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€146m slashed from hospital budget in six years
Over €146 million has been sucked out of the budget of University Hospital Galway (UHG) during six years of austerity that were characterised by waiting lists and cutbacks.
Figures released to Sinn Féin prove that the level of funding of UHG hasn’t fully recovered since 2008, when the city hospital’s budget was first slashed.
Connemara-based Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh has slammed the current and previous Governments for starving UHG of funding.
Data released to Sinn Féin health spokesperson Pearse Doherty by Ann Cosgrove, general manager of Galway University Hospitals, show that funding at UHG in 2008 was €274 million.
That was cut consistently to €271 million in 2009; to €247 million in 2010; to €242 million in 2011; and to €232 million in 2012. In 2013, the budgets began to increase but have not yet returned to 2008 levels.
In 2013 it received €253 million; it increased to €258 million in 2014; and this year it has received an allocation of €269 million, which is still over €5 million short of the 2008 budget.
Senator Ó Clochartaigh said that the cumulative amount that was sucked out of UHG since 2008 was more than €146m. The figure is calculated as if UHG hadn’t been cut over the past six years.
He pointed out that the reduced budget came during a period when outpatient waiting lists grew to over 30,000.
Senator Ó Clochartaigh said that the amount UHG was funded by in 2008 was probably too low, and it certainly isn’t enough now because staff are under increasing pressure with additional patients and more services offered.
“The waiting list figures for University Hospital Galway are scandalous and among the worst in the state. While these figures are truly shocking, it is little wonder as the staff at UHG have been consistently asked to do more with less. Figures from hospital management show that a cumulative amount of €146 million has been taken from the budget of UHG over the past six years by successive Governments.
“The results of such systematic underfunding are clear to see as over 1,000 people are waiting over a year for inpatient treatment while over 7,000 are on the outpatient waiting list for over a year. This revelation comes the same week as the psychiatric nurses working in the hospital have been forced to consider industrial action in order for HSE management to address their very real concerns about their unsafe working environment.”
He said the Government ‘spin-doctors’ maintain that the situation is improving but Senator Ó Clochartaigh said that’s not the reality on the ground.
“It is not good enough for Government Ministers up in Dublin to be congratulating each other for an economic recovery that has not reached Galway while our health service is bursting at the seams. The Minister for Health must answer to the people of Galway in relation to these figures and take immediate action to ensure that our hospital receives adequate funding and resources to tackle these waiting lists,” Senator Ó Clochartaigh added.
Some 60 tourism companies from Ireland attended ‘Flavours of Ireland’ 2022 in London last week – including Connemara Wild Escapes, DK Connemara Oysters and Killary Fjord Boat Tours.
‘Flavours’ is Tourism Ireland’s annual B2B tourism workshop, where tourism companies from Ireland meet and do business with top global inbound tour operators.
Now in its 20th year, ‘Flavours’ took place in the Guildhall, in the City of London, and was attended by around 100 global inbound tour operators who deliver business from all over the world, including the United States, Mainland Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.
‘Flavours’ provides an excellent opportunity for the participating tourism providers from Galway and Ireland to highlight and sell their tourism product and build valuable relationships with the key decision-makers in attendance.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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From the Galway City Tribune – The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has asked Galway City Council to roll back material alterations to the new City Development Plan proposed by councillors.
In July, elected members voted through a raft of changes to zonings in the Draft City Development Plan 2023-29, which went out on public display.
But the Planning Regulator has now warned City Hall that many of the proposed changes do not comply with the OPR’s recommendations, and are contrary to national planning guidelines.
The OPR specifically highlighted problems with proposals to rezone as residential land deemed at risk of flooding.
Anne Marie O’Connor, Deputy Regulator, wrote to the Council’s Planning Department outlining the OPR’s fresh advice on the changes to the draft plan proposed and approved by councillors.
The draft plan will come before elected members again this month.
Councillors will be asked to row back on some of their previous material alterations, which ran contrary to advice of the OPR.
Ms O’Connor said the OPR welcomed many of the changes made by the City Council in its draft plan. She said, however, that the OPR “has a number of outstanding concerns relating to the response of the planning authority to its recommendations and to a number of proposed material alterations relating to the zoning of lands”.
These relate to changes that conflict with national and regional objectives for compact growth; with legislative requirements regarding climate action and core strategies; and with rezoning land at risk of flooding.
The OPR highlighted a dozen or more material alterations by councillors that are “not consistent” with the National Planning Framework for compact growth.
These include re-zoning of land from agricultural or recreational and amenity to residential.
The changes voted on by councillors, the OPR noted, were done against the advice of the Council’s Chief Executive Brendan McGrath.
The OPR said the changes proposed by councillors represented a “piecemeal approach” to zoning and were “inconsistent” with national policy.
These comments related to proposed rezoning of land at Rahoon; Dublin Road; Quarry Road, Menlo; Ballindooley; off Circular Road; Menlo village; Roscam and Barna Woods.
The OPR also raised “significant concerns” over five material alterations proposed for residential zonings of land at Western Distributor Road; Terryland; Menlo Village; Headford Road and Barna Woods which are located within flood zones.
The approach by councillors “may place people and property at unnecessary risk from future flood events”, the OPR warned.
Ms O’Connor told planners that if the draft plan ignores the OPR advice or is at odds with its recommendations, the Council Chief Executive must inform the OPR in writing the reasons for doing so.
Save Roscam Peninsula in a 33-page submission to the draft plan echoed many of the concerns outlined by the OPR.
The Council has pencilled in four dates in November and December to approve the plan.
It will meet on November 21, 24 and 28 and December 1 when material alterations will be voted on individually.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune, November 4. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
JOHN HARNEY from Mountpleasant first joined the Ballinasloe Horse and Agriculture Show Committee, all of 60-years ago, on April 24, 1962. Both John and the show are still going strong as they celebrate their 183rd event on this Sunday. Here, he looks back on his involvement with this iconic show through the years.
THE Ballinasloe Show back in the early 1960s was going well with both the Showgrounds and Duggan Park both used for running the competitions.
My first introduction to the show was stewarding the pony competitions in the Mountpleasant end of the Duggan Park with the rest of the GAA field being used for trade stands.
At that time, it was a very big show with horses, ponies, cattle and sheep, pigs and fowl – also there was a big garden and farm produce section as well as a home craft and baking section with flowers and plants supported by a very large women’s committee.
At that time, showjumping took place in the afternoon with the top riders in the country taking part. I was elected Chairman at the AGM in 1975, a position I held for ten years.
During that time, the Duggan Park Committee approached the Show Committee for a piece of the showgrounds behind the GAA Stand for dressing rooms.
This was brought up a number of times at our committee meetings, and at first, the view was that the Duggan Park Committee would buy the ground.
However, after much deliberation it was decided by the Show Committee to ‘give the ground’ for the sum of £1 with the proviso that the dressingrooms could be used on show days by the local ICA to do catering for the event.
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.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
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.
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