous.
“There are rotting timbers on the boat. It is absolutely disgusting in real life. When the tide gets high, the rubbish from the bottom of the ship comes up more or less to the top and you can see plastic bags that people have thrown in. You can see beer cans, nappies, all sorts of health and safety issues rising to the top and there’s a stink off it as well.”
Barna is an attractive tourist destination and is situated on the Wild Atlantic Way, making O’Grady’s restaurant, located on the pier, a popular spot for local tourists to stop and sample the local cuisine. Mr Fahy is concerned that the pier, in its current condition, will tarnish tourist’s views of both Barna, and the Wild Atlantic Way.
“The problem with the ship is that teenagers step in to the boat to go fishing and one of their legs are going to go down through the rotting timber and when it does, they’ll either fall right down to the bottom, and there are rats at the bottom, or they will cut themselves. And not only the local teenagers, you’ll have teenage tourists from America coming taking photographs of each other on it. They don’t realise how dangerous it is.”
“What they photograph is the most ugly scene that you could ever transmit over to America, or anywhere else from a tourism point of view. We’re not asking for huge fortunes, we’re just asking for a bit of maintenance. I’m not even asking them to remove the ships, I’m just asking them to make it up to health and safety standards,” he said.
The issue surrounding the culvert (an open water pipe), is that there is no grill over it. There is a stream that runs through central Barna and it comes out at Barna Pier. A number of years ago, the culvert was created to divert some of the stream under the walkway which leads down to the water, and to release the water in to the harbour at a different point.
Damage on Barna Pier facing the sea
A small collie dog was sucked in to the culvert in the past and dragged along the pipe. By the time the collie had emerged from the pipe, it had drowned: “If it can happen to a collie dog it can happen to a small child. If a child slipped in there they’re finished. Nobody has done anything about it,” Mr Fahy said.
Mr Fahy also said that the capping stones on the wall of the pier need to be secured, and a number of holes in the harbour wall that need to be filled. “A County Council engineer needs to come out and give the whole place a thorough looking at and they’re not doing that,” he concluded.
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
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
