Connacht Tribune
€40k grant for rundown homes could help housing crisis
Serious inroads could be made into the housing waiting list in both Galway city and county if only a fraction of the vacant properties were refurbished to liveable standards.
Under the Government’s Repair and Lease Scheme there are grants of up to €40,000 available to ‘do up’ thousands of unoccupied homes that could effectively go a long way towards solving the local authority housing crisis.
The figures reveal that there are more than 17,000 vacant properties across the whole of Galway (3,671 in the city and 13,690 in the county) – while the combined waiting list for Council housing stands at just over 7,000.
It means the current housing crisis could be largely resolved and it would also mean that there would be a less of a requirement for new social housing schemes to be funded or built.
Of course, the figure of 17,000 includes holiday homes that are largely unoccupied, vacant houses that would cost huge amounts of money to refurbish and empty properties that are located in areas where social housing is not a requirement.
In Tuam alone, €14 million is to be spent on the provision of social housing in the town with a further €1.7 million allocated for 10 new local authority homes in Ballinasloe – this alone would come close to refurbishing all of the houses required to eradicate the social housing crisis.
Minister Simon Coveney announced the scheme saying that it had already been piloted successfully in both Waterford and Carlow – he believes that the initiative can deliver up to 800 homes across the country this year alone.
The scheme has yet to be rolled out by Galway County Council or Galway City Council. When it does, it means that the owners of the property whose applications for refurbishment funding are successful will be required to lease the property to the local authority for a certain period of time – depending on the grant required to make the houses liveable.
Successful property owners can avail of upfront financing for the cost of repairs or else they need not even get involved in arranging the works and avail of a secure and reliable income from regular rental payments – and without having to take on landlord responsibilities.”
Ballinasloe councillor Aidan Donohue obtained the Galway figures and said that the current local housing crisis could be tackled in a meaningful way if this scheme was availed of.
He said that before any more new social housing is provided, the Repair and Lease Scheme should be availed of first as it would be much more cost effective.
“Even apart from that, it would address the current situation of the plethora of rural vacant houses that exist across rural Galway. Some of these houses are not in a bad state of repair and several thousand euros would go a long way to making them habitable again,” Cllr Donohue added.
Meanwhile, Roscommon-Galway TD Mick Fitzmaurice agrees that it will assist in solving the housing crisis in the county, but he stated that it was important for the likes of Galway County Council to roll it out as soon as possible.
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
