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Galway City loses ‘clean’ city status in litter survey
Galway has lost its status as a ‘clean’ city in the latest survey of littering in towns and cities across Ireland.
The canal walk beside Galway Cathedral was described as being in a “shocking” and “utterly destroyed” with litter.
But significantly, the survey found that dog fouling is no longer an issue on Salthill Prom.
The city has been described as “moderately littered” in the Irish Business Against Litter’s latest league tables.
As well as losing its status as the cleanest of Ireland four main cities, Galway has dropped from 21st place (of 40 towns and cities) in 2014 to 33rd place this month.
Environmental group An Taisce – which carried out the survey for IBAL – said the city could easily regain ‘clean’ status if given some ‘TLC’
“Galway City could easily regain litter-free status if the many moderately littered sites were given a little extra care and attention e.g. Canal Road Upper, the bottle bank at Galway Shopping Centre and the Millennium Children’s Park (beside Galway Cathedral).
“Some of the heavily littered sites have been treated very poorly e.g. the canal bank, Salthill Park, Mulvoy Park shopping centre and Liosbán Industrial Estate.
“The Canal Walk beside the Cathedral was a shocking bad site. A lovely river walk has been utterly destroyed by the persistent litter in the river, particularly around the reeds.
“As well as very high levels of all manner of casual litter, there were sheets of plastic, supermarket trolleys and fertiliser bags in the water – and swans and ducks had to negotiated their way through this mess. The litter wasn’t confined to the water either as the grassy banks were also littered,” the report reads.
A total of 27 sites were surveyed here – 14 received ‘Grade A’ (clean to European norms and virtual absence of litter); nine received a ‘B’ (moderately littered, scattered small amounts of litter) and two received a ‘C’ (serious litter problem, accumulations of litter and two received a litter blackspot ‘Grade D’. Meanwhile, the survey also found that dog fouling is no longer a problem on the Prom.
“Galway Prom was excellent and managed to get the top litter grade, despite high levels of activity – dog fouling was not an issue and has clearly been addressed.
“The residential area of Caireal Mór (Headford Road) was in very good order and Leisureland was nicely landscaped. St Mary’s College, Shop Street, NUI Galway and University College Hospital were all top ranking sites,” the report reads.
Five locations in Ireland were declared ‘moderately littered’ – Tallaght, the Dublin Airport environs, Galway City, Monaghan, and Midleton in Cork.
What the IBAL report says about different areas of city:
Canal Walk beside Cathedral: Grade D. This was a shocking bad site. A lovely river walk has been utterly destroyed by the persistent litter in the river, particularly around the reeds.
As well as very high levels of all manner of casual litter, there were sheets of plastic, supermarket trolleys and fertiliser bags in the water – and swans and ducks had to negotiate their way through this mess. The litter wasn’t confined to the water either, as the grassy banks were also littered.
Mulvoy Park shopping centre: Grade D. The shrubbery near FBD premises was choked with heavy levels of all manner of food-related litter.
As well as this litter, there were other issues – cardboard, industrial plastic bags and there was a stretch of paving with some thick-set paste or paint.
The Prom: Grade A. Dog fouling has certainly been tackled along this very popular site. A number of years ago it was a major issue in the IBAL Anti-Litter survey – not so this time around, with plenty of signage and facilities for the disposal of same. Despite heavy levels of activity, this was a spotless site throughout.
Salthill Park: Grade C. The situation of this park is lovely, slightly raised and overlooking Galway Bay. It has been used as a ‘drinking spot’ with all the associated litter, particularly beer cans. The view of the ‘band stand’ was marred by a large wheelie bin with litter spilling out. The wooden seating was old and in need of repair.
Liosbán Industrial Estate: Grade C. One of the only seriously littered Grade C industrial estates in this IBAL survey . . . characterised by heavy levels of all sorts of litter, graffiti on most of the roller doors, metal, broken glass and several discarded washing machines.
The Caireál Mór and Maigh Riocaird estates on the Headford Road and Ballinfoile Church scored ‘A’ grades, as did the Western Distributor Road, Leisureland, St Mary’s College, University Hospital Galway, NUI Galway, Galway Cathedral and Shop Street.
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.”
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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
