Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court coming to Galway

-

June 24, 2019

The River Corrib could be dyed green next year during the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

This follows the confirmation that there are plans to dye the Liffey in Dublin green during the festival in 2020 should the local authorities agree to it.

Chicago has been dying its river green for decades using an environmentally safe, vegetable-based dye.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland confirmed the plans to the Irish Examiner and Galway-native Senator Billy Lawless, with links to Chicago, said that consideration is being given to whether it would be possible in Galway.

The Chicago River which runs through the Windy City has been dyed green every year since 1962.

One of the reasons for dying the river was that it was an polluted eyesore with sewage.

The authorities thought that colouring the river would pinpoint the exact places where waste was being discarded into the waterway.

Locals got their first look at the colored river when the city poured 100 pounds of the original chemicals into the water.

While the river remained green for an entire week back then in Chicago, the method of dying the river has changed, and if the Corrib was to be dyed green next year, it would only remain that way for about five hours.

Naughton says opposition putting politics ahead of patients on healthcare

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway Daily news Naughton accuses opposition of playing politics with healthcare fake

Fine Gael TD Hildegarde Naughton has said Fianna Fáil and the Greens are putting politics ahead of patients in healthcare with their wishes to change the National Development Plan.

“We are all well aware that waiting lists, including at University Hospital Galway, are too long,” Deputy Naughton said.

“The elective hospitals in the National Development Plan are the answer,” she said, adding that there is a “much needed” 200 plus bed hospital in the plan for Galway.

“These hospitals will deal with all elective procedures and free up acute hospital beds.”

She said that any changes to the National Development Plan would be putting “politics ahead of patients”.

Recently the Green Party and Fianna Fáil have questioned how the government’s newly published Climate Action Plan can be reconciled with the National Development Plan.

They have said that large scale road projects under the plan are at odds with the goal of cutting carbon emissions.

Hildegarde Naughton accused Fianna Fáil of not supporting new projects including roads “or the creation of vital new hospitals”.

“The Government Climate Action plan has been welcomed by the independent experts in the field but Fianna Fáil and the Greens are willing to put vital health expenditure at risk to score cheap political points.”

Several major healthcare infrastructure projects in Galway are at various stages of development including a new elective hospital at Merlin Park and a new Emergency Department for UHG.

Status Yellow weather warning issued for Galway

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway Daily weather Weather warning for heavy rain and possible flooding now in effect

A status yellow weather warning has been issued by Met Eireann for Galway and the rest of Ireland.

The weather warning came into force at 12 midday today and it will remain in place until 10pm tonight.

Met Eireann say there is a risk of heavy, thundery downpours across much of the country.

However, the rest of this week will see temperatures rising to the mid to late 20s, and there should be substantial periods of sunshine to accompany the warmer weather.

Friday will be the warmest day this week but the heatwave doesn’t look set to last beyond the weekend.

Over the Edge fiction slam 2019

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway Daily life & style Over the Edge Fiction slam 2019

Over The Edge presents its eleventh annual fiction slam with Featured Readers, Liz McSkeane and Niamh Boyce, this Friday, June 28.

The annual Over the Edge Fiction Slam will take place at The Kitchen, Galway City Museum, Spanish Parade at 8pm this Friday.

Award-winning novelist, poet and short story writer Liz McSkeane born in Scotland of Scottish and Irish parents and has lived in Dublin since 1981.

Her début novel, Canticle, was a winner in the Irish Writers’ Centre/Greenbean Novel Fair of 2016.

In 2011, she was an Irish Writers’ Centre Lonely Voice winner and in 1999, she won the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year.

Liz has three collections of poetry which, along with her short stories, have been published in the Irish Times, Poetry Ireland Review, Irish Pages, The Shop, Stinging Fly, Orbis, Stepaway, Gutter Magazine, The Lea-Green Down and others.

In 2016, Liz set up her own small press, Turas Press, which published six books during 2016-18, with a further four scheduled for 2019.

