News
Drugs taskforce has bigger brief on fraction of money
The budget of the unit dedicated to tackling drug and alcohol addiction in the West of Ireland has been slashed during the recession.
Ten years ago, the Western Region Drugs Taskforce had an annual budget of €1.3 million to deliver services in Galway city and county, Roscommon, and Mayo.
But, despite alcohol being added to its brief (since 2014 it is known as the Western Region Drugs and Alcohol Taskforce), the organisation now receives an annual budget of just €660,000.
This 50% budget cut came despite a marked increase in the use of heroin in Galway City, and the country’s ongoing problematic relationship with alcohol.
The severe cuts were revealed at the Galway City Joint Policing Committee, where WRDTF co-ordinator Micheál Durkin gave members an overview of the services being offered by the taskforce.
The area covered by WRDTF is the equivalent to a fifth of the area of Ireland; and the issues in the city, are not the same as those in rural Galway, or Roscommon and Mayo, he said.
Its resources and staff, which includes three community liaison officers, and two drugs education support workers, are spread thinly across the counties.
JPC members were appalled by the cuts, and unanimously passed a motion, proposed by City Councillor Donal Lyons (Ind), calling on the HSE West and the Department of Health, to restore the budget to €1.3 million incrementally over the next three years.
Mr Durkin declined to say what impacts the cuts has had on the service but he said if its budget was restored the WRDTF would be in a position to have a more ‘hands-on’ approach. A bigger budget, he said, would allow the taskforce to engage in the ‘front-line provision’ of services for drugs abusers, in partnership with the HSE.
Mr Durkin confirmed to the meeting that some 300 heroin addicts are using the methadone clinic in Galway City. Some 30 GPs have licences to administer the heroin replacement drug, also.
These figures tally with what Garda Chief Superintendent Tom Curley has told previous meetings, when he noted “worrying” increases in heroin use in the city.
City Councillor Frank Fahy (FG) said alcohol was the “biggest drug of choice” in Galway. Over-consumption, he said, was “getting out of hand”.
The former mayor said the problem was so bad, and was causing long-term health and societal issues, that Ireland should consider increasing the legal age limit to consume alcohol from 18 to 21.
Director of Services Joe O’Neill agreed alcohol misuse was a “huge problem”; and alcohol was a “gateway” to using illegal drugs.
He pointed out that Arthur’s Day was highlighted as a problem at JPC meetings and now it is gone – similar collective action was needed to tackle the various aspects of the problem, he said.
Chief Supt Curley, in his crime statistics’ Garda report to the meeting, outlined the successes Galway Gardaí have had in confiscating illegal drugs.
In the first eight months of the year, there were 69 detections for drugs for sale or supply in the city – up one compared with last year. There were 142 incidents of ‘simple possession’ of drugs in that period to the end of August, one less than the same period last year.
Cannabis with a street value of more than €200,000 was seized in Galway in the first eight months of the year – these were mostly from grow houses, he said.
Some €105,000 worth of ecstasy tablets were seized. Other seizures included cocaine (€9,550), heroin (€14,550), and other (€2,390).
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
