Latest news with #GalwayCountyCouncil
Sunday World
7 days ago
- Sunday World
Former TD banned from driving after refusing to provide urine sample after crash
Colm Keaveney (54) appeared before Judge Sandra Murphy at Carrick-on-Shannon District Court Ex Fianna Fáil TD Colm Keaveney banned from driving for four years after refusing to give a blood or urine sample following a late-night collision last year Former TD Colm Keaveney has been banned from driving for four years after refusing to give a blood or urine sample following a late-night collision in Co Roscommon last year. Keaveney (54), of Kilcreevanty, Tuam, Co Galway, appeared before Judge Sandra Murphy at Carrick-on-Shannon District Court on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to two offences including failing to stop at the scene of an accident and refusing to provide a blood or urine sample following his arrest. All offences related to an incident where Keaveney drove on the wrong side of the road, without his headlights, and collided with another car, in Co Roscommon last October. He had been charged with dangerous driving, driving with no insurance and failure to produce his driving licence, but all three charges were struck out. Keaveney was initially elected as a TD for the Labour Party for Galway East in 2011. He subsequently joined Fianna Fáil. Colm Keaveney He was most recently a councillor on Galway County Council, but did not stand for last year's local elections. Inspector Gerry Curley told Judge Murphy that Keaveney had been observed by Garda Colm Dowd driving a Ford Focus on Bridge Street, Boyle, Co Roscommon, on October 11 last year. The court was told the car was on the wrong side of the road, with no lights on, and collided with a Kia Ceed. Inspector Curley said Gda Dowd observed the Ford Focus failing to stop after colliding with the Kia and continuing a distance along the street before pulling over. 'Very apologetic' for the incident. The court heard that when Keaveney got out of the car, Gda Dowd noted he was 'glassy-eyed' and there was 'a strong smell of alcohol'. Keaveney was arrested and brought to Carrick-on-Shannon garda station, where a nurse attended after 11pm to take a blood sample. Keaveney declined to allow the nurse take a blood sample or to voluntarily provide a urine sample. Judge Murphy was told Keaveney had opted to plead guilty to refusing to provide a sample, contrary to section 12 of the Road Traffic Act. He also pleaded guilty to failing to stop, having collided and caused damage to another vehicle during the same incident, contrary to Section 106 of the Road Traffic Act. Solicitor Martina Moran, of Gearoid Geraghty Solicitors in Galway, told Judge Murphy that her client was 'very apologetic' for the incident. Judge Sandra Murphy She said Keaveney was a 55-year-old self-employed man who, at the time of the offences, had been on heavy medication following spinal surgery. She told Judge Murphy that her client scratched against the other vehicle and did not immediately stop because he was looking for a safe place to pull in. He is very apologetic and understands it was a serious matter 'It wasn't the case he was trying to evade gardaí,' Ms Moran said. At the time of the incident, Keaveney had lost two parents in quick succession and had been a carer for both. The court was told he has no previous convictions. Colm Keaveney. Photo: Tom Burke Ms Moran handed in a medical report detailing Keaveney's back injury, and Judge Murphy asked was it the suggestion that his back problems interfered with his driving during the episode. 'No, it is in the past, but it is a recurring problem,' Ms Moran said. 'He is very apologetic and understands it was a serious matter.' Judge Murphy noted there was 'a difficult background' with the case, and said Keaveney was 'not a person commonly before the courts'. She disqualified Keaveney from driving for four years on the refusal to provide a sample, and also fined him €250. The other offence pleaded to was taken into consideration.
