CITY TRIBUNE
Galway Samaritans answered more than 900 calls per week this year
Galway Samaritans answered more than 900 calls every week of this year; the charity’s newly renovated city office at Nun’s Island responded to 47,219 cries for help over the past twelve months.
“The number of calls received has certainly increased in the past two years since we got the freephone number,” said Anne Wynne, Director of Samaritans Galway.
Nationally, Samaritans received some 700,000 calls from people who need help. People don’t have to be suicidal to call Samaritans.
“The nature of the calls varies. They could have mental health issues, depression and anxiety. There could be relationship issues. There could be abuse, be it physical, mental or sexual. There could be financial problems.
“Bullying is another issue. It could be historic or current bullying. And every other issue that you could think of. You mightn’t see it as much of a problem, but for the person on the other end of the line it could be a huge problem,” said Ms Wynne.
Samaritans Galway offers a 24-hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year service. The charity has a loyal band of about 100 trusty volunteers, none of whom are paid, including the director.
This time of year, is a particularly busy one for Samaritans.
“Loneliness is a big issue at Christmas and New Year,” said Ms Wynne.
“People who are on their own, and who wouldn’t hear a human voice from one day of the week until the next, can feel awful lonely. It’s so dark at this time of year, too. It’s dark when you get up in the morning, it’s dark when you’re coming home, and then the weather the way it is, it’s dull and dark all day. That has an effect on people.
“If you walk through town and you see people are having a great time at Christmas parties. They mightn’t actually be enjoying it but for someone alone or who is lonely it might appear that way.
“If you’re dealing with difficult thoughts and feelings, the festive season can make everything seem worse. Whether you’re on your own or feeling alone in a crowd, we don’t want anyone to struggle. So, remember you can call Samaritans for free from any phone and, if you’re expecting to have a good Christmas this year yourself, have a think about those around you who may not be as lucky and give them the gift of listening.”
Galway Samaritans will be working round the clock this festive season, to respond to calls for help. The new offices at 14 Nuns Island will be open from 9am to 8pm, on Christmas Day, also, for people who wish to drop-in.
It costs roughly €75,000 to run the Galway branch yearly, and less than 10% of that is funded by Government, with the rest coming from donations from the public. They also run an outreach programme to highlight the work of Samaritans in places like Loughrea and Glenamaddy and elsewhere in the county.
Proceeds from Galway Christmas Market this year went to the Samaritans, and it also helped to raise awareness of the charity. Proceeds from the Christmas carol service of GMIT’s choir went to Samaritans this year, as did a third of the proceeds of the St Nicholas’ Church service over the weekend.
“There has been a lot of goodwill and support for Samaritans. People have been generous,” said Ms Wynne.
Samaritans will be providing over 12,500 hours of listening at its 20 national branches all over Ireland this Christmas.
Yesterday, volunteers invited the public to join them at 6pm at 14 Nuns Island for a candle-lit walk to Eyre Square for carol singing to mark the Winter Solstice.
The Samaritans free phone number is 116 123, it is free to call and will not appear on your bill. Alternatively, you can text 087-260 9090 or visit Samaritans website.
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.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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