Connacht Tribune
Greenway ‘intimidation allegation rejected by Galway County Council
The head of the team leading the planned greenway between Galway and Athlone has refuted claims of intimidation and a lack of engagement with land and homeowners affected by the preferred route.
In a spirited defence of how they have handled the process to date, Director of Services in the Infrastructure and Operations unit of Galway County Council, Derek Pender, insisted they had undertaken well over 1,500 face-to-face or phone call consultations with landowners over the past 15 months.
He was speaking in front of a handful people from Stoney Island, Kilcolgan and Eyrecourt who attended this month’s Loughrea Municipal District meeting and who were among 100 people who had signed a petition stating there was “fundamental distrust in the project team” and accusing them of “serious inappropriate engagement practices”.
They vowed to no longer speak individually with the project liaison officers, but only when in the company of neighbours.
Mr Pender said approximately 350 potentially impacted private landowners had been identified along the emerging preferred route.
It starts near Ballyloughane Beach in Renmore, passing through Oranmore, Rinville, Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan, Kinvara, Gort, Woodford, Portumna, Meelick, Clonfert, Ballinasloe, Shannonbridge, and finishing at Athlone Castle before linking with the cycleway to Dublin.
“Where landowners have engaged with this process, they have been listened to and their thoughts and potential issues identified. Where feasible, the route has been amended to address identified issues whilst ensuring the continuity of the route, end to end,” he stated.
He outlined how three focused public consultations have been held since 2020. During the second public consultation 11,631 submissions were received on Route Corridor Options between January and March 2021, of which 95% were positive; 3% were neutral and 2% were negative.
“Between May and December 2021, the project liaison officers visited and spoke to landowners and farmers across the project study area which includes approximately 550 telephone calls and 650 face-to-face meetings.
“Furthermore, between February and August 2022 the project team have had over 375 meetings or telephone discussions with landowners whose property is within the preferred corridor. This demonstrates that the project team have and will continue to actively engage with landowners.”
Corridor Option 5, which includes Kinvara, Ballinderreen and Kilcolgan, attracted the highest number of submissions totalling 1,896. This segment of the cycleway is approximately 15km or 7% of the over 205km route.
Overall, he believed there was “positivity and support” for the project over approximately 90% of the emerging preferred route.
County Councillor Geraldine Donohue (Ind) said people wanted to know why the project consultants were insisting on destroying farmland when existing infrastructure exists and the council passed a motion to allow a hybrid solution – going along the road when agreement could not be reached to cut across land.
They also wanted to know why the consultants were being allowed to threaten people with Compulsory Purchase Orders when this was only to be used as a last resort.
Cllr Jimmy McClearn (FG) said the project team would have to rebuild trust with property owners, “because right now we’re going nowhere”.
Cathaoirleach ‘Moegie’ Maher said people who did not want the greenway to happen were scaremongering about CPOs and warning elderly people that people would travel down from Dublin and break into their homes.
Mr Pender said the project team were willing to organise a physical public participation event in different areas to talk individually or collectively with people affected with maps clearly outlining their properties.
“To hear comment that the team are using as a threat the CPO process is unfounded and indeed unfair . . . I am satisfied that the project team has at all times acted in good faith and behaved appropriately.”
The hybrid model would only be used in discreet isolated areas that were specific pinch points.
“It’s not safe to put cycleways along a national or regional route, it’s okay over short sections, but going to kilometres and kilometres.”
(Photo Galway County Council Director of Services, Derek Pender: project team has “behaved appropriately”)
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
