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Dept of Agriculture staff to be summoned before Athenry Oranmore councillors over stray horses
Galway Bay fm newsroom – Officials from the regional office of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are to be requested to appear before a meeting of Athenry-Oranmore Municipal District.
The proposal was put forward by Councillor James Charity at a meeting of the municipal district today.
He said that yet another incident of a motorist hitting a stray horse on the Headford Road happened in recent weeks and the driver has been left ‘shook’ after the collision.
Councillor Charity says that the only way to solve it, is to make sure that land along public roads is properly fenced.
He told his colleagues about an incident over the weekend where two horses were found thrown in a ditch along a bog road but were still alive.
When a passerby rang the Department of Agriculture, he claims they were fobbed off and told it was not a matter for them.
However when the passerby threatened to post pictures of the animals on social media, action was taken and a vet was sent out to put the horses down.
Director of Services with the county council, Michael Owens told the meeting that it’s not the sole remit of the county council to tackle the issue of stray horses and that they are liasing with various agencies.
He added that the issue of fencing on land is to be raised with landowners on an individual basis over the coming days.
Councillor Malachy Noone who seconded the proposal to have department representatives appear before the MDC, says someone is going to lose their life.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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