News
GLUAS team brand councillor’s comments ‘off the rails’
Sceptical comments made by City Councillor Noel Larkin about the merits of a tram system for Galway have been lashed as ‘off the rails’ by GLUAS backers.
The debate about the need for a light rail system in the city resurfaced last week when Independent public representative said Galway would be transformed into “a giant building site” and would be “crippled” during construction.
Cllr Larkin, a businessman, pointed to problems with delays and cost overruns during the construction of a tram in Edinburgh and claimed the same would happen in Galway.
Tram Power, a UK light rail company that backs the Galway GLUAS, has already refuted Cllr Larkin’s claims and say the project is sustainable, practical, environmentally friendly and has the support of the people of Galway.
Now local campaigner, Brendan Holland, of Holland’s newsagent on Williamsgate Street, this week has come out and issued a staunch defence of light rail.
A former chairman of the GLUAS project, Mr Holland said he took issue with Cllr Larkin’s remark that it would be “utterly stupid”.
“To defend this remark he made only two points about the delay and overspend in the Edinburgh Tram project,” said Mr Holland.
“But delays and overspends have nothing to do with the final projects and the benefits of light rail. This is a function of the overseer. It was proposed that the GLUAS would be funded by private funding and this type of funding tends not to have a habit of being over budget or over time.
“Public projects generally seem to suffer from this and one does not have to look too far away from the city centre in the past for proof of this. Surely this is a not a reason not to build a public transport system, surely one learns from the past and not fall into the same trap.”
Mr Holland said you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs and that spurious arguments about cost overruns and delays were made about the LUAS in Dublin.
“However when the dust settled, I have yet to hear someone, anyone say ‘take up that bloody LUAS it’s useless’. All the properties, businesses, residents and the entire city have benefited from being on the line and the LUAS has now become the symbol of Dublin,” he said.
Mr Holland said Cllr Larkin didn’t look at the positive experiences of light rail, such as Besancon in the South of France. “Instead he chose to focus on the negative,” he said.
The newsagent added: “Councillor Larkin’s answer to the traffic problem is the N6 Galway City Transport Proposed Road (bypass). Once again the GLUAS was never about if we build a ring road around Galway or not. The GLUAS project was about moving people around the city in a fast comfortable manner which is an alternative to and as good as your own car.
“He is a member of City Hall’s transportation strategic policy committee. I would like to hear what his transport solutions are because I am getting a bit long in the tooth waiting for solutions that are no nearer now than they were when we made our proposals for GLUAS.
“If he is worried about the disruption to business while building light rail, maybe it he might start worrying about the damage to businesses while we sit waiting for something to be done.”
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
