News
Councillors allow change of house use to mosque
City councillors have paved the way for a house on the outskirts of the city to be used as a Muslim place of worship and congregation, despite strong objections from the Council executive and local residents.
Members voted 11 in favour, and seven against, a material contravention to the City Development Plan in which the Council would consider the use of the dwelling house on agricultural land at Mincloon.
There were 17 submissions made since this amendment to the draft plan went on public display in the autumn – all against the change, on the grounds of the area being an inappropriate location for a place of worship, and would lead to increased traffic congestion.
In July, when the matter first came before councillors, they were told that a decision in favour of the proposal would put the planning process head over heels.
Director of Services, Joe O’Neill, warned that it was “effectively saying the use of the property is to be changed.”
Executive planner, Diane Egan, explained to members that the Muslim community had been granted ‘retention of alteration’ in 2010, with restrictions on how the house was to be used.
“It was to protect the residential amenity of that area,” she said.
Galway City Council’s Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath, added: “Condition 2 of this permission stipulates that … the dwelling shall not be used as a place for public assembly, a public hall, place of worship, bed and breakfast, or for any commercial purposes, other than use as a single private dwelling house.
“It wouldn’t be granted if they applied for planning permission,” he told members.
However, a majority of Councillors were inclined to disagree with his recommendation, as was the case when it came back before them last week.
Cllr Cathal Ó Concuir proposed that the alteration be accepted, which was seconded by Cllr Niall McNeilis – the latter said it would be a parish house, in keeping with this being a multicultural city.
On the other hand, Cllr Colette Connolly, supported by Cllr Michael Crowe, proposed the CEO’s recommendations that there be no change.
And so began a very heated debate, fuelled by Cllr Pearce Flannery’s suggestion that the members supporting this were only doing so because they got a free dinner from the applicants.
Cllr Peter Keane described this as “the most appalling thing I’ve heard in entire duration of this Plan.” Cllr Flannery was asked to withdraw his remark, but he refused.
Cllr Frank Fahy, who had received a text message prior to the vote saying “I trust that Galway is a fair city,” said that a vote in favour of this alteration was the right decision for the 3,000 Muslims living here. Furthermore, he said, business and sports clubs had been operating from the area for many years, and the roads had been able to accommodate this usage.
Cllr John Walsh, voting with the submission, said that any issues with the traffic and infrastructure was not the applicant’s problem, but the Council’s or the NRA’s.
Cllr Terry O’Flaherty said that the larger gatherings would be in Westside, and not in Mincloon, so she was supporting the applicant’s submission.
However, Cllr Michael Crowe said that a vote against the applicants should not be seen as being anti-Muslim.
“I’m against it, not because of any religious reason or another, and if Bishop Eamon Casey came through the door wanting to do the same for the Catholic religion, I’d say the same,” he said.
“I get the impression that there may be some offence caused by voting one way or another. But the Mosque in Ballybrit is a purpose-built facility, it met all the requirements. Here, they are looking to change a house into a church, and it simply isn’t suitable.”
Senior planner, Caroline Phelan, agreed that this was a zoning issue, rather than an assessment of something being good or bad.
“The City Council has spent a lot of resources pursuing unauthorised developments,” she said.
“We highlighted all along that they shouldn’t invest money in something that is prohibited. This unauthorised development has been pursued since 2012 … four years of resources have been invested into something that is prohibited. Some of the inspections on this property were done up to midnight. There is a mosque on residential lands in the city.”
The members who voted in favour of the submission were: Billy Cameron, Cathal Ó Conchuir, Padraig Conneely, Mairead Farrell, Peter Keane, Noel Larkin, Declan McDonnell, Niall McNeilis, Terry O’Flaherty, John Walsh, and Mark Lohan.
Against were: Colette Connolly, Michael Crowe, Ollie Crowe, Mike Cubbard, Frank Fahy, Pearce Flannery, and Donal Lyons.
After the vote, Cllr Colette Connolly, said that the decision defied logic.
“It beggars belief, given that the dwelling was granted planning permission, with specific planning conditions attached that expressly forbade the use of the dwelling as a place of worship,” she said.
“This was because of its location in G zoning where all development is restricted to that pertaining to agriculture. The dwelling in Tonabrucky borders onto a very narrow road in close proximity to a junction, where a number of accidents have occurred, according to residents of the area.
She described the rezoning in the City Development Plan to insert the specific objective of a mosque as “a circumvention of the planning laws” and a misuse of the CDP planning process.
“It undermines the Planning Department of Galway City Council, who have effectively now wasted scarce staff resources and taxpayers’ money, thanks to the decision of some councillors, in pursuing enforcement action over the past four years in order to achieve compliance with the original grant of planning permission,” she added.
“I deplore the fact that councillors are portrayed as pro or anti-Muslims, when in fact the issue is simply one of planning.”
She rejected any assertion that she was not for a ‘fair and tolerant Galway’.
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
