News
Hero London policeman has Galway roots
A UK policeman, who has his roots in County Galway, was honoured in London last Thursday for saving the life of a distressed woman who had climbed over the railing of a footbridge with the intention of jumping onto the road below.
PC Leighton Gill and his colleague PC Iain McAllen responded to a call to the Metropolitan Police back in February about a woman on a footbridge over the A2 at Bexleyheath in London – the A2 is the major road that connects London with Dover in south-east England, and around the Bexleyheath area is a motorway in all but name.
They approached the woman and attempted to talk to her, but when a jogger ran onto the footbridge, she climbed over the railing and leaned backwards, eyes closed, towards the traffic below.
PC Gill – the son of Thomas Gill from Ballinderreen – grabbed the woman, who began kicking and screaming. He was lifted off his feet and almost pulled over the handrail. Both he and his colleague held onto the woman, who was now dangling over the traffic, before eventually managing to haul her back over the railing. She was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and taken to hospital for treatment.
“We are obviously very proud of Leighton and it is a great honour for him,” his aunt, Bridie Sheridan from Dangan Heights in Galway City, told the Connacht Tribune this week. “He was very lucky he wasn’t pulled over the railing and onto the road with the woman, who was kicking and screaming and obviously wasn’t well.
“It just shows the levels of danger policemen, and our own Gardaí, face regularly. The Gardaí can get an awful time of it, but it shows the levels they go to for the public, things that might not be seen by everyone.
“It is frightening to think of the dangers they can face, but thankfully Leighton was okay, he just got a bang on the arm but didn’t have to go to hospital,” said Bridie of her nephew, who along with his colleague was presented with a royal Humane Society Testimonial last Thursday by Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the head of the Metropolitan Police. They had previously been presented with commendations by Bexley police and Bexley Borough Council.
PC Gill is the eldest of three sons born to Thomas Gill, who emigrated to England about 40 years ago. Thomas is the son of Mary-Ann and the late Tom Gill from Ballinderreen, and is the grandnephew of Mick Gill, the only man to have won two All-Ireland medals in the same year.
“My father’s brother, Mick, was a guard, and is the only man to have won two All-Ireland medals in the one year. He won the 1923 All-Ireland hurling final with Galway, but that game wasn’t played until 1924.
“By then he had joined the new Garda Siochána and was stationed in Dublin, so he started playing with Dublin and as things would have it, they reached that year’s All-Ireland final and were up against Galway! That final was played in December that year, and Dublin won it, so he won with Galway in September and Dublin in December,” Bridie says.
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
