News
Four women plead guilty to operating city brothel
Gardai believe four young, vulnerable Romanian women who were arrested in Galway over the weekend, were trafficked into Ireland by a criminal gang to work in brothels across the country.
The four young women – aged 21, 22, 23 and 30, who appeared before a special court sitting in Galway today – are believed to have been brought into the country by either Dublin or Belfast-based pimps to provide sexual services through the Escort Ireland website.
The four young women deny this and claim they were acting alone to raise money for their impoverished families in Romania.
They were arrested at 15 An Larnach, Bohermore, Galway, at 11pm last Saturday night, October 29, and pleaded guilty straight away to operating a brothel at that address.
The arrests were made an hour after Gardai quizzed a man leaving the apartment who said he had just paid €70 for sexual favours.
Detective Sergeant Willie Byrne told the special sitting of Galway District Court today that Gardai were carrying out surveillance of the apartment over the last number of weeks and they executed a search warrant on speaking to the man after he left the apartment at 10pm on Saturday night.
The four women were taken to Galway Garda Station where they accepted full responsibility for operating a brothel.
Det Byrne gave evidence Gardai did not know how long the young women were in Ireland, but they had been in Mayo last week and after spending a week in Galway, it was their intention to go to Wexford next week.
The young women told Gardai they had only arrived in Ireland last week and were acting alone, but Det Byrne said he did not accept this.
“In any event they are four little girls and they made full admissions that they were providing sexual services to a large number of men through the website, Escort Ireland.
“They were paying €700 rent to a greedy landlord for an apartment that they should have been paying €350 for. So, they were being used and abused by a lot of people,” Det Byrne said.
In reply to Judge Gerard Furlong, Det Byrne said he didn’t believe the girls when they told him they worked alone.
“I believe they are under the control of Dublin or Belfast-based pimps. They were in Mayo last week, Galway this week and Wexford next week.
“That would have to be organised by others. They wouldn’t have the wherewithal to organise that themselves,” Det Byrne said.
Gardai, had confiscated €5,000 cash from the girls, he added.
Judge Furlong said he accepted the girls had not set up the brothel themselves and another party was involved who was not before the court at this time.
He asked if the girls had been put in touch with organisations which would help women in their “situation.”
Det Byrne said he had mentioned the help certain organisations could afford them, but the girls had assured him they were not trafficked into the country and they weren’t under any pressure. They said they would prefer to be repatriated back to Romania and he said he hoped what they had told him was genuine.
Judge Furlong said the girls should be made aware of organisations that were there to assist them, should they want that in their plight.
Defence solicitor, Brian Gilmartin said all of the women came from a very poor area in Romania and they told him they had come to Ireland to make some money to help their parents, some of whom were seriously ill.
“They are somewhat vulnerable and they didn’t believe their actions would bring them before the courts. They have spent two nights in Garda custody and it’s been a frightening experience for them,” he added.
Ruling the girls were being used by others not before the court, Judge Furlong convicted and fined each of them €200, payable forthwith and asked the Gardai to put them in contact with the relevant organisations who would help them
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.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
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.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
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
