News
Man charged with concert tickets scam refused bail

A man who is charged with selling bogus concert tickets and with committing several other unrelated offences around the city, has been remanded in custody to October.
Dublin native, John Tomkins (44), of no fixed abode, appeared before the holiday sitting of Galway District Court this week.
He is charged with inducing two women to lodge €200 and €210 respectively into his bank account on dates between January 28 and 30 last for tickets to AC/DC concerts which the women never received.
He is charged with handling the respective amounts of money, knowing they were stolen and with giving false and misleading information regarding the transactions to Garda Paul McNulty at Galway Garda Station on April 18 last.
Tomkins is also charged with damaging a car door at Lurgan Park, Murrough, on June 26 last, and with stealing a suitcase full of men’s clothing worth €300, CDs and a pair of men’s boots worth €40 from the car on the same date.
He is further charged with breaching the peace, by engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour in a public place in relation to the same incident He is also charged with damaging the walls and door of a holding cell at Galway Garda Station on June 26.
Tomkins is further charged with having a torch, latex gloves and two four-inch screws in his possession at a house on Renmore Road on February 14 last with the intention they be used in connection with theft/burglary.
When charged with this offence Tomkins had replied, “What screws? What gloves?”
He was also charged with breaching the peace at Renmore Road during the same incident.
He had replied “No comment. Not guilty you clown,” when that charge was put to him by a Garda.
Tomkins had refused to have the charges relating to the alleged burglary offence dealt with at District Court level on July 1 last and elected for trial instead in the Circuit Criminal Court on that date.
Inspector Kevin Gately told the court this week that a Book of Evidence in relation to that charge was not yet ready as the DPP had directed further investigations be carried out. He applied to have the matter adjourned to September for service of the Book on Tomkins then.
Defence solicitor, Gearoid Geraghty said his client had instructed him to object to the adjournment application and wanted the charge struck out (due to delay).
Judge John King noted from the court file that Tomkins was first charged with the offence on March 2 and the DPP had directed summary disposal (in the District Court) but then on July 1 last, Tomkins had elected for trial in the Circuit Court and on that basis, he said, he was not going to accede to his application to have the charge struck out.
He remanded the accused in custody to October 7 and granted an application made by Insp Gately to extend time for service of the Book of Evidence on that date. Tomkins objected to that application as well.
Mr Geraghty informed the court his client was in custody on all of the other charges as he had been unable to take up bail which had been granted to him by the High Court.
Judge King remanded Tomkins in custody on the remaining charges with consent to bail as set by the High Court to appear before the court again on October 7.
Connacht Tribune
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest

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.
Connacht Tribune
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races

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.
CITY TRIBUNE
Galway ‘masterplan’ needed to tackle housing and transport crises

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.”