News
Man harassed Garda over 17-year grudge
Sentencing in the case of a man who threatened to harm a psychiatric nurse and harassed a retired Garda whom he’d held a grudge against for seventeen years, has been adjourned for six months to see if he engages with services to deal with his mental health issues.
Mark Condon (47), with a former address at Rahylin Glebe, Ballybane, who now resides with his parents in Clonmel, appeared before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last week for sentence.
Prosecuting barrister Conor Fahy explained there were three separate sets of offences which Condon had pleaded guilty to relating to three separate incidents.
Detective Sergeant Paudie O’Shea said the first incident involved Condon stealing a set of car keys from a clamper on March 14, 2013 at a car park in Clybaun. He became abusive towards the clamper when his jeep was clamped and took his car keys off him before going to a nearby pub. He threatedned the garda called to deal with the incident.
The next incident, Sgt O’Shea said, occurred at Fairhill on June 14 last year. Condon had been at a restaurant owned by his ex-wife in Dominick Street and had been ejected from that premises. He was very abusive and threatening and was later charged with being drunk and breaching the peace.
Sgt O’Shea said the third incident involved the harassment of a retired Garda and threats to kill a psychiatric nurse. He said Condon persistently texted and phoned the retired Garda over a one-week period last June. The garda had prosecuted Condon 17 years beforehand and it appeared Condon bore a grudge against him.
Condon left twelve messages on the man’s phone on June 22 alone and eight messages two days later. In one communication, Condon had told the retired Garda: “It’s been 17 years, four houses and two daughters and now I’m plotting my return.”
Sgt O’Shea said the retired Garda moved house during the period of the harassment and he became greatly alarmed when he discovered Condon had been monitoring his movements.
The next incident, Sgt O’Shea said, occurred when Condon was a voluntary inpatient in the Psychiatric Unit at UHG. He went missing one evening and a psychiatric nurse – who was concerned for his welfare – phoned Condon’s parents early the next morning to see if he was okay.
Condon rang her back a few minutes later and was extremely abusive and threatening towards her. He used foul language and said: “I will get you and break your neck.”
Mr Fahy said Condon and gone on trial for threatening to kill or cause serious harm to the nurse but he pleaded guilty during the trial to threatening to cause her serious harm.
He said Condon had pleaded guilty to several counts of criminal damage involving his in-laws at Galway Circuit Criminal Court in February 1999, and had pleaded guilty also to setting fire to their home. He had also made threats to kill one of his former in-laws and at the time, had also threatened to kill the now retired Garda, who had investigated the above offences.
The court at the time had imposed suspended sentences.
Judge Rory McCabe indicated the theft of the car keys merited a two-year sentence, the harassment of the retired Garda, three years and the threat to kill the nurse, four years.
He said the extent to which Condon served part or any of those sentences depended on his co-operation with the mental health and probation services over the next six months.
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