Irish Times
23-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Galway farmer granted permission to challenge Greenway purchase decision ‘splitting' his farm
A Galway farmer has been granted permission to challenge a compulsory purchase order (CPO) made by An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) to construct a cycleway that he says would run across his land and 'split' his farm. He has claimed the route built under the Connemara Greenway Project would make his farmlands – in his family since the 1940s – 'unmanageable and landlocked'. At the High Court, lawyers for Oliver Joyce, of Emloughmore, Clifden, Co Galway, successfully applied to Ms Justice Emily Farrell to challenge the ACP's decision to grant a May 2025 compulsory purchase order (CPO) to Galway County Council relating to lands he owns at Doireliagh, Doireclunlaigh, Clifden, in Co Galway. The project aims to install a cycle and walkway going from Galway city to Clifden over 76km (47 miles) that would go through 'the backbone' of Mr Joyce's property along the old Galway-to-Clifden railway line, he claimed. READ MORE Mr Oliver has taken the challenge against ACP's decision to approve the compulsory acquisition, with Galway County Council named as a notice party. In court papers, Mr Oliver said he was conscious that his farmlands were located in a 'highly sensitive environment', which includes marshland and hilled areas that form part of the Connemara Bog Complex SAC, a conservation area. The plaintiff submitted the practice of farming the lands through generations of his family was done 'in perfect symmetry with the environment' and that he is 'very passionate and concerned about this'. Mr Oliver claimed that when the project was first proposed by the council, it was to be carried out on a permissive basis such that the council would be facilitated in accessing the lands, but the lands would remain in his ownership and open so stock could travel across both sides of the farm. He submitted that his lands have a mix of soil types and this variety was essential, in that each part is integrated and grazed with the marshy area providing water during dry periods and the hilly areas providing respite during inclement weather conditions. Mr Oliver said the project, as approved by the granting, was different from the original, in that it now envisages a wider walk and cycleway. He submitted that he was assured by the council that the lands would remain open for stock to travel and that any fencing would only be constructed when they were required by the landowner and that the application to ACP was one based on his permission. Mr Oliver claimed he understood the project to initially comprise of a 2.5m-wide (8.2ft) 'informal track of a type that one would see in the countryside', but that the more recent, larger scheme now involved a 3.5m-wide (11.5ft) asphalt track with full fencing involving 'sheep wire and barbed wire'. The plaintiff said he was 'shocked' that after an initial agreement on the scheme, Galway County Council then said they would 'accept nothing less than full ownership' and sought the CPO. Mr Oliver argued that the 'fundamental basis of the scheme has been turned on its head' by the CPO and that the decision to do so was 'taken without cause or justification'. He further claimed that environmental assessments carried out and submitted to ACP related to the original scheme and that the new elements that arose in the CPO scheme were not previously considered for environmental impact. Ms Justice Farrell granted leave for the judicial review to Michael O'Donnell BL, instructed by Harrington & Co solicitors – for Mr Oliver – and adjourned the matter to September.
BreakingNews.ie
23-07-2025
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Galway farmer granted permission to challenge Greenway purchase decision 'splitting' his farm
A Galway farmer has been granted permission to challenge a compulsory purchase order made by planning authority An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) to construct a cycleway under the Connemara Greenway Project that he says would run across his land and "split" his farm, making it "unmanageable and landlocked". At the High Court, lawyers for Oliver Joyce, Emloughmore, Clifden, Co Galway, successfully applied to Ms Justice Emily Farrell to challenge the decision of ACP to grant a May 2025 compulsory purchase order (CPO) to Galway County Council relating to lands he owns at Doireliagh, Doireclunlaigh, Clifden, Co Galway. Advertisement The project aims to install a cycle and walkway going from Galway city to Clifden over 76 kilometres that would go through "the backbone" of Mr Joyce's property along the old Galway-to-Clifden railway line, he claims. Mr Oliver has taken the challenge against ACP's decision to approve the compulsory acquisition with Galway County Council named as a notice party. Mr Oliver, in court papers, submits that the lands in question have been in his family since the 1940s and that he is conscious that his farmlands are located in a "highly sensitive environment" that includes marshland and hilled areas that form part of the Connemara Bog Complex SAC, a conservation area. The plaintiff submits the practice of farming the lands through generations of his family was done "in perfect symmetry with the environment" and that he is "very passionate and concerned about this". Advertisement Mr Oliver claims that when the project was first proposed by the council, it was to be carried out on a permissive basis such that the council would be facilitated in accessing the lands but the lands would remain in his ownership and open so stock could travel across both sides of the farm. He submits that his lands have a mix of soil types comprising wet marsh land and dry hilly areas. He said this variety is essential in that each part is integrated and grazed with the marshy area providing water during dry periods and the hilly areas providing respite during inclement weather conditions. Mr Oliver says the project, as approved by the granting is different to the original, in that it now envisages a wider walk and cycle way. Fencing fencing and barbed wire will run for 2.8km, "splitting" the farm and making it "landlocked" and "unmanageable" as stock moves between the two portions of land on a daily basis. He submits that he was assured by the council that the lands would remain open for stock to travel and that any fencing would only be constructed when they were required by the landowner and that the application to ACP was one based on his permission. Advertisement Mr Oliver claims he understood the project to initially comprise of a 2.5 metre-wide "informal track of a type that one would see in the countryside" but that the more recent, larger scheme now involved a 3.5 metre-wide asphalt track with full fencing involving "sheep wire and barbed wire". Ireland Peter McVerry Trust seeks injunctions against alle... Read More The plaintiff says he was "shocked" that after an initial agreement on the scheme, Galway County Council then said they would "accept nothing less than full ownership" and sought the CPO. Mr Oliver argues that the "fundamental basis of the scheme has been turned on its head" by the CPO and that the decision to do so was "taken without cause or justification". He further claims that environmental assessments carried out and submitted to ACP related to the original scheme and that the new elements that arose in the CPO scheme were not previously considered for environmental impact. Ms Justice Farrell granted leave for the judicial review to Michael O'Donnell BL, instructed by Harrington & Co solicitors - for Mr Oliver - and adjourned the matter to September.
