News
Warning on holiday dangers for children
With weather temperatures expected to rise and primary schools now on holidays, Water Babies, Ireland’s leading baby and toddler swim school, is advising parents in Galway to watch their children very carefully around water including paddling pools, swimming pools and by the seaside, as the mix of sunshine, water and children can be a lethal combination.
Lisa Cobbe, who runs Water Babies Classes in Galway, is urging parents to be extra vigilant during the Summer holidays. “The danger to children is much greater during hot weather with the added exposure to swimming pools, padding pools, lakes, rivers and the sea.
“We all love the warm weather, chilling out and letting our little ones splash around. However, parents tend to relax and gain a false sense of security for children during the holidays, when in fact they should be more attentive than ever.”
Water Babies, Ireland’s leading baby and toddler swim school, which conducts an annual Summer Water Safety Campaign, in partnership with Irish Water Safety and Glohealth, recently carried out research into Irish parents swimming skills and capabilities, and the results are astounding.
Out of over 1,000 parents surveyed 59% said they were not confident swimmers with 4% being afraid of water and 5% never having learnt how to swim.
Shockingly 38% of the people surveyed (390 parents) said they wouldn’t feel confident jumping into a swimming pool or swimming out to sea to save a child which demonstrates how important it is to keep an eye on children during days at the beach or swimming pool.
And it is vital that children learn to swim at an early age and that they are taught how to stay safe around swimming pools, paddling pools and open water.
Water Babies research also showed that 11% of parents were unable to swim a length of a pool or tread water and cited a number of reasons for their lack of swimming skills – 20% didn’t have a local swimming pool when they were growing up, 34% said swimming lessons were not available in their school and, worryingly, 23% said their parents didn’t think it was an important life skill. And 88% of the parents who can’t swim regret not being able to swim now.
Attitudes to swimming are changing. When asked to prioritise why it was important for children to learn to swim, safety reasons was cited as most important with 67% of today’s generation of parents saying that swimming should be learnt for safety reasons so that their children have the ability to save themselves should they ever fall into water.
Swimming as an important life skill was regarded as the second most important motivation with 39% of respondents agreeing with this. Finally, 39% swim for health reasons (the third motivator for swimming) because it’s a great form of exercise.
Lisa Cobbe from Water Babies Galway remarked: “A drowning incident can happen silently and instantly, in as little as one inch of water and in less time than it takes to answer the telephone or tend to another child.
“Sadly, a primary factor in cases of fatal drowning is down to the initial shock, when a toddler or child falls into the water. Very young children react instantly and adversely to sudden and unexpected submersion, and are temporarily paralysed with fear.
“We passionately believe that by introducing babies to water as early as possible, they’ll be less likely to experience fear if they do fall in. With progressive training, babies can be taught life-saving skills very early on such as turning onto their backs or, following a sudden submersion, swimming to the nearest solid object.”
Water Babies is working closely with Irish Water Safety, the statutory body established to promote water safety in Ireland, to educate parents and change behaviour to prevent drowning and water related accidents and has created a guide which is available from https://www.waterbabies.ie/news/article/100 for parents.
For more info on Water Babies classes, check out www.waterbabies.ie and for adult classes in swimming, water survival and rescue classes, check out www.iws.ie
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
