Tag Archives: Gort

TRANSPORT Infrastructure Ireland has refuted claims that the risk of flooding in the area was not taken into account when the Gort to Tuam motorway was being designed. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has stated that motorways are designed and built to maintain the existing flood levels in the area in which they are constructed, with the principle aim being not to compound the existing conditions. “Therefore, the M17/M18 motorway design has to cater for the existing conditions. Under OPW’s design guidance, the M17/M18 motorway has an additional 20% design capacity above and beyond the existing conditions to take into account current climate change events. “It should also be noted that the national motorway network remained open during the most recent extreme weather events. Will motorway/road design always be climate-change proof? The answer is in the question; climate change will drive the design criteria into the future,” said Sean O’Neill, spokesperson. TII was responding to claims by hydrologist Professor Paul Johnson that …

A SOUTH Galway man, whose farmyard and milking parlour are under water, has described the “terrible mental strain” he feels from the loss of his livelihood and his efforts to keep his herd of 95 cows alive. “Two days after Christmas, the water came into the yard. It was like the tide coming in on top of us,” Micheál Flaherty recalled. “I don’t know what I will do, to be honest,” the Tierneevin dairy farmer admitted, “because the parlour will cost a lot of money. We will have to rewire it completely. It is all under water. It will take months for the water to even go away. If it stopped rising today, it would still take three months for the water to recede. That is my income. I have nothing else. All our life’s work is gone and nobody cares. “I genuinely thought we could keep the water out. I had two good pumps from the council. It came …

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin met residents in flood-hit communities during a whistle-stop tour of South Galway and Clare on Friday. Accompanied by Clare FF Deputy Timmy Dooley, Deputy Martin stopped off in some of the areas worst affected by the recent flooding, which has left numerous residents cut off from their own homes. His tour started in South Galway where he spoke to householders in the Gort area and his itinerary included New Quay, Boston, Tubber and Springfield on the outskirts of Clonlara. According to Deputy Dooley, the Fianna Fáil leader doesn’t want to make a “political showcase” out of his visit but was anxious to show his empathy with people who have been badly hit by flooding and hear first hand their experiences. “Micheál Martin wants to inform himself on a nationwide basis about the individual situations so that FF can devise comprehensive solutions to the flooding problems, which have arisen. “Every political party needs to engage with …

A little over 12 months ago, there were doubts as to whether or not Anthony Cunningham would be given another term in charge of the Galway senior hurlers. They had been knocked out of the All-Ireland race and some supporters were impatient but the St Thomas’ clubman, who had just completed three years in charge, clearly believed in the players. “You always want to stay with a team you believe in and I believed that these guys have talent. We have worked hard in the last three to four years in bringing the standards up. Kilkenny have led that. The work that goes into inter-county teams now and what they do on their own is massive and I am delighted to have had the chance of working with this group,” he said. Looking ahead to Sunday’s date with Kilkenny, he confirmed that the Tribesmen have no injury worries. “We came out of the game the last day [Tipperary] really well. …

Lough Cutra Castle hosted the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on their recent official visit to Ireland. The couple attended a private dinner with President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina at the South Galway castle where they were staying on Tuesday night. The couple returned to the venue after their programme of engagements on Wednesday, before flying to the North from Shannon Airport on Thursday morning for the second leg of their four-day Ireland visit. President Michael D Higgins and his wife, Sabina arrived at Lough Cutra Castle estate shortly after 8pm on Tuesday. The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall had arrived at the well-known South Galway estate earlier in the evening, after an exhausting schedule of events as part of the couple’s first official visit together to the Republic of Ireland. The President and Mrs Higgins were greeted by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla in the tiled hallway of the privately-owned castle in …

SEVERE and sudden hailstorms are affecting the M18 more than most other roads, are all but impossible to forecast and have led to accidents on the route, according to the National Roads Authority (NRA). Clare TD Joe Carey raised concerns about the Crusheen-Gort section of the route in the Dáil and he subsequently received a letter from programme and regulatory manager of the NRA, Gary Carey. The NRA official stated, “There would appear to be a particular problem associated with hailstorms along the M18, which seem to be more frequent along this route than at other locations throughout the national road motorway network. “It was such a hailstorm on January 13, 2015, which resulted in skidding accidents and the closure of the road for a time by An Garda Síochána. “It is worth noting that some of the hailstorms recorded had such intensity that at one point they caused the road surface temperature to drop by approximately 5oC in a …

The body of missing South Galway woman Una O’Driscoll was recovered from a river in Gort on Sunday morning. Gardaí in the town had been searching for the woman, who was reported missing the previous day. Her body was found in the water in the town centre shortly after 10am.  A post mortem took place in University Hospital, Galway on Monday. A meeting that had been scheduled to take place between Burren Lowlands representatives and Minister Ann Phelan on Tuesday in the town was cancelled. Ms O’Driscoll is survived by her husband, Tim; children, Maireád, Tomas and Fiona; brother, Mick; grandchildren, Sophie, Holly, Ethan and Rhys; sons in law, Michael and Peter and daughter in law, Anna.      

Updated: January 28, 2015. Gardaí are appealing for witnesses after a 47-year-old man died following a traffic accident in Labane. The incident took place at Cregclare, in the vicinity of the Little Flower Nursing Home, at approximately 4.30pm on Monday. A male pedestrian was injured when he was hit by a truck. He was removed to University College Hospital, Galway, where he died on Wednesday. Gardaí would like to hear from anyone who was in the vicinity of the nursing home around that time. Witnesses are asked to contact Gort gardaí on 091 636400 or any garda station or phone the garda confidential number, 1800 666111.