This year Lix is acting as the judge for the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year competition.

Niamh Boyce was named Newcomer of the Year at the 2013 Irish Book Awards for her first novel The Herbalist.

The Irish Times described The Hebalist as “The most entertaining yet substantial historical novel since Joseph O’Connor’s Star of the Sea”.

Niamh won the 2012 Hennesssy XO New Irish Writer Of The Year Award and Emerging Poetry Award for her poem ‘Kitty’, and her short fiction has been widely published in anthologies.

Her Kind is her second novel and has been called ‘Enthralling’ by the Irish Examiner while the Sunday Independent described it as “Masterful”.

“Boyce delicately unfolds this atmospheric, magical thriller with pace and juice, while also making sure that the sentiments (vilification of women, policing of female biology, etc) echo through time”.

The first twelve fiction writers to make it to The Kitchen on the evening of Friday, June 28^th and register will be guaranteed a place in the slam.

So if you want to be sure of a place be sure to get there early!

Everyone taking part should bring two separate pieces of fiction, one for each round of the competition.

The time limit in both rounds is five minutes and extracts from longer stories are admissible.

The Fiction Slam will be judged by a three person jury made up of Niamh Boyce, Liz McSkeane and an audience member.

Three writers will go through to the second round and the prize for the winner is a bottle of excellent red wine to get those creative juices going.

2019 gum litter campaign gets underway

By

-

June 24, 2019

This year’s Gum Litter Taskforce’s gum litter education campaign was launched recently in Portumna.

The Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) has been successful to date in changing the public’s behaviour by encouraging correct gum disposal through a targeted education and awareness campaign.

The 2018 campaign maintained an all-time high of 93% of people stating that they regard chewing gum as litter, up from 74% when the campaign first began in 2007, pointing to the attitudinal impact which the campaign has had to date.

Research commissioned by the Gum Litter Taskforce and conducted by Kantar Millward Brown during the 2018 campaign has highlighted the campaign’s positive effect on people’s behaviour towards gum disposal.

The latest results show that 88% of people said that they always dispose of their gum correctly, up from 54% when the campaign first began.

Speaking at the launch, Cathaoirleach of the County of Galway, Cllr. Jimmy McClearn said: “The Gum Litter Taskforce’s gum litter education campaign is a fantastic initiative which harnesses community spirit and channels it towards achieving a common goal, that of ridding our streets of littered gum.

“I am delighted to see local communities from right across the county coming together again this year under the GLT banner in an effort to make a positive change within their respective localities.

“The GLT campaign has made some very positive inroads to date on this issue and I hope that the campaign will continue to do so again this year.”

Paul Kelly, Chairman of the GLT added: “Since its inception, the GLT campaign has sought to educate the public on the correct manner in which to dispose of used gum in a bid to tackle improper gum disposal.

“The latest research results have shown how this ambition has been made a reality, with 88% of people now saying that they always dispose of their gum correctly.

“Going forward, we will look to build on these positive results further still and will continue in our efforts to fully rid our streets of littered gum.

“Today’s launch is part of a broader nationwide campaign which includes an advertising campaign and a school’s education programme, Bin It!”

Katherine Hogan, Corporate Affairs Director, Mars Ireland added: “Mars Wrigley Ireland are delighted once again to be part of this positive and vibrant campaign.

“Through awareness raising and educational initiatives, the GLT campaign has had demonstrable success to date in changing behaviour and attitudes towards gum litter and encouraging positive gum disposal.

“Although industry funded, the GLT campaign would not have been able to reach the heights which it has to date without the enthusiastic buy in and hard work of local authorities and local communities right around the country in tackling the issue of littered gum head on.

“As ever, we look forward to matching this spirit of enthusiasm through our continued support for this campaign and to playing our part in tackling the issue of gum litter shoulder to shoulder with communities the length and breadth of the country.”

Appeal lodged against controversial expansion of Whitestrand filling station

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway daily news Appeal lodged against controversial filling station expansion

A planned expansion of a Maxol filling station in Whitestrand has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála by local residents.

