Connacht Tribune
Easing access to leave levels up the political playing field
In March 2019, just weeks out from the Local Election, Niamh Byrne announced she was quitting politics. Other first-term councillors had already pulled out of the race for re-election but her withdrawal was still a bombshell.
Niamh (pictured) was once touted as a possible Dáil candidate in Galway West and future minister; and thejournal.ie ranked her fourth in a list of 30 ‘hottest young politicos in Ireland’ in 2015. But despite the potential bright future, the former Fine Gael Councillor left local politics after just one term on Galway County Council.
She cited difficulties combining work as a teacher in St. Mary’s in the city with her role representing the people of Connemara; as well as the ‘childish’ antics of some colleagues in the Council chamber.
At the time it sparked wider debate about young people’s participation in politics, particularly young women.
This month the Government announced a new scheme that gives maternity and sick pay to councillors.
Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, Peter Burke got Cabinet approval to legislate for supports enjoyed by other workers.
Under the plan, councillors will be allowed to nominate a substitute person to fill in for them while on maternity leave. This would apply for all votes, all meetings and all elements of the role.
“I was aware of situations where councillors felt pressure to turn up to important votes or debates, when they needed to be at home caring for a new baby,” Minister Burke said.
“It is not credible maternity leave if you cannot fully switch off from your work,” he added.
As an alternative to a substitute, the legislation allows councillors additional funding for administrative support during maternity leave.
“This will mean they can pay someone on a weekly basis to assist with secretarial work,” Minister Burke said.
Galway women were to the fore in pushing for this legislation – not least County Councillor Mary Hoade (FF). She was President of the Association of Irish Local Government when it published groundbreaking maternity proposals last year. These fed into Minister Burke’s recommendations.
“Up to now, if you were a councillor, and you needed maternity leave, you needed to ask your colleagues for time off,” explained Cllr Hoade.
“In this day and age, it’s ridiculous that you’d have to seek permission for maternity leave. It seriously affected retention of councillors, and particularly younger female councillors.
“It’s important we recognise this now, with two years to go to an election. Minister Helen McEntee took her maternity, and rightly so. Every other job gives maternity leave. There has to be something to facilitate councillors to do that. Hopefully, it will address the fall-off and retention of younger female members,” added Cllr Hoade.
This is a shortened preview of this article. To read it in full, see the July 15 edition of the Connacht Tribune. You can purchase a digital edition HERE.
Connacht Tribune
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
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.
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Connacht Tribune
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
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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Connacht Tribune
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
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.
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