Connacht Tribune
Galway Simon sees 46% rise in demand for services
Galway Simon had the most challenging year in its 40-year history with the number of people accessing emergency accommodation in the west increasing by 46% in 2017.
With this trend continuing into 2018, new CEO Karen Golden warns that homelessness in Galway will get worse before it gets better.
She pointed out that the number of people in emergency accommodation has shot from 36 to 499 individuals and families over the past five years. Within two years – and without any major improvement in housing supply – that could rise to 1,600.
Galway Simon’s 2017 annual report found it helped prevent 402 households from becoming homeless – up from 219 the year before.
It worked with 642 households – including 335 completely new households. That number is up from 622 in 2016, which was a 70% increase on the previous year.
While rent pressure zones were introduced, these are not preventing people becoming homeless. The charity’s ‘Locked Out of the Market’ reports consistently showed that there were no properties available to rent in Galway within the Housing Assistance Payment limits (HAP).
“Social housing in Galway is not coming on stream fast enough for the demand from the local community. The Government’s social housing targets for Galway City and County are 931 units for 2018, with 73% of those to come from the private rental sector,” explained Ms Golden.
“However, the reality is that 93% of the units delivered so far this year are coming from the private rental sector. With rent increases in the city of 15.9% in the last year, this is not sustainable.
“Without the supply of social and affordable housing available that is needed for city and county, the harsh reality is that the crisis is going to get worse before it gets better. That is why at this critical time, Galway Simon Community are placing our focus on homelessness prevention; keeping people in the homes that they already have.”
The charity prevents homelessness by intervening to help maintain a current tenancy or by sourcing a new one which avoids the trauma – particularly for children – of having to relocate to B&Bs and hotels. It is makes economic sense as the nightly cost of temporary accommodation far exceeds private rent.
After two years of running a deficit budget due to the expansion of services, 2017 marked a turnaround in finances for Galway Simon due to a bequest received of €546,830.
Total expenditure was nearly €4.7 million – a 6% increase compared to the previous year, mainly due to increased wage costs arising from increased services.
Turnover in Simon charity shops remained stable at €475,000, their annual Sleep Out raised over €29,000. Statutory and grant income from the HSE, Galway City and County Councils and the child and family agency Túsla represented 55% of total income, a decline of 4% from the previous year.
Due to a change in the pay scale for social care organisations which are funded by the HSE, the new CEO has taken a pay cut. Bill Griffin received a gross salary of €89,183 last year before his retirement. His replacement is on a salary of over €75,000.
Looking ahead, Galway Simon plans to extend its Homelessness Prevention Services, Youth Service and Health and Well-being Team in addition to acquiring additional housing in order to prevent more adults and children becoming homeless.
Last year 35 people aged between 18 and 25 accessed the Youth Service and 12 of those accessed its designated youth accommodation.
Since the beginning of this year, Simon now offers pilot outreach services to people in the Loughrea and Tuam areas.
Addiction counsellors worked with over 100 individuals providing over 500 one-to-one sessions as well as running relapse prevention groups.
In total, 297 people volunteered with the organisation in 2017.
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