Maxol secured planning permission from the city council to demolish outbuildings at the filling station on the corner of the Lower Salthill and Fr Griffin roads and build an extension in its place.

The new extension would consist of a deli with seating, complete with its own food preparation area, and a new off licence.

Another highly controversial aspect of the project is the plan to remove the existing car wash and replace it with a new one relocated to the north east end of the station

Other less serious work would include alterations to the existing store layout, new aluminium glazed shopfronts, rendered wall covering and corporate branding.

The project proved highly controversial with 23 objections made to the city council saying that the expansion would bring increased traffic which the area is not equipped to handle.

Local residents said that without any new parking included it would lead to more on street parking and pose a traffic hazard to children walking to several schools in the area.

Concerns were also expressed about the potential for anti-social behaviour due to the new off licence, and noise complaints about the filling station car wash.

Maxol told the city council in response that the off licence would be small and unobtrusive, and the new car wash would actually be quieter than the one that’s currently there.

The plans show it housed in a a noise attenuation enclosure, and state that it would not operate any later than 10pm.

Galway city council ultimately granted planning permission for the project last month, and an appeal was lodged against that decision by local residents on June 10.

An Bord Pleanála is due to make a ruling on this case by October 14.

Boston Scientific opens €60 million expansion to Galway campus

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway Daily news Boston Scientific profits jump by nearly a third

Boston Scientific has officially opened a €60 million expansion to its campus in Ballybrit today.

The new facility is a three storey building which will contain an industry-leading Equipment Technology Centre and house 250 Boston Scientific employees by the end of 2019.

Mike Mahoney, Chairman and CEO of Boston Scientific officially opened the new facility and at a special town hall meeting attended by almost 800 employees.

He said that Galway is important to the company and that this represents “our ongoing commitment to Galway and Ireland.”

“Our highly skilled workforce has made a significant contribution to the development of many innovative medical solutions, with our Galway site playing a key role in products in areas such as Interventional Cardiology, Endoscopy and Peripheral Interventions”.

Boston Scientific began operating in Ireland in 1994 with less than 30 employees, and today employs more than 5,700 people across Clonmel, Cork and Galway.

In Galway alone the medtech company has a workforce of over 3,700 people covering all aspects of product design & manufacturing.

From here more than four million life saving medical devices are exported around the world each year.

The opening of the new facility is part of a programme of celebrations for Boston Scientific’s 25^thAnniversary in Galway.

In total Boston Scientific is investing €60 million in this phase of development which is at the site of the former Digital building.

Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, said that having an international company of this stature is of “enormous value to the economy of Galway and the wider West Region”.

He praised them for their continued focus on “innovation and excellence in medical technology.”

Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Massachusetts, USA, Boston Scientific employs 32,000 employees worldwide.

It is a global leader in the development of medical devices that impact 30 million patients every year.

As well as celebrating 25 years in Galway, Boston Scientific is also turning 40 this year and marking 40 years of transforming lives.

James Lyons, Vice President of Operations at Boston Scientific Galway took the opportunity to thank the local community for the support it’s shown to the company.

“Given the scale of our campus and workforce here, the support of the wider community has been especially important.”

“I would like to acknowledge the contribution in turn that our employees have made to the local community, including raising over €2.6m for local charities and organisations since 1994.”

NUIG students plough the ocean waves aboard the Celtic Explorer

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway Daily news NUIG students aboard the Celtic Explorer for Ocean Sampling Day

Scientists and students from NUIG’s Ryan Institute spent a day on the seas aboard the RV Celtic Explorer for Ocean Sampling Day 2019.

Ocean Sampling Day is a simultaneous sampling campaign of the world’s oceans by scientists globally to get a picture of their health.

Professor Louise Allcock, who is director of the Centre for Ocean Research and Exploration within the Ryan Institute, lead a team of four experienced scientists and 11 Marine Science undergraduate students.

