Connacht Tribune
Even the disco falls foul of decline of rural Ireland
Clifden is one of the busiest towns in the county during the summer months – but come the winter, it’s practically dead.
And while other communities are bemoaning the threat to schools, post offices, Garda stations or the GAA club, Cllr Eileen Mannion has raised the issue of an ailing night life.
There isn’t even a nightclub in Clifden – the nearest one is in Westport, she told a special planning meeting of Galway County Council on Monday.
And no, the Councillor wasn’t looking to trip the light fantastic in the bright lights of a club but pointing out the real threat to rural Galway.
Councillors are so concerned with the decline of rural Ireland that they called for a one item meeting to discuss planning.
Like her colleagues, Cllr Mannion believes that if the planning regulations aren’t relaxed, nobody will be settling down in places like Connemara.
“The fact that there is no nightclub in Clifden shows the lack of young people living in the town. We should encourage people into the area, not put them off with strict planning regulations.
“We should be looking at applications on a case by case basis, not bringing up a lot of issues in pre-planning meetings which usually puts people off applying at all.
“In summer Clifden is certainly busy and alive but come winter, it’s a different picture,” she said.
She wasn’t the only one worried about the decline of rural Galway on Monday.
Cllr Seosamh Ó Cualáin said he only came across one house when he travelled nine miles north of where he lived in Conamara.
“There’s an area bigger than County Louth with barely 1000 people living it. It might be a scenic route alright but scenery won’t rejuvenate a rural area.
“Without housing, couples can’t settle. They should be encouraged, not discouraged,” he said.
Cllr Ivan Canning put it almost poetically when he said “if there’s no housing, there’s no people and if there’s no people, there’s no community.”
Cllr Joe Byrne said planning was particularly restricted where he came from – Kinvara/Gort.
“How do we sustain south Galway rural housing to ensure we keep schools open or else they will be closing in 15 years’ time.”
He has a particular concern about people from Kinvara and other settlements with populations of 1500 or less being considered ‘urban’ and this being an obstacle when locals seek to build a few miles out the road on a ‘rural’ site.
“There aren’t any sites in Kinvara to build on so they have no choice but to seek planning permission on sites, family land, a few miles away,” he added.
There will be no need for pubs, schools and the GAA will be decimated if the current planning issues continue unchanged said Cllr Gerry Finnerty.
He pointed out that it cost an average €20,000 to prepare a planning application and that instead of imposing that type of expense on young couples, the Council should be helping them.
And some couples wanted to build near their parents so that they could have childminders for their children and later live nearby to mind elderly parents, said Cllr Martina Kinnane.
Every councillor who addressed the meeting had one or more issues with current planning regulations and it was obvious that they were – cross party – united in seeing a return to more discretion by planners to allow families to live near one another and to stay in their own communities wherever possible.
To free up some sites, Cllr Michael Fahy proposed (seconded by Cllr Finnerty and Cllr Joe Byrne) that farmers be allowed to sell one site and not pay capital gains tax on it.
And though it was agreed that it would be sent in a submission to the Department of the Environment, Cllr Noel Thomas quipped that you could sell all the sites in the world but if planning restrictions remained nobody could build on them.
Director of Services, Catherine McConnell reminded councillors that their rural housing policy was geared towards ensuring people had “intrinsic links to communities in which they sought planning permission” and were fully compliant with the National Spatial Strategy which identified areas under strong urban pressure and rural decline.
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
