Connacht Tribune
Kilconnell superdump to stop accepting waste in 2019
The dump in Kilconnell will stop accepting landfill waste – for good – in 2019, it was confirmed this week.
However, the landfill site, which caused much angst in the greater Ballinasloe area when it was first mooted well over a decade ago, will require at least 25 years of ‘aftercare’.
Galway County Council director of services for environment, water and emergency services, Jim Cullen, gave a cast-iron assurance that the Department of Environment would fund the after-care programme until 2045.
Mr Cullen said there was “zero risk” to the Council and the contract with the Department was “legally binding” in relation to the cost of aftercare including leachate.
Mr Cullen and Senior Executive Engineer, Mike Melody, gave an update on the Kilconnell dump to members of Ballinasloe Municipal District at the latest meeting.
The dump was closed and stopped taking waste back in 2012 when a receiver was appointed to the operators Greenstar.
The County Council subsequently, following negotiations, took over the running of the facility. It reopened under the local authority about eight months ago, and recommenced taking waste.
In a presentation to councillors, Mr Melody gave an outline of the plans to ‘wind down’ the dump and to ‘cap’ the landfill that has filled it over the years since it was first opened in 2005.
He explained to councillors that for three years and eight months contractors will be on-site ‘capping’ the landfill site, which is effectively closing off the waste that has been dumped.
The first phases of the capping of cells 1-5 will commence in the second quarter of this year – Fehily Timoney and Company won the contract for the job after a competitive tender process that began last year.
Cells number 6-9 will be capped in 2018 and 2019, and the final two cells will be capped in October 2020.
The works will include soil placement, drainage and landscaping over the capped cells.
Mr Cullen, under questioning from councillors, confirmed that the dump would continue to accept waste up to the first quarter of 2019.
When the Council took over the facility, the site still had capacity for some 300,000 tonnes of waste.
In 2016, some 50,000 tonnes of waste was accepted and it is envisaged that more than 100,000 tonnes will be accepted in 2017 and 2018, with far less in 2019.
Mr Melody said the 60-hectares site was opened for 100 days in 2016, and was closed for just one and a half hours due to high winds.
It accepted just over 48,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste from eleven collectors around Connacht, as well as over 4,000 tonnes of recovery materials since August last year.
None of the waste was hazardous, he confirmed, which was in keeping with the waste licence.
There are nine County Council staff working on-site, with two back-office support employees working from Council offices in Liosbaun in the city. The Department is reimbursing the Council for the cost of staffing the facility, the meeting heard.
In his update, Mr Melody told Councillors that there were no major accidents on site during that time but there was one minor accident when a third-party surveyor “slipped in the landfill”.
He was treated in hospital for a “minor rib injury” and released the same day, he said.
There were just two complaints received since the Council took over – one for noise and one for smell.
Sinn Féin County Councillor Dermot Connolly said he was chairman of the landfill liaison committee, which was at times a “poisoned chalice” but he praised the local authority for the manner it has run the facility since Greenstar ceased.
Fine Gael’s Aidan Donoghue applauded the Council for how they have run the dump, and he suggested they look at planting woodlands around it once it is capped.
Independent Timmy Broderick criticised the Environmental Protection Agency, who “took the eye off the ball” in relation to securing a bond from Greenstar to pay for the aftercare of the facility. Mr Cullen assured him that would not happen again.
He confirmed there had been “100% cooperation with the Department of Environment”.
The relationship with the EPA is how it should be – the Council runs the site and they supervise that. “We’ve no difficulty with them inspecting the site, any day,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Cullen gave assurances to Cllr Dermot Connolly that he would hold a public meeting to inform the public of Council plans to build an integrated wetland at Poolboy Landfill in Ballinasloe.
He agreed it was a “good news story” and was a measure that would help the environment and the Council needed to communicate what exactly they are doing since An Bórd Pleanála granted permission in January for the construction of a wetland.
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.
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Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
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