Professor Alcock said that while aboard the Celtic Explorer they sampled and filtered water from the sea, and the filter papers are sent to a molecular lab in a marine station in Greece.

There, “all the DNA on the filter papers will be sequenced to give an estimate of what bacterial and invertebrate species are present in the ocean.”

She added that when the oceans are healthy they hold a “wide variety of species, an unhealthy ocean less so, and hence we get an overview of our ocean health.”

Ocean Sampling Day is organised by an EU consortium of marine research institutes, known as “ASSEMBLE Plus”, of which the Ryan Institute is part.

The students gathered their samples from directly above the SmartBay SubSea Cabled Observatory in Galway Bay.

NUIG’s Sheena Fennell, one of the experienced scientists in the team who has spent extensive time at sea, explained that trips like this are important first hand experience for students studying marine science.

“The students learn in their lectures all about the water column, the bacteria and inverterbrates living therein, and the specialised gears that we use to sample,” she said.

“But this is an opportunity for them to get genuine hands-on experience while contributing to an international research project.”

The students gathered their samples directly above the SmartBay SubSea Cabled Observatory in Galway Bay.

Professor Allcock said this ongoing project is a huge resource in monitoring ocean health due to the massive amount of varied data it gathers.

“The SmartBay Observatory provides subsea data all year round which means there is an enormous environmental dataset to complement our physical samples.”

There’s also a little big of bragging involved as taking samples there “affords us the opportunity to highlight this impressive infrastructure to our European colleagues.”

Speeding convictions down by 72% in Galway

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway Daily news 33 Almost 200 people arrested for drug and drunk driving over Bank Holiday weekend

The number of people convicted of speeding in Galway has declined dramatically in the past few years while drink driving convictions are on the rise.

In 2018 there were 74 people convicted of speeding in the Galway District Court area, down from 266 in 2016, a decline of 72 percent in two years.

But last year also saw 137 convictions for drink driving in Galway last year up by a third since 2016.

The figures were released by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan in response to a question from a parliamentary question Meath West TD Peadar Toibín requesting information on the number of arrests and convictions by court area.

the Justice Minister supplied data from the courts service, but said that the number of arrests made was a matter for the garda síochána and that not all arrests lead to convictions.

So far this year there have been 56 drink driving convictions in Galway and 28 for speeding.

The majority of cases were handled by Galway District Court but data was also supplied on the courts services in Tuam, Ballinasloe, Clifden, Loughrea and Gort.

The number of speeding convictions issued by the local courts also dropped across the board, while there was less tolerance for drink driving.

Tuam saw 35 people convicted of speeding in 2018, a decline of 14% on 2016, convictions in Louhgrea dropped by half in the same period to 28 last year.

There were just two people convicted for excessive speed in Gort, an 85% decline in two years, while Clifden’s numbers remained unchanged at one person.

The figures provided by the Minister showed no speeding convictions in Ballinasloe District Court at all last year, while there were 42 in 2016.

Nationwide there were 4,237 people convicted of speeding offences in Irish Courts in 2018, a decline of 39% from 6,911 two years before.

In the same period drink driving convictions have been on the rise. From 2016 to last year the number of people convicted in Tuam doubled from 13 to 26.

In Loughrea convictions went up by 127% from 15 to 34, while Gort District Court has seen a 63% increase in convictions for driving under the influence to 18 last year.

Clifden was on the only court in Galway that has seen a drop in convictions related to drink driving. Nine people were convicted in 2018, down from 26 the year before and 10 in 2016.

And lastly Ballinasloe District Court saw a slight increase from 11 t0 13 drink driving convictions from 2016 – 2018.

In total 3,911 people were convicted of drink driving offences last year, up by a third from 2016.

Last year saw changes in the laws surrounding drink driving with the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2018.

One of its provisions was to lower the legal limit with drivers detected with a blood alcohol content of between 50mg and 80mg now receiving an automatic three month disqualification and €200 fine.

