Connacht Tribune
Veteran councillor rejoins Fianna Fáil
The longest serving member of Galway County Council has been reinstated in the Fianna Fáil party, following 14 years in exile.
Cllr Michael ‘Stroke’ Fahy from Ardrahan said that he was proud and privileged to be back in the party having been forced to resign his membership back in 2004.
And he claims to have something in common with former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey as both served time behind bars and were then accepted back into Fianna Fáil.
Cllr Fahy, who is nearly 40 years a member of Galway County Council, was jailed for the alleged misappropriation of funds involving a fence that was erected on his lands under a Community Involvement Scheme in 2004.
In March 2007 he was sentenced to a year in prison and fined €75,000 for the offence but, following an appeal, his conviction was quashed in 2011 and a number of years later, he reapplied to be reinstated within the Fianna Fáil party.
It is only this week that the party membership has been informed by Fianna Fáil General Secretary Sean Dorgan that Cllr Fahy has been reinstated and he will now take his place among the other twelve FF councillors in Galway County Council.
It also means that Fianna Fáil have now a majority within the Council chamber with 13 councillors as opposed to Fine Gael’s twelve.
And he claims to have one thing in common with the late Charlie Haughey. “I think we are the only two Fianna Fáil members to have served time in prison and then be admitted back into the Fianna Fáil party,” he told The Connacht Tribune.
He described his sentencing as ‘a travesty of justice’ but that his name was eventually cleared on appeal as the initial judgement was deemed unsafe.
However, he served a term of imprisonment from April to November, 2007 in Castlerea Prison and then looked after his 99-year-old mother until her death in December 2008.
Last week, he sat amongst his Fianna Fáil colleagues during a meeting of Galway County Council to discuss the budget for the coming year.
“It’s great to be back and I would like to thank Micheál Martin for affording me the opportunity to return. All twelve Fianna Fáil councillors have also welcomed my return,” Cllr Fahy added.
The Ardrahan councillor has been successfully returned to Galway County Council in the last seven elections – 1979, 1985, 1991, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
He will be standing in the new Gort-Kinvara Municipal District next May as a Fianna Fáil candidate and he is widely expected to retain his seat.
Cllr Fahy was Secretary of Ardrahan Cumann FF from 1971 to 1987 and was also Chairman of Clarinbridge-Kinvara Comhairle Dáil Ceantair for several years.
While his current focus is on retaining his seat on Galway County Council, he has not ruled out the possibility of contesting the Fianna Fáil selection convention for Galway East. He said that he will be consulting with his supporters.
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