Irish Independent
23-07-2025
- Climate
- Irish Independent
‘Crucial' back-up generator confirmed for Galway water plant following Storm Éowyn chaos
In January, the Galway town – and its water treatment plant – was badly hit by Storm Éowyn, with thousands of people being left with no water for days. Following the extreme weather event, Uisce Éireann identified a number of areas for back-up generators to be installed. However, Ballinasloe was not on that list. Six months later, after several appeals and Galway County Council meetings, Uisce Éireann has this week confirmed that back-up power generator will be installed at Ballinasloe Water Treatment Plant by the end of 2025. Ballinasloe Councillor Alan Harney told the Irish Independent the announcement is 'hugely positive' for the community and will be 'crucial' during future extreme weather events. 'This new generator should be able to kick in in a very short space of time once it's installed, if we are to face any power outages again in the future. 'I know that the lack of water coupled together with the lack of electricity caused huge difficulties for so many people right across our area. As we know, the water treatment plant in Ballinasloe serves several thousand residences, but also supplies water to Portiuncula University Hospital and a number of local nursing homes. 'So it's crucial that we would have a continuity of supply and I'm hopeful now that with the backup generator in place, if we are to face future extreme weather events, we won't see water supplies cut off for days on end like they were back in January.' In the meantime, a change-over switch was installed at the Ballinasloe plant. 'The change-over switch is essential. That was one of the big issues as well that we faced in January, there wasn't a change-over switch in place, so when we eventually did get a generator on site, it took in excess of 12 hours to get it wired into the water treatment plant to get the plant back up and running, then took another length of time after that,' Cllr Harney said. The Fine Gael councillor added more is expected to be done to improve Ballinasloe Water Treatment Plant in the near future. 'We do need to see an increase in the overall capacity of the water treatment plant and Uisce Éireann said that they're hoping that that will be progressed in 2026, almost doubling the capacity.' 'It's good and hopefully it will deliver real tangible results for people in my community.'
Irish Examiner
08-07-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
'Hopefully they find as many of the missing children as possible'
Archaeologist Toni Maguire instantly knew she was walking on dozens of graves when she first inspected the grounds of the former Tuam mother and baby home 11 years ago. Having spent decades studying the landscape around former workhouses and mother and baby homes, she knew she was dealing with an extraordinary case. Ms Maguire had been asked by local historian Catherine Corless to visit the grounds of the former religious-run home for unmarried mothers in Co Galway. This was after Ms Corless uncovered the names of 796 children who died in the home from 1925 to 1961, believed to be buried in a mass grave on the site. In 2012, Ms Corless began researching the children who died at the former Tuam mother and baby home, producing her findings the following year. In May 2014, her findings made the front page of a national newspaper here. Her research went on to make international headlines. 'I was the first archaeologist to walk the site then,' Ms Maguire explained. 'I felt [Catherine] was out there on her own and I wanted to help." 'I met her there at the site, and I looked at the plot and I listened to Catherine talking, and she said there were 796 babies that she had death records for. 'And then I had to say to Catherine 'I have to tell you, that my opinion is, you do not have burials here, if you're talking about a traditional earth burial'.' 'Something else is going on. I cannot see individual graves here.' Discovery of skull and bones Now at the centre of the country's first ever mass exhumation, the mass grave of infants at Tuam was first discovered by two young boys playing in the eighties. At the time, the home had been knocked down, and the Galway County Council was building a housing estate in its place. As children, locals Barry Sweeney and Frannie Hopkins found a skull and bones they remember to this day. They told their families, and the next day, the area was flattened out and covered up. 'Nothing was done about it then,' said Ms Maguire. 'It just was as though it never happened, until Catherine began work researching the home and the children. 'Nobody knew the full extent of what those boys found, but it was not investigated.' An excavation worker on site during a press preview, ahead of the excavation at St Mary's home for unmarried mothers and their children which was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns in Tuam in Co Galway. The excavation will try to identify the remains of infants who died at the home between 1925 and 1961. Another local woman, called Mary Moriarty, also fell into the crypt at the site and saw 'bundles' stacked on top of each other, she added. "It sounded like a scene out of Indiana Jones, but again, that's all we knew about the burials.' Ms. Maguire, from Belfast, has worked in anthropology and forensic archaeology for 30 years. Her area of expertise is infant burials. For the past 18 years, she has dedicated her work primarily to locating sites of graves in Milltown Cemetery in the North. While many of these large burial sites are dotted all over the country and were known about at the time, there was no concrete evidence of the numbers of remains buried in each one. Speaking this week with the Irish Examiner, Ms Maguire said little did she realise it would take 11 years before anyone broke ground on the site when she examined it in 2014. 'Looking at the land, and that's part of what I do is to read the landscape and look for the indications and I know what will be there, there were no indications of individual graves, and I had pointed that out to Catherine,' she said. 