News
Galway Races crowds only slightly down despite midweek washout
The Galway Racing Festival has retained its status as the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Irish racing industry by attracting a combined attendance of 127,468 over the seven days.
A drop of just 4,647 in the attendance figures compared to 2012, when over 132,200 paid through the Ballybrit turnstiles, is seen as a remarkable figure given how bad the conditions were at the track on Wednesday and Thursday – the two biggest days of the festival.
Just over 13,300 people enjoyed the balmy conditions on Sunday and the total attendance for the week was 127,568 as against 132,215 for 2012, which was a remarkable figure when one recalls just how bad conditions were here on Wednesday and Thursday.
The most significant decrease was on Thursday, or Ladies’ Day, when the attendance dropped by almost 10,000 from 37,033 last year to 27,669.
It was a far cry from the ‘Celtic Tiger’ era high of 53,820 on Ladies’ Day in 2006, when a fleet of helicopters transported punters from the city centre and Salthill out to Ballybrit.
There was also a significant drop on Wednesday, when 14,038 turned up at the Ballybrit course compared to 18,145 on the same day last year.
Proving that the weather was a huge factor last week, the Friday attendance rose from 20,368 to 23,555 on the day when many locals traditionally make a pilgrimage to the course.
“It has been a great festival and there have been so many highlights. I must thank everyone who has come here this week. The weather didn’t help us on Wednesday and Thursday but even allowing for that, we had almost 28,000 people here on Thursday,” said Racecourse Manager John Moloney.
The awful weather in the middle of last week proved to be a boon for city centre businesses, as many pubs, restaurants, hotels, and bookmaker shops noticed a big upturn in trade as punters opted for comfort rather than making their way out to the track.
“It was quiet out on the track, but our shops were heaving in town on Wednesday and Thursday,” said bookmaker Eddie Mulholland of John Mulhollands.
Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel
g�� :N�^� ��� areast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA’>Last year a swan had used the waterway opposite Don’t Call Me Dear for a nest. This year she has not returned as the bank of weeds is so overgrown it has almost cut off the flow of water altogether.
“Everyone on Nuns Island is concerned with this unsightly mess. We’re hoping someone will take ownership and fix it and bring it back to the way it was and have a management plan,” said Irene.
The waterway has escaped public attention because most of it goes along the back of private houses, as opposed to the Eglinton Canal which has long been used as a strategic tourist walkway.
Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel
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
