Connacht Tribune
Tubridy heads West to the Aran Islands!
He already has the freedom of Connemara – but when it comes to the west coast, Ryan Tubridy wants it all. Which partly explains why he is taking his radio show to Inis Mór next week – and broadcasting for the first time from the Aran Islands.
“I’m hugely looking forward to it – not that I ever need an excuse to head to the West. But the Late Late season finishes on Friday . . . and my ‘working holiday’ then sees me head straight for the Wild Atlantic Way,” he laughs.
Thus, his RTÉ Radio 1 show next Thursday will see Ryan pitch up at the Tourist Office in Kilronan, facing out onto the beach.
“When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound like work, does it?” he admits.
But this is no flying visit or fleeting love affair; his radio show is also coming close to its summer break – which means Ryan is straight back to Galway for his annual holiday just a week later.
His affinity with the county goes back to his childhood.
“From as early as I can remember, we headed off for the summer out to Baile na hAbhann; my mother’s father had a little house there and that is deeply associated with the happiest days of my childhood.
“It’s the sort of ‘sand in the sandwiches’ summer that we so remember; trips to Tí Johnny Sean’s pub; snooker tables with rips in them – happy days,” he says.
But it really wasn’t until about a decade ago that Galway – and Connemara in particular – began to form such a part in Ryan’s own story.
“Ten years ago, when I did Who Do You Think You Are?, I really discovered how deep this goes,” he says about his experience of the TV genealogy documentary series.
“My dad’s dad was from Beal a’ Daingean and indeed his parents had come here to work as joint principals in the national school, Scoil Mhic Dara in Carraroe.”
Ryan’s great-grandparents, Patrick and Jane – from Kilmurry Ibrickane in Clare and Kilkelly in Mayo respectively – shared a vision; that education held the key to progress.
At a time of great poverty along the west coast, they actually worked with the great patriot, Roger Casement, and helped to set up a fund for free school dinners there.
Their son – Ryan’s grandfather – Seán, shared their passion for progress and served the area too, both as the local GP and then as a TD for Galway. But it could all have ended before it really began.
“Granddad was taking over as the local GP from a man who was retiring after a long and distinguished career in the post,” reveals Ryan.
Such was Seán’s enthusiasm that he presented himself for duty the day before he was supposed to start and offered to begin work immediately – the night before his posting officially began.
“The serving GP told him to wait until the morning as planned because he had one particular patient who was living on one of the islands; this man was dying and as his GP he wanted to see him one last night,” says Ryan.
But tragedy struck on the return journey; the boat went down, taking the lives of the small crew and the retiring GP – a death toll that would have included Seán Tubridy, if his predecessor hadn’t insisted on him taking the evening off before starting work the next morning.
“I often think about that – if my grandfather had gone on that boat, the story would be a very different one,” says Ryan.
He knew little of this when, as a teenager, he was dispatched to Irish college in the Gaeltacht back in the 1980s – a summer he remembers fondly in Carraroe.
“Last summer, I was driving around the West and I went on a day trip to Carraroe. Nothing would do me but to find the house I’d stayed in all those years ago – and when I arrived my old Bean an Tí was outside.
“I walked over to her and said: “You don’t know me, but I know you”, and she nearly died. We went in and I had a look at the bunk bed I’d slept in that summer,” he says.
So his Galway connections – and his family roots – are beyond reproach, although he readily admits that he’s not quite as familiar with the Aran islands.
“I don’t know Aran as well as I should. I’ve always gravitated towards Inishbofin and this summer when I’m there, once again I’ll be spending time in a little cottage that my cousin owns on Inis Turbot.
“We’ve taken the show the most parts of the Wild Atlantic Way over the last few years and I love it; what we try and do is create an aural postcard, where we bring the listeners with us on the journey.
“We want to make it feel like they’re there too,” he says.
While the purpose is to promote all that is good about the Wild Atlantic Way, he doesn’t want it to feel like a hard sell. “I’m just in my element, being where I love to be,” he says.
Part of his experience on Inis Mór will be immersive – quite literally because he will be the Bláth na Mara seaweed bath, as well as taking in a visit to Dún Aengus.
But he wants most of all to meet the local people and therefore he’s issued an open invite to all to turn up at the Tourist Office in Kilronan next Thursday morning to take part in the show.
“My only regret in life,” he says, “is that I’m not a Galwayman. I’m half-Galway by blood – but I want to make it full-Galway by legal documentation. I wonder if that can be sorted?,” asks the man who is already an official Freeman of Connemara.
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.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
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