'But I also got her to hunker down. I said 'Come down closer to the surface of the ground'. If you look across, I can see stretching in front of me, the 'dome' top, it looked like a structure under the ground, there would have had to have been a tunnel into the crypt that Mary Moriarty fell into years ago'. Crypt The 'dome' Ms Maguire is referring to is a box-like crypt under the memorial ground in Tuam. This crypt was later described in more detail by engineers following the first ground-penetrating scan (GPS) of the area. This work was carried out by engineering company TST Engineering in 2014. Simone Demurtas, TST managing director, scanned the grounds of Tuam privately before any forensic team investigated the site. Excavation workers on site during a press preview, ahead of the excavation at St Mary's home for unmarried mothers and their children which was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns in Tuam in Co Galway. His team uncovered two large anomalies, and his recommendations then included test excavations and if necessary, a full excavation. 'The way it works with the ground penetrating scan (GPS), we use electromagnetic waves' he explained. 'They penetrate the ground without opening it.' The waves hit the target and come back, he added. 'When it's coming back, there is software obviously in the office that can analyse this data and build the shape of the target." When the target is a material like metal or cast iron, the reading is very strong. If the target is plastic or wood, this comes back lighter. It is more difficult to read in this case, Mr Demurtas explained, but when there is a large amount of the target, it still creates an 'anomaly'. 'Something that we cannot really identify. But we know there is something strange,' he said. 'Sometimes it could be even the trench; So we can see the trench, maybe we don't see the bottom of the trench because it's too deep but we can see the trench and it's still an indication of somebody doing something in this area. 'It is man made, so these are all important things to do, before you start digging. If you don't do a GPS or another geophysics way, you are digging in the darkness.' The specialised radar showed two areas at the site likely to be man-made or unnatural structures. One was a box-like structure, and another was a wide area of up to 48 square metres which was covered over and contained items of denser material than the surrounding soil. Campaigner Anna Corrigan, whose mother Bridget was resident of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, holds up a book with a list of some of the deceased children's names Picture: PA Wire While Mr Demurtas is not a forensic archaeologist, at the time he recommended the grounds of the former home be excavated by a specialist team. He also recommended an investigation of the box-like crypts and tanks underground where anomalies were flagged. 'I don't know why it took so long for this excavation to take place,' he said. 'But they are doing it now and that's good, but it is a very difficult job. It will be so complex, but it is good they are doing it.' Another ground penetrating scan (GPS) took place at the site on foot of a direction from a Commission of Inquiry established in 2015 to investigate some of the mother and baby homes. This GPS resulted in test excavations carried out by forensic archaeologist Dr Niamh McCullough in October 2016 and January 2017. The results confirmed that a 'significant quantity' of remains of children who died in the home were buried in 18 of the 20 chambers of a sewage tank, first picked up as large anomalies by Mr Demurtas' team of engineers in 2014. Full exhumation The long-awaited full exhumation of the site, due to begin on Monday July 14, is a result of these findings, albeit 11 years later. As the forensic team prepares to open the grounds next week, Ms Maguire explained the process involved. 'What the team are going to have to do is go in, and recover everything that's recoverable, and they're going to have to, first of all try and determine how many individuals they are dealing with,' she said. 'It's like if you've got 100 right femurs, but you've got 120 left femurs, you've got 120 individuals. They're going to have to deal with all that. That's going to take a lot of time. 'The team will have to find out what they can from the forensic analysis of the skeletal remains they take back. 'They say that the excavation could take two years, but it could be three years or more, before they actually get all the information they need and put it out as the report.' There's just no way to rush this work, she added. 'They have to go through every piece of soil on the 5,000 square metre area and comb it and scrap the layers away and examine it all. It is painstaking work and the team, my heart goes out to them. It's going to be hard to do.' 'Sometimes it's overwhelming. I know when I was doing some of this work, I used to have to come home and do the ironing to sort of ground myself again to normality, and then I could face the next bit and work on from that, and they will have that too.' The project will take part in five phases with the memorial garden examined last. Any remains found will be preserved in large temperature and humidity-controlled units onsite during the intervention. 'It depends on what they find' said Ms Maguire. 'Those remains will all be preserved and examined forensically and then the DNA process will have to take place at some stage, that's matching the children to their relatives, that will depend on who comes forward, how close a relative they are to the child and hopefully, someday, they can be laid to rest, but to identify them all will be a major challenge because we don't know the condition the remains are in. 'A lot will have happened underground with soil movement, rodent activity and weather, but hopefully they find as many of the missing children as possible.' Read More International experts join mass grave excavation at Tuam mother and baby home
