Connacht Tribune
GMIT buys pre-fabs to facilitate growing student numbers
Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) has agreed to buy prefabs to facilitate growth in student numbers on campus.
At the same time, management of the Dublin Road college has warned that demand for places is so high that it may not be able to make offers to everyone who wants to study there.
It comes as the college last month unveiled plans to extend GMIT’s footprint on the Dublin Road – with confirmation from the college that it has purchased Galwegians’ grounds for €9 million. That however is a longer term plan.
Members of the Governing Body of GMIT have expressed fears that prefabs – or ‘modular buildings’ – may impact negatively on the experience of students attending GMIT, and its ‘brand’.
Michael Geoghegan, a member of the Governing Body, told his colleagues that modular buildings was ‘not the way to go’.
“It’s not the solution to the infrastructure problems,” he said, according to minutes of Governing Body meetings.
Jim Fennell Vice-President for Finance and Corporate Services said GMIT “cannot have new buildings without capital funding” and he advised that it normally takes “four to five years to deliver capital projects”.
“The only options open to GMIT to support current growth in student numbers, are modular buildings and leasing of buildings off campus,” Mr Fennell told the Governing Body.
Chair of the Governing Body, Cormac MacDonncha said it was a “risk going down a path of procuring modular buildings”.
He said he understood the constraints and lack of capital funding and advised that it “should be flagged as a risk going forward”.
According to the minutes, Mr Geoghegan said that GMIT spend a lot of time on brand and image, and he asked if modular buildings would “have a negative impact”. He also noted that GMIT admitted 1,600 first years in 2020, and 2,000 in 2021.
Mr Fennell said GMIT “was trying to support growth as best we can”.
Galway County Councillor Colm Keaveney (FF) said prefabs are temporary solutions and can be removed. He noted the dilemma between the negatives of modular buildings and “pursuing student numbers and growth”.
But Mr Geoghegan said: “Modular buildings become permanent” and GMIT needed to explore other alternatives, including the possibility of leasing buildings in the city to support student expansion.
Another Governing Body member, Siobhan Kennedy, advised there was a balance to be achieved between “supporting continuous growth . . . and keeping students on campus while ensuring that the location of modular buildings is consistent with the capital projects plan”.
Galway City Councillor Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) said it was “very good news” on student numbers and it was a “positive reflection” on GMIT. But she said that “modular buildings are expensive to run, including heating and maintenance”.
Mr Fennell confirmed to Cllr O’Flaherty that “the first set of modular buildings are being purchased”, and it will consider leasing or purchasing more.
According to the minutes of the meeting, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Registrar, Dr Michael Hannon, noted the strong growth in student numbers and demand for places at GMIT.
He said he was concerned that GMIT “now finds itself in a position where it was not able to make offers to all students who wish to study in GMIT” including some students for whom GMIT is their college of first choice.
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.
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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