Galway minor footballers to face Sligo or Mayo in the Connacht Final

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway Daily sport Galway to face Mayo or Sligo in minor football Connacht Final

Galway’s Minor Footballers will face off against either Mayo or Sligo next month in the Connacht Final.

The Connacht Final of the GAA Minor Football Championship will take place on July 7.

Mayo and Sligo will face off in the second semi-final match at McHale Park in Castlebar on Wednesday June 26, throw in at 7:30pm.

The Galway minors secured their place in the final last week with a dominant victory over Leitrim in Tuam Stadium.

The home side had it all their own way, with Leitrim not scoring until the 29th minute of the first half.

Galway led by 1-12 to 0-2 at half time and by the final whistle the score was 5-26 to 1-6.

Grainger, McGrath, Ó Seoighe, and Culhane were the goal scorers with Grainger putting it over the line twice, while Tomo Culhane scored 1-9 including six frees.

Corrandulla village gets new community defibrillator

By

-

June 24, 2019

Galway Daily news Corrandulla village gets new community defibrillator

Corrandulla has acquired a new community defibrillator to help provide life saving assistance for people having cardiac arrhythmia.

The defibrillator has been installed on the wall outside the front door of Corrandulla Community Centre.

Annaghdown parish council offered its thanks to “all who drop clothes to our clothes bank, those who pay their few euros to attend classes and training in the old hall and sports hall who have made it possible.

“A special thanks to Councillor James Charity who provided funding to get this over the line.”

The parish council said that it hopes to provide training for anyone who wishes to learn to use this life saving piece of equipment.

It added that “a member of every household in the parish should attend training” on how to use it.

A defibrillator is used to deliver an electric current to people experiencing ventricular fibrillation.

Essentially when the heart is quivering rather than beating properly because of erratic electrical activity in the ventricles.

This is a serious health emergency and the most frequent cause of sudden cardiac death.

The electric shock from an automated external defibrillator helps to synchronise the heart’s rhythm again.

Having a piece of equipment like this ready in the community, with people trained to use it, can be the difference between life and death for a person in distress.

Aran Islands lifeboat called to early morning medical transfer

By

-

June 23, 2019

Galway Daily news Aran Islands lifeboat called to early morning medical transfer

The Aran Islands lifeboat was called out for a medical transfer in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday.

At around 2:30am on Saturday morning the Aran Islands all-weather lifeboat was launched in response to a request from the Coast Guard.

A young man had sustained an eye injury on Inis Mór and needed to be transferred to the hospital on the mainland.

The lifeboat launched in calm seas under Coxswain Tommy Dirrane and with six crew members onboard and proceeded to Rossaveal harbour.

The patient was then transferred safely to a waiting ambulance and on to University Hospital Galway for further treatment.

Speaking afterwards Tommy Dirrane said “Our volunteers had an early morning wake up call today but that it is what they are trained, willing and prepared to do to help anyone they can.”

He added that “All at Aran Islands RNLI would like to wish the casualty a speedy recovery”.

Connacht opponents set for Heineken Champions Cup

By

-

June 23, 2019

Galway Daily sports Connacht opponents set for the Heineken Champions Cup

Connacht have learned who they will be facing in the next season of the Heineken Champions Cup.

In Pool 5 of the Heineken Champions Cup Connacht will face off against French teams Toulouse and Montpellier as well as Premiership side Gloucester in the 2019/2020 season.

Toulouse and Connacht have scrapped four times in the pool stages of the last five seasons, but the haven’t met Montpellier since the 2009/10 Challenge Cup.

