Connacht Tribune
Population decline triggers stark warning on Conamara schools
Communities in three areas in the Conamara Gaeltacht are voicing major concerns about the future of local national schools.
The numbers on the roll books in Muigh Inis in Carna and in Leitir Caladh in the Leitir Mór area have dropped to single figures. Meanwhile, estimates of future attendance in the Tír na Cille School in the Maam Valley have sent shock waves through the Joyce Country community.
It has emerged that the Board of Management at Leitir Caladh took a decision recently to close the school this year and arrange a merger with another school in the locality. There are only eight pupils left on the roll book and three of those are due to go on to secondary education later this year.
Muigh Inis in Carna has dropped to seven pupils and the omens are stark unless new families come into the area.
A widespread campaign was launched last year in an effort to encourage people from elsewhere to locate in the school catchment area in the hope that school numbers would be bolstered.
While the campaign was widely praised for its professionalism and intensity, there has been no tangible result, so far.
Open days have been arranged to encourage parents from near and far who might take the option of sending pupils to Muigh Inis.
Some parents in the Leitir Caladh area in Leitir Mór are against the plan to close the school despite the low numbers. However, it is understood that the Board of Management have set up contact with two local schools with a view to amalgamation.
It emerged this week that the Department of Education and Skills has not yet received any notification of the intention to close the school in the Leitir Mór area.
Roll book numbers in the Tír na Cille school in Maam presently stand at 22. There has been a downward trend over the years even though some pupils now come from the Recess area, which was not in the catchment until recent decades. Now a local survey has indicated that the writing could be on the wall for the Tír na Cille school in future years unless the downward spiral is stopped.
School Principal, Caitríona Uí Shúilleabháin, has been to the fore in driving a campaign to encourage families to locate in the Maam Valley district. Ms Uí Shúilleabháin has highlighted the many advantages which can accrue to pupils in a rural school such as Tír na Cille.
She has cited a good pupil-teacher ratio and ancillary supports, a range of sorting and physical activities and community facilities that would be attractive to parents and children.
She also stated that the Maam Valley area is relatively close to Galway City and to towns such as Ballinrobe, Clifden and Westport. The geography of Maam Valley located in hill country in Connemara is also part of the campaign.
A similar type message has been highlighted by the management, parents and teachers in Muigh Inis in Carna. While there is a geographical difference – the Muigh Inis school is located beside the ocean and within a stone’s throw of pristine beaches – both the Maam Valley and Carna are rural communities.
The threats hanging over Leitir Caladh, Muigh Inis and Tír na Cille are replicated to a lesser – but significant – degree throughout west Conamara. No new pupils came into the Gort Mór National School in Ros Muc in the current year.
In the neighbouring parish of Carna, the number of pupils attending the five National Schools had dropped by almost 60% over the past 30 years. In 1990, there were 340 pupils in the five schools; it has dropped to 136.
While communities in Conamara have highlighted the regions outstanding natural beauty and environmental features it appears, so far, that this has yielded little results in attracting school going families.
There is some evidence of people in the older age groups moving to areas in Conamara. This has benefits for the general community, but it offers no immediate solution to the impending crisis for many schools.
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.
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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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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
