Connacht Tribune
OPW Minister to meet Council engineers on ‘flawed’ motorway design
The Minister of State at the Office of Public Works is to meet with Galway County Council engineers to discuss the ‘flawed’ design of the M18 motorway.
As reported by the Connacht Tribune last week, a section of the Gort-Tuam motorway could have to be closed to allow for a new larger culvert to be installed – otherwise the South Galway-Gort Lowlands Flood Relief Scheme could be stalled.
The matter came up for discussion in the Dáil last Thursday during a debate on ‘flood risk management’, when it was confirmed that Galway County Council would be consulted on the issue.
Galway East TD Ciaran Cannon (FG) said the South Galway-Gort Lowlands Flood Relief Scheme was encountering difficulties and these needed to be addressed.
In response, Minister of State at the Office of Public Works, Patrick O’Donovan, said that he will be travelling to Galway shortly to meeting the County Council with regard to the matters raised.
Deputy Cannon told the Dáil that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) had constructed a motorway right through the heart of the region and did not build a sufficient number of culverts (tunnels carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railway) during its construction.
“That now has the potential to derail the whole process. The costs associated with remedying this problem with the motorway will become part of the issue for the overall cost-benefit analysis.
“I therefore encourage the Minister of State and his officials to engage directly with TII to have this issue resolved and to ensure TII accepts full responsibility for the lack of capacity in these culverts and covers the cost of making them sufficiently large so as not to cause flooding in the region.
“I know the Minister of State is more than aware of, and has been exceptionally supportive of, the South Galway-Gort lowlands flood relief scheme,” added Deputy Cannon.
Minister O’Donovan replied that he intends to meet with Galway County Council shortly with regards to the matter raised.
“I have been there a number of times already in respect of other schemes and I must say the County Council is to the fore in delivering an awful lot to the schemes,” he added.
Deputy Cannon said that he did not want a return to the situation during the mid-1990s when boats were used to rescue dwellers, animals and possessions in the Gort area as torrential rain left thousands of acres of land under water for several months.
There were similar incidents in 2009 and 2015 when parts of the South Galway area were left stranded because of the extreme flooding.
“It’s now more than apparent that the M18 motorway design is flawed. There isn’t sufficient capacity in culverts under the road, and this is impeding the flow of flood waters at times of high rainfall. This issue was flagged with TII long before the motorway was built but they chose to ignore the concerns of locals. It’s absolutely imperative that TII now revisits this issue and solves it once and for all.
“I’m pleased that Minister O’Donovan is now planning to visit Galway shortly to sit down with our Council engineers and TII to finally resolve this matter. We cannot have the significant costs of this redesign lumbered onto the Gort Lowlands Flood Relief scheme. If that happens the whole cost benefit aspect of the project becomes very risky, and may not pass scrutiny by the Department of Public Expenditure. TII have caused this problem and they need to solve it,” said Deputy Cannon.
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.
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
