Connacht Tribune
Staff shortage delays Council houses revamp for disabled
A lack of staff is preventing Galway County Council from carrying out the amount of modifications to houses that they own to suit the elderly and disabled that they would like.
A senior official with Galway County Council told the Connacht Tribune that during the course of 2016, they undertook a significant programme of adaptions to 30 social houses and spent around €150,000 in the process.
These included modifications such as the provision of stair lifts, wet rooms and increased accessibility to meet the needs of the elderly and disabled who are resident in Council-owned social housing.
But Michael Owens, the Director of Services for Housing, said that there was a requirement for extension to address overcrowding in situations where families in social housing have increased in numbers along with further disability requirements.
However, due to poor staffing levels it was not possible to advance this element of the social housing adaptations programme during the course of 2016.
Mr Owens went on to say that further adaptations to social have been undertaken already this year and a review of the requirement for extensions is currently being undertaken with a view to advancing a number of priority projects. But the reduced staffing levels continue to be a major obstacle.
The issue relating to adaptations and extensions to social housing was raised by Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte who was informed that Galway County Council did not draw down any funding under the Disabled Grants Scheme last year.
In a Dail response, the Fianna Fail TD was informed that Galway County Council were funding any works through the Local Property Tax which infuriated her as she said that this money should go towards community projects such as playgrounds or essential road realignment works.
But Mr Owens explained that last year they received funding to the tune of €124,000 from the Department of Housing and that a further €14,000 was provided by Galway County Council.
Deputy Rabbitte has expressed some confusion by both responses – with the Department saying that no funding was provided and explained that Galway County Council were one of only two local authorities that did not receive any money to carry out works to social housing.
“I am going to get to the bottom of this as the adaptations of social housing for the elderly and disabled is a priority in my book and it is vital that available funding is drawn down.
“It is also unacceptable that the Council say that they have no staff to carry out vital extensions for families in social houses that have grown in numbers. There is a health and safety issue involved here,” the Fianna Fail TD added.
In the Dail reply, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said that no exchequer founding was provided to Galway County Council or Fingal Council as they used Local Property Tax receipts to fund any works.
Deputy Rabbitte said that if Galway County Council, who raised by the Property Tax by 10% this year to householders, used any of these receipts for works that are funded by central Government, it would be a disgraceful situation.
“It is up to the Council to draw down money that is readily available and use the Property Tax funding for other essential projects around the county for which no exchequer funding is provided,” she said.
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.
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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
