News
Survey finds two-thirds of dumping fines unpaid
Two thirds of all fines issued by Galway County Council for illegal dumping and littering remain unpaid.
The figures also reveal that on average, a quarter of all illegal dumping fines issued by the local authority are cancelled, although there were huge variances depending on which part of the county the fines were issued.
The shock figures have led to calls for the Council to take a tougher stance on litterers who feel they can get away with blighting the countryside.
A county councillor has called on the Council to ‘name and shame’ illegal dumpers by posting CCTV photographs of culprits online.
Just 38% of the 746 litter fines issued by the Council during 2014 and 2015 were paid.
The rest of the fines issued were either cancelled by the Council (28%) or remain to be paid by the perpetrator (34%).
The data was released to Adhmhaidin, the morning current affairs programme on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
Community wardens in some parts of the county were busier issuing litter fines than they were in others.
It showed 42% or 152 of the 355 total litter fines issued across County Galway in 2015 were for illegal dumping in Connemara, while 14% (52) were in Athenry/Oranmore municipal district; 13% (46) were in Ballinasloe; 11% (40) were in Loughrea; and 18% (65) were in Tuam.
There was a large variance in whether fines were cancelled, depending on what part of the county illegal dumpers were fined.
In Ballinasloe, some 15% of all litter fines issued were cancelled by the Council but it was more than twice that percentage (38%) for those who were issued with fines for dumping in Tuam.
The level of cancelled fines was 19% in Athenry/Oranmore, 26% in Connemara, and 20% in Loughrea.
A Council spokesperson explained that one of the reasons more than one in every four litter fines is cancelled is because the culprits are caught by identifying vehicle number plates on CCTV but their addresses do not match.
The Council confirmed that some 133 (37%) fines for illegal dumping remain unpaid by the culprits.
It said that five people were found guilty for non-payment of fines and one person paid the dumping fine one the Council took legal proceeding for non-payment.
A further six individuals are being brought before the courts for non-payment, and they are awaiting a trial date.
Connemara county councillor, Tom Healy (SF) said the local authority should be more proactive in pursuing illegal dumpers and enforcing fines.
“To have 62% of fines unpaid causes serious issues in terms of how much weight the threat of enforcement for littering carries in the county. If persons guilty of illegal dumping feel they will not suffer the consequences of their actions, then communities and the environment will suffer for this. Illegal dumping costs the local authority and the taxpayer and imposes a burden on already overstretched budgets,” he said.
Councillor Healy added: “I can understand that there may be issues associating car registration plates and the guilty individuals where addresses do not match up, but where this is the case, we must up the ante to catch these people in the act. I have argued previously that we employ new portable camera technology to catch these individuals in the act at known dumping blackspots.
“This technology can send photos immediately to Gardaí and local authority staff so that we can try and apprehend the person leaving the scene. Galway County Council should also follow Dublin City Council’s lead and publish all photos of individuals caught on camera on their website. People who engage in illegal dumping have no regard for the wellbeing of their fellow citizens and should be shamed as such.”
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
