News
Council contracts worth €1.6m not properly tendered for
The Local Government Auditor has found that 19 contracts worth over €1.6 million were not properly tendered for in a sample survey conducted in Galway City Council.
When contracts were tendered for, the Council forked out 62% more for the work than the amount originally agreed, according to the review.
The council watchdog has raised serious concerns over City Hall’s continued non-compliance with procurement policies and procedures in a damning report which found there were no consequences for breaches of Council rules.
The auditor could not verify eight contracts worth €374,000 that were awarded in 2015 had been properly advertised.
She found nine contracts valued overall at €1.1m – 27% of a sample of contracts that were examined – had not been tendered for despite exceeding the tender threshold.
Three of these contracts valued at €526,000 related to a single job. The Council had stated that as these were emergency situations, normal tendering procedures could be bypassed. However, the auditor found this was not the case.
One of the contracts was for legal costs mounting to €276,000 and another for rounding up horses which racked up a bill of €74,000.
Four of the nine contracts valued at €228,000 were in place for a number of years without being tendered for.
Another two contracts examined – which cost the Council €145,000 – were awarded based on obtaining quotations instead of going through a proper tender process.
The audit identified four capital projects and one revenue project where the prices paid exceeded the prices on which the tender was awarded by 62%, with €916,000 handed over instead of €681,000 as originally agreed.
An internal audit conducted by Council staff for 2014 found that out of a sample of 12 contracts examined, eight had not been tendered for. These were worth €766,000.
It seems there was no follow up within departments to ensure projects were properly managed.
The auditor discovered that a procurement officer appointed last November had received back just four procurement review reports in six months from the heads of departments despite it being a requirement since late 2013 to fill these forms out.
This non-compliance with procurement policies and procedures is an ongoing issue at Galway City Council and corroborates the auditor’s previous findings, she pointed out.
“A review of the Council’s procurement rules and procedures document is being conducted by the procurement officer and will be updated shortly. This update needs to include details of actions to be taken and consequences arising when breaches of Council rules are identified,” she stressed.
“Actions need to be taken by the procurement section to identify these breaches on an ongoing basis and to bring these breaches to the attention of the senior management team. It is vital that the Council is fully compliant with procurement laws and regulations.”
In response to the audit findings, Chief Executive Brendan McGrath pointed out that under the rules for public works contracts, contract amounts can exceed their original tender by up to 50%.
“I’d hate the message to go out that the Council have no procurement processes,” he insisted.
He pointed to the vacancy rate of 120 houses in the city three years ago being brought down “to an acceptable threshold” due to the Council using contractors based on past tenders rather than going through the lengthy tendering process.
Director of Services for Finance, Management Services Unit and Water Services Edel McCormack said the Council always had robust procurement processes, which these were continually changing. The Council was falling down when it came to the monitoring and compliance with these procedures.
After a motion was tabled by Councillor Peter Keane (FF) calling on the procurement officer to present a report to councillors on what steps were being taken to address compliance breaches, the manager said a report would be presented to the Chamber in January on the issue.
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
