Connacht Tribune
Hotel would help Portumna capitalise on recent investment
Portumna has benefitted from significant investment in recent months – but the continuing absence of a hotel in the south-east Galway town remains a major drawback to its efforts to evolve into a major tourist destination.
The town is a popular haunt with boating tourists and those who regularly visit its many attractions like Portumna Castle and the local forest walks but it is still missing one vital component . . . a hotel.
“It would just complete the circle,” declared local Cllr Jimmy McClearn who has now called on the owners of the old Shannon Oaks Hotel, which burned down several years ago, to outline their plans for the building.
“What has been happening in Portumna over the past couple of years has been a real success story. We have a newly renovated harbour, camper van parking facilities, a new car park at the Castle and the support of many of the State agencies.
“The only problem is that we cannot capture the day trippers to Portumna because of the absence of a hotel. We are carrying on without it because we have no choice but the town is crying out for such a facility,” Cllr McClearn said.
The Shannon Oaks Hotel in Portumna was burned down back in 2011 and has since been acquired by the millionaire Comer brothers who, it is understood, have plans to rebuild it and reopen it at some future point. It is not clear when this process will commence.
The loss of the hotel is understood to have cost the town around €2.5 million annually in lost tourism revenue. Last year it was sold by a firm of receivers but so far no works have commenced on the property.
Cllr McClearn now wants the new owners to outline their plans for the hotel and has been trying to make contact with the Comers. So far he has not been successful but said that it would complement the progress that Portumna has been experiencing in recent times.
The newly renovated harbour will open the region up to significant tourism revenue. And that is according to Waterways Ireland, who have described it as a “key destination” along the River Shannon.
The new facilities at the marina include doubling of mooring capacity, upgrade of berths, repaving of the quay area and installation of cut stone walls.
The service block, car parking, services for camper vans and access road have also been upgraded in a joint investment by Waterways Ireland, the Office of Public Works, Fáilte Ireland and Galway County Council.
Eanna Rowe, Western Regional Manager at Waterways Ireland, says the upgrade will provide a significant boost to Portumna and the surround region.
The onshore works include the upgrade of the service block (with toilets and showers), car parking and access road. A further development of integrated services for camper vans has also been completed which will see, for the first time, the provision of facilities and services for the growing numbers of visiting camper vans to the region.
And this week Minister Sean Canney of the OPW has welcomed progress on a new car park at Portumna Castle. The OPW have lodged a planning application with Galway County Council for the project.
The proposal consists of the construction of 20 car park spaces, two disabled parking bays, a large coach and minibus drop-off area and a new pedestrian footpath as a link to the Castle grounds.
The project is designed to create a safe area to park and to make Portumna Castle more accessible for bus tours, Minister Canney said.
“We need to develop facilities to make Galway East more attractive for tourists and this development when completed will enhance Portumna Castle as a tourist attraction,” he added.
Cllr McClearn said that there was so much good happening in Portumna and that all of the agencies were doing their “level best” to contribute to the progress but he added that the provision of a hotel would be the “icing on the cake”.
“Everything is coming together in Portumna and we expect more visitors over the summer but we also want to keep them here to avail of the huge amount of facilities we have to offer. The hotel would just complete the circle as far as we are concerned,” he added.
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.
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.
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
