Connacht Tribune
€36,000 stolen from County Council in phishing scam
A ‘phishing’ scam saw thieves steal €36,000 from Galway County Council, a new audit has revealed.
In a presentation of the findings of the 2017 audit of the local authority books, committee chairperson Des Mahon told last week’s Galway County Council meeting that all but €3,500 of the stolen money had been recovered and the outstanding amount was still being pursued by Gardaí.
Oughterard Independent Councillor Tom Welby queried whether the auditors were satisfied that sufficient safeguards were in place to ensure a similar scam would not happen again.
Mr Mahon said the ‘phishing’ fraudsters had secured a “very significant figure in another council”.
“Lessons were learned. Hopefully it will never happen again. Cyber fraud is a totally different game to what it was.”
International criminals attempted to defraud Meath County Council of €4.3m in late 2016 by impersonating the CEO. The council’s bank was alerted and the theft was detected before it was completed. The funds were frozen in a Hong Kong bank account and that local authority had to initiate legal proceedings to have them returned.
The audit showed there was €5.4 million due from rates by the end of 2017 – which was a significant improvement compared to four years earlier when the debtors amounted to €10.6m.
This was due to an increase in vacant premises and write-offs.
More tenants were falling into arrears with the audit highlighting the €813,000 still outstanding for housing rents – €73,000 more than the year before.
And the arrears extend beyond rents.
“It is a concern that 55% of the housing loan accounts are in arrears for periods greater than three months. The Council apply the mortgage arrears resolution process but in some instances the loans are deemed unsustainable which could lead to repossessions.”
The Council were owed €6m from Government departments – €2.4m of it from Fáilte Ireland.
An agreement had yet to be reached with Galway City Council over the arrears due for shared services for the last seven years.
Council CEO Kevin Kelly said a recent review had modified the proportion of costs slightly in favour of the City Council and they had struck a deal on what each would have to pay until 2021.
The cost of shared services was €6.9m last year.
“We don’t have the agreed figure for arrears. For example we thought it was €95,000 in 2016, €154,000 in 2017 so it’s varying amounts but we have to get agreement with the city on the exact amount.”
Fianna Fáil Councillor Donagh Killilea asked if the audit had investigated the cost of changing the van fleet consisting of up to 20 vans which were to serve as tippers on road works.
He understood that the Council had leased 3.5 tonne vans which had to be replaced with 7.5 tonne vans as they could only carry 400 kilos.
The vans were “not fit for purpose as they cannot carry as much as a bag of sand”.
Mr Kelly said he would investigate the matter further as he too was “in the same game of trying to get value for money”.
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.
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.
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.
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
