Connacht Tribune
County Council faces €1.4m shortfall after amalgamation vote
Cuts of €1.4 million may have to be made to Galway County Council’s budget this year following the Seanad’s vote against a proposal to press ahead with the amalgamation of the two local authorities.
The fund was committed by the Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform John Paul Phelan in “anticipation of the merger, in order that they can beef up the services they are giving in the towns and rural areas around Galway”.
However, in late December a majority of senators voted to remove all references to Galway in the Local Government Reform Bill 2018.
The legislation had advocated replacing the chief executive of Galway City Council and County Council with a single post of chief executive of both and holding a plebiscite on whether to have a directly elected mayor with executive functions for both local authorities in anticipation of the merger in 2021.
The Junior Minister had warned senators that the €1.4m this year and €1.3m for the following two years would “not happen if the section is not included in the Bill because the fund is dedicated to local government reform”.
During the debate, he admitted that Galway County Council received approximately €5 million per annum less than it should receive.
At this month’s meeting, County Chief Executive Kevin Kelly asked councillors to defer a debate about reforming the municipal districts until he could submit a proposal to the Minister asking for the allocation and setting out plans for the reform of the municipal districts to allow more functions to be carried out at local level.
Mr Kelly said the Minister had stated after the Seanad decision that his door was still open regarding the funding if the Council could show it was serious about reform.
“In that context there’s a clear invitation to Galway County Council to submit a proposal for reform,” he urged.
Sinn Féin and many of the independent councillors berated the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil councillors for including the €1.4m in the budget.
“You were told not to pass a budget on the basis of money that didn’t exist,” railed Cllr Tom Healy (SF).
A proposal by Cllr Mary Hoade (FF) to defer both the debate on municipal district reform and adjusting the budget to take into account a cut of €1.4m was agreed.
The proposed amalgamation is still set to go ahead and will be the subject of a separate bill later this year.
Deputy Phelan said that Bill would restore a common management structure in Galway that was in place for over 100 years until 1985.
“The reality is that the divorce that took place in 1985 which we will be seeking to reverse next year in a different Bill was never really effective in the first place and the issue of the funding of Galway County Council was never resolved properly,” he told the Seanad.
He said despite the opposition of most of the Galway TDs and 54 of the 57 councillors, “there was no ground-swell of public opinion in Galway against the proposed merger”.
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.
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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.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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
