News
Tide turns on State funding for flood relief
State authorities should fund individual flood barriers and other mitigation measures for homes in areas that do not meet the current cost benefit analysis criteria, according to a submission by Galway County Council.
In its response to the Western Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) plan drawn up by the Office of Public Works (OPW), the local authority has called on those cost benefit analysis criteria to be changed for rural areas.
The Council has also called for a voluntary home relocation scheme to be set up for homes under constant risk of flooding where works to lessen the risk were not carried out.
Galway County Council said it welcomed the flood protection measures proposed for Clifden and Claregalway – the latter is currently being built.
“However, Galway County Council is concerned that the many other measures that have been identified to offer flood protection to affected properties in the various AFA’s [areas for further assessment] are not being progressed because they do not meet the required cost benefit criteria,” according to the submission.
“Galway County Council requests that the OPW reviews the cost benefit criteria for minor works schemes and develops a scheme that offers assistance for individual property protection so that the measures and recommendations identified in the draft FRMP’s [Flood risk Management Plan] might be implemented in the lifetime of this plan.
“Galway County Council requests that the OPW assists the relevant body or agency on the implementation of a voluntary home relocation scheme for property owners that can avail of these schemes.”
While the maps drawn up as party of the study will prove an invaluable tool in the management of future floods, the majority are centred around towns and villages and exclude rural areas. The Local Authority asks for a revision of the assessment areas when the next management plan is drawn up to ensure flood protection measures can be identified across all of the county.
“Galway County Council want to see measures like voluntary home relocation, flood forecasting, promotion of individual and community resilience and individual property protection advanced at the earliest possible date by the appropriate body and that adequate funding is made available so that these policies can be realised for those people affected by repeated flooding,” it urged.
Larger schemes should not take precedence over smaller schemes.
“Galway County Council has a particular concern that in many of the AFA’s where flood protection measures have been identified, these schemes are not likely to advance because the minimum cost benefit criteria cannot be achieved. This is of little comfort to the property owners at risk of flooding.”
As an example, it points to water flowing onto Crowe Street in December 2015 from the flood plain at the back of Lidl, requiring sandbags and pumps to be deployed.
“If the embankments or flood walls identified as flood protection measures were constructed this flood risk could have been mitigated against.”
In Tuam, the Council wants any structures identified as being at risk of blockage to be replaced while in Roundstone it calls for the quay wall to be upgraded to act as a flood defence system. Recommendations for channel and flood defence walls to be maintained in Clifden should be taken over by a State body and properly funded.
Councillor Donagh Killilea (FF) said 30 homes affecting by last winter’s flooding were deeply disappointed by the lack of a scheme approved for Gardenfield, which failed to meet the cost criteria.
Rather than wait for the next assessment to be done in six years, the OPW should explore individual home protection for areas such as this, according to the Council.
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
