Tag Archives: Councillor Donna McGettigan

A SHANNON councillor is calling for ‘Action’ in promoting the positives of the town. Councillor Donna McGettigan has proposed that the Shannon Municipal District create a video showcasing Shannon and involving community volunteer groups, drone and photo footage. “Our town has some beautiful spots such as the loop and pump track for people to come to visit,” she said at a meeting of the Shannon Municipal District. The councillor stated, “A lot of time people tend to focus on the negative, but we need to focus on the positives.” She pointed out that Shannon has a number of community groups “who help make our town what it is” including Tidy Towns and Meals on Wheels who could be featured in the video. She added that Shannon is also home to sporting world champions who could also make an appearance in the video “and talk about growing up in Shannon.” She said the video would be a means of “showing Shannon …

HOUSING dominated debate at the July meeting of the local authority, with members resolving to write to Minister Darragh O’Brien, asking him to declare a housing emergency.  A motion from Councillor Donna McGettigan called on the minister to “introduce an immediate moratorium on evictions” for a period of three months, and to increase income thresholds for social housing support.  “I saw this motion being passed by Limerick City and County Council and brought it here,” she said. “This is now an issue affecting all social classes. There are just 13 properties available online to rent long-term in Clare. A two-bed apartment will cost €1,000 a month and that’s just not affordable. We are increasingly seeing families having to take in family members and couch surfing is the norm.” The Sinn Féin member accepted that local authority staff are doing their best and she urged her Council colleagues to write to the minister seeking more support.  “The homeless action team are …

THE lack of bags for dog waste or bins on the Shannon Estuary Loop is causing a problem, Councillor Pat O’Gorman told a recent meeting of Shannon Municipal District. At the meeting Councillor O’Gorman put forward a motion looking for bags and dog waste bins to be installed along the route. In a written reply Senior Executive Engineer Tom Mellett said, “Clare County Council currently operates a leave no trace policy. To this end additional waste bins are not encouraged. “Scoop bags are provided by our environment department and are available free of charge from the Shannon MD office upon request.” However, that did not satisfy Councillor O’Gorman. He said that even when people do pick up the waste, they have nowhere to go. “People will pick up the poo, but where do they put it after?” He said that in some cases they actually hang it on trees on the walk. Councillor O’Gorman said that in one case he …

HEALTH services for women in the Mid-West must be improved as a matter of urgency, according to a former Mayor of Clare. At the April meeting of Clare County Council, Councillor Mary Howard described the waiting list for gynaecological appointments at Ennis General Hospital, which are the second highest in the country, as a sign of an “ongoing crisis”. In a joint motion, tabled with Councillors Donna McGetitgan, Alan O’Callaghan and Liam Grant, the Ennis woman outlined how figures released to the Dáil recently. These show the average wait time for an outpatient gynaecology appointment at the hospital is close to one year and five months and is second only to Tallaght Hospital nationwide “Waiting times at University Hospital Limerick are around half that number, averaging out at 291 days,” the motion said. “Some 599 women are currently waiting for such appointments in Ennis, along with a further 1,455 at UHL. “On foot of this information we request the Minister …

THE murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in Sligo horrified the country last week and the tragedies were marked by a vigil at the Town Park on Monday night. Councillor Donna McGettigan was one of those in attendance and she said her son Jamie, who is transgender, had been involved in organising it. “There wasn’t a huge turnout, but there was a nice, small crowd there on a Bank Holiday Easter Monday, it needed to be marked.” She said that it was very important that people show their revulsion at the killings. “Of course it was important to mark it. We had been out for Ashling Murphy as well and it’s important to show that we stand with the LGBTI+ community against homophobia and transphobia, to show that this kind of behaviour can’t go on. “On the night I said that children aren’t born to hate, they’re taught how to hate. As a community, as parents, as schools, we …

SINN Féin councillor Donna McGettigan has said that the rancorous departure of Violet Anne Wynne from the party is unfortunate, while she says she herself has not considered a future Dáil bid. On Tuesday, she said efforts had been made to deal with all issues raised by the woman who caused a major upset by taking a seat in the 2020 general election. “Any issue that we were made aware of, we tried locally and nationally to resolve them. It’s just very unfortunate that they couldn’t be resolved and Violet Anne felt she had to leave the party. “I’m not going to get into the tit for tat, the he said she said, because it’s not going to help her and it’s not going to help us either. Unfortunately she’s gone, the seat is gone and what we’re going to do going forward is hit the ground running. “On our social media you’d have seen we’ve been out, we’ve delivered …

A request for traffic lights be installed at a busy junction in Shannon will not be granted, writes Owen Ryan. At a meeting of Shannon Municipal District, Councillor Gerry Flynn requested the lights for Bóthar Droim/Bóthar na Rinne and the entrance to the Town Centre. He also asked that the existing pedestrian lights be located at the junction. In a written reply, Senior Executive Engineer Tom Mellett remarked that government and mobility policy seeks to encourage more people to choose to walk or cycle and reduce unnecessary car use. This, he said, aimed to help create a high quality urban environment that promotes healthy lifestyles and creates additional footfall in our town centres. To support this, he noted a range of funding opportunities have emerged including Active Travel, Town Centre First Policy, URDF. “Shannon has been included under Active Travel funding for a mobility plan,” said Mr Mellet. “This will explore modes of transport, desire lines for walking and cycling …

A CALL has been made to have as many defibrillators as possible registered with an award-winning app that tells people where the nearest one is located.  Councillor Donna McGettigan tabled a motion at the December council meeting urging the authority to resister them with PulsePoint AED, a defibrillator location app, and to encourage community organisations to do the same. “This is a one-touch button app that will tell you where your nearest defibrillator is,” she said. “You don’t need to ring an ambulance. You don’t need to wait for them to get back to you to tell you where it is. You just do this at the touch of a button, so I really believe it will save lives the more places that they’re registered in.” “This is a multi-award winning app. It’s got the Garda Community Safety Award. You don’t need to be a nurse or a doctor, you can find out where it is and get the help …