South Galway

THE fifth annual community Christmas Day Dinner will be held in Gort on December 25. Anyone who is on their own and would like some company on Christmas day is invited to come along. Organisers are also seeking volunteers to help out on the day and donations to support the event. “I originally started the community/family dinner when I myself was alone at Christmas, and wished I wasn’t. The feeling of family/community is very important, so that it doesn’t feel like an organised event, rather a friendly gathering every Christmas. I have people who have attended every single year. I am now married, but still feel strongly about continuing the dinner, as I feel there is a great need for such events. People don’t realise how many people are alone and lonely out there. You may be homeless and sleeping in a car, you could be a retired couple who haven’t the strength to cook and nowhere to go, a …

A GALWAY county councillor will continue to raise what he describes as the “death of rural communities” at local authority level. At the most recent council meeting, Councillor Gerry Finnerty tabled a motion stating that “in County Galway many villages and towns are losing business day by day. Pubs, shops, service stations, restaurants are all closing. Jobs have been lost and on top of that there is a real threat to Garda stations, post offices and schools. Would Galway County Council consider contacting various groups for whom we are led to believe are fighting rural decline e.g. the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas (CEDRA) etc along with the various Government Departments who are responsible for rural Ireland and have a Special Council meeting to debate this crisis before we lose all our villages and small towns.” He says what he wants to achieve is a debate on the matter with a speaker from CEDRA invited to take …

THE rescheduled Cooley Collins Traditional Music Festival will take place on December 7 and 8, it was decided this week. The festival is normally held on the October bank holiday weekend but was postponed this year. “This year’s festival was postponed out of respect to the Donoghue and Woods families following a bereavement,” explained Lisa Nolan of the Cooley Collins festival. “We are holding the festival now on December 7 and 8. As it is normally on a bank holiday weekend, this year’s festival will be a smaller version, with the Saturday being the main day of the festival,” she added. Workshops, which have been a staple of the festival, will not be held this year with the focus shifting to performance. “We had four or five workshops organised for young people but they all had to be cancelled. We are not having them this time. We are just having the music and sessions,” Lisa outlined. The festival is held …

WORK is expected to begin on the new Gort to Tuam €550 million motorway early in the new year. Clare county manager, Tom Coughlan told councillors at a local authority meeting on Monday that a contractor for the project has been selected, with construction to begin early in the new year. The motorway will be funded by an annuity from the State to the private contractors over a period of 25 years. According to the National Roads Authority (NRA), hundreds of jobs will be created during the construction process, with the opening of the road to have a major impact on traffic flow in blackspots such as Claregalway. The Department of Public Expenditure has approved the allocation of money to cover the Exchequer element of the scheme. The NRA says it will now re-engage with the preferred private contractor to complete the new N17/ N18 route. The construction of a 57km motorway, part of the Atlantic Corridor on the west …

SENATOR Lorraine Higgins has called for the provision of free car parking in Gort and other South and East Galway towns in the lead-up to Christmas to help boost town centre trade. The Labour senator has also urged Galway County Council to provide a public car park in Kinvara to tackle its ongoing problem with a lack of parking. “People are moving past towns like Athenry, Loughrea, Gort and Portumna to shop. Why not have free parking in the towns from now until Christmas, in order to give a much-needed shot in the arm for those businesses. I am proposing this as a potential way to give them a boost before Christmas,” she said. “If we are to make a difference to town centres, particularly if we are to protect our small shops, then free parking is exactly the kind of measure that needs to be introduced in the run-up to Christmas,” Senator Higgins added. According to the Athenry woman, …

THIS weekend, 22 of South Galway’s best-known rugby and GAA personalities will go toe-to-toe in a different discipline to raise money for Gort RFC and Southern Gaels Gaelic Football Club. Hundreds of people are expected to turn out to support the 20 men and two women when they step onto the canvas in Sullivan’s Hotel on Saturday night for the White Collar Boxing event. “We have been getting a really good response so far. People are really looking forward to the event. We have had lots of interest on Facebook and have already got more than 1,200 friends on there. We have the potential to hold 1,000 people and we would be expecting at least 600 to 700,” outlined Ronnie Giblin, one of the event organisers. All proceeds from the night will go to Gort Rugby Club, which covers South Galway and North Clare and Southern Gaels Gaelic Football Club, which includes the parishes of Ballindereen, Beagh, Kinvara, Gort and …

Tributes were paid this morning to Kilbeacanty and Galway hurler Niall Donoghue following his sudden death yesterday. Niall (22) was a member of the Galway U-21 panel that won the All Ireland in 2011. He broke on to the senior panel last year and played in the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny. “The heart of Kilbeacanty Hurling Club and parish has been left devastated and saddened by Niall’s sudden passing,” said club chairman Justin Fahy. Mr Fahy expressed sympathy to the Donoghue family from the club, its members and players. “Niall was our son, our brother, our friend, our hero and was an integral part of our club. There are no words today, we are rocked to the core and just devastated. We ask you all for your thoughts and prayers and your support for Niall’s family and our community,” he continued. Club member Gerry Finnerty says the community of Kilbeacanty is “trying to come to terms” with the loss. “He …

GORT and South Galway will be without “an essential service” from next week, according to Councillor Bridie Willers. The Department of Social Protection confirmed that community welfare services are to be relocated from Gort and other locations in south and east Galway to the new Intreo office in Loughrea with effect from next Monday. The new social welfare office in Station Road, Loughrea and the community welfare officer will cover an area from Kilchreest to Kinvara. According to Councillor Willers, “The decision by the Department of Social Protection to axe the community welfare officer (CWO) service in Gort will leave many vulnerable people in distress and is totally unacceptable. “There is no public transport whatsoever between the towns of Gort and Loughrea. People who do not own a car, and there are many, will have to travel by bus to Galway/Oranmore and then catch a bus to Loughrea,” she added. Bus Éireann confirmed there is currently no direct public transport …