News
Concerns linger over operation of community centre
Fears that the operation of Galway’s two newest community centres could be privatised will linger over Christmas and into the New Year after the matter was kicked to touch again this week.
The model of how Ballinfoile and Knocknacarra Community Centres would be run was due to be discussed at last week’s City Council meeting but elected members voted to defer it until January.
About 10 campaigners, who want the centres to be controlled by the local community and not for-profit organisations, staged a protest outside of City Hall.
Councillors were due to discuss a report by director of services, Eileen Ruane, entitled ‘protecting and enhancing Galway City’s community centres through social enterprise’.
The item was deferred to the January meeting, however.
In her report that was due to be presented to the chamber, Ms Ruane confirms that the City Council was given sanction from Government to breach the recruitment embargo and to hire people to staff Knocknacarra and Ballinfoile community centres.
But, she said, “the Council does not have financial wherewithal to progress this”.
In her report to Council, Ms Ruane said: “Alternative methodologies of service provision do not have to mean privatisation”.
Ms Ruane said the Council wants to progress a model of “social enterprise”.
“The centres would be operated by a professional organisation, community or other, that can display through an open tendering process, that they have the capacity and expertise required to run and manage such facilities. The successful organisation would need to be equipped to manage the complexities of the technical operations of these hi-spec buildings across all areas including health and safety,” she said.
The operators would be “assisted” through a financial subsidy to “ensure the needs of the local communities are prioritised”.
As well as the operator, who wins the tender to run the centre, a “parallel oversight and advisory group would be formed made up of local community reps, local councillors and appropriate Galway City Council official reps.”
But campaigners remain unconvinced. Locals in Ballinfoile are insisting that councillors, “ensure that the new state-of-the-arts sports and community complex that we fought for since 1986 to obtain serves the needs of and is controlled by the local community.”
Ballinfoile-Castlegar Centre Action Committee fears Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath plans “to bring in an outside contractor to form a public-private partnership to run the centre.”
“It is our fear that this arrangement could mean that privatisation could occur sooner or later to the detriment of the local community as profit would take priority over social needs,” said campaigner Brendan Smith.
He said the chief executive gave commitments to the Councillors and community at the November budget meeting that must be kept. These include peak hours retained for local groups and individuals, as well as low rental fees and locals represented on the oversight or management board.
The group also requested this week that local community representation makes up at least 50% of the oversight board; the new jobs that will accrue in this facility will be given to local people where possible, and consideration is given to social enterprise partnership programmes as an alternative to taking in private contractor.
Mr Smith added: “If these just demands are not met, our long struggle will have been all for nought.”
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
