CITY TRIBUNE
Simon urges participants to take the challenge, raise funds – and make a difference
The Galway Simon Community has launched its annual Sleep Out for Simon – and this year the event is going hybrid!
The Sleep Out – set to take place on the night of Friday, September 30 – will see friends, families, colleagues, businesses and communities from Galway, Mayo, Roscommon and beyond, give up their bed for one night to raise awareness and vital funds for those facing homelessness in the West.
This year people have the choice to join one of Galway Simon’s organised Community Sleep Outs taking place across Galway city and county or to organise their own Sleep Out in a safe place of their choosing – here in the west or on the other side of the world.
Karen Golden, CEO of Galway Simon Community, explained why they are relying on the community to come together and raise funds for those living with the threat of homelessness.
“The fear and trauma of having nowhere to sleep is a stark reality for some, the families and individuals who we support continue to be under extreme pressure,” she said.
“We are asking for the help of our community so that we can continue delivering the support needed to protect the most vulnerable in our society from the threat of homelessness,” she added.
In 2021, Galway Simon Community supported 814 households, including 246 families. This comprised of 948 adults and 563 children, a total of 1,511 individuals – an increase of 26% in number of households supported in 2021 compared to 2020.
The number of cases and households worked with is the highest that on record since 2004.
Over the last two years, the Sleep Outs took place virtually due to Covid-19 and were the most diverse to date.
People partook from across the globe – from Moycullen, Westport, Castlerea, to as far as Shanghai – with participants from Montessori groups to sports clubs to businesses and enterprises of all sizes. The vital funds raised helped support more than 800 individuals and families across the West, a truly phenomenal achievement.
As the rising cost of living and housing crisis impacts on people in our community, your support will make a difference to those living in fear of losing their home. Galway Simon looks forward to welcoming your participation in this unique event on September 30, be it from your own back garden or by joining one of the Community Sleep Outs in Galway city and county.
This year the charity has set a target to raise €100,000 from the Sleep Out for Simon – and 100% of proceeds will go directly towards Galway Simon’s Homelessness Prevention Services including community support, youth, women and family services, ensuring the charity can safeguard these essential community services and support those in need.
A total of 641 households were supported through the Homelessness Prevention Services, an increase of 32%, while 173 households were supported through Simon’s Housing Services, an increase of 7%.
They have supported 28% more families than the same period in 2020 – and the number of 18-25-year-olds supported across Simon’s services increased by 25% in 2021 compared to 2020.
To register for the Sleep Out for Simon today, visit sleepoutforsimon.ie.
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.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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