The English side has come west more recently as the Connacht and Gloucester faced off at the Sportsground for the 2017/18 Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

The full list of sides for the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup is:

POOL 1
Leinster, Lyon, Northampton Saints, Benetton

POOL 2
Exeter Chiefs, Glasgow Warriors, La Rochelle, Sale Sharks

POOL 3
Clermont Auvergne, Ulster, Harlequins, Bath

POOL 4
Saracens, Munster, Racing 92, Opsreys

POOL 5
Toulouse, Gloucester, CONNACHT, Montpellier

FIXTURES
Round 1: 15/16/17 November 2019
Round 2: 22/23/24 November 2019
Round 3: 6/7/8 December 2019
Round 4: 13/14/15 December 2019
Round 5: 10/11/12 January 2020
Round 6: 17/18/19 January 2020
Quarter-finals: 3/4/5 April 2020
Semi-finals: 1/2/3 May 2020
Final: 23 May 2020

photo credit: Connacht Rugby

Very high temperatures and sunshine forecast for this week

By

-

June 23, 2019

galway daily weather heatwave galway sun

A Europe-wide heatwave will arrive in Ireland by midweek, which will see temeratures rocketing into the mid to late twenties before the weekend.

The best of the warmer weather is expected to be on Friday, when temperatures could reach up to 27 degrees Celcius in Galway and parts of the west.

Met Eireann says that highest temperatures will be above 20 degrees throughout the week and that the weekend will remain very warm and humid.

The forecast

Tomorrow (Monday) will see scattered showers with some heavy bursts possible. Temperatures could reach 21 degrees in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, hazy sunshine is foreacst with temperatures of up to 22 degrees in the West.

Wednesday and Thursday will remain much the same, with temperatures reaching around 23 degrees, although some scattered showers are forecast for Thursday evening.

On Friday, Met Eireann’s early national forcast says it will be ‘exceptionally warm with spells of sunshine and just the odd thunderstorm.

Temperatures will fall marginally overnight with minimum temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees, staying very humid.

Meanwhile, people in other parts of Europe are bracing themselves for extremely high temperatures due to a hot air mass from Africa, with parts of Spain expecting temperatures in the early 40s by the weekend.

Vacant Salthill house to be knocked and replaced with 39 apartments

By

-

June 23, 2019

Galway daily news Appeal lodged against Salthill apartment development

Planning approval has been granted to knock down a vacant house in Salthill and replace it with blocks of apartments.

Catena Property Ltd has received planning permission to demolish a bungalow at 105 Salthill Road Upper and build 38 apartments with balconies on the site.

The apartments will be delivered in two blocks with balconies, one 3-4 storey building with 27 units fronting onto the Salthill road (Block B), and one 6-7 storey building with 11 units facing Toft Park (Block A).

The design also includes a ground floor courtyard with sculpture and a play area, and a rainwater harvesting system.

Both blocks would also have roof gardens and patios at the penthouse level.

According to the developer this is one of the few sites in the area that has gone undeveloped with an “old single storey dwelling on an exceptionally large site”.

The central courtyard will include a play area for children aged 0-6, picnic tables, bench seating and a lawn area.

One submission was made to the city council concerning this development from a local resident concerned that the larger building would overshadow its neighbours.

The objection also said that the plot density on the for the apartments was beyond what’s permitted by the city development plan.

Further Information was submitted to the city council by the developer on April 30 that amended the design of the development in an attempt to address concerns raised.

Block A was originally going to be eight storeys at its highest point, but a community room was removed to reduce its overall height and bulk.

However the objectors said that the only acceptable redesign would be to reduce the overall height of Block A to five storeys.

The amended design also includes 1.8m high non-vision glass screens along the south east facing balconies and rooftop gardens.

The council also requested that the developer submit a Traffic Management Plan which was created by by Tobin Consulting Engineers.

Parking at the new apartment complex will be achieved through 31 parking spaces in a basement car park and 30 bicycle stand spaces.

Galway city council granted planning permission with a total of 20 conditions attached.

Exciting new project will see Irish taught through PE classes

By

-

June 23, 2019

A new project to use PE classes to promote and support the learning of Irish has been welcomed by a Galway TD.

The aim of the PE as Gaeilge project is to improve school children’s competence, disposition and confidence when learning the language, according to Minister Ciaran Cannon.

The first year, beginning in September, will be a pilot developmental phase including two Early Years settings, five primary and five post-primary schools and they will work together to identify and develop the resources and supports required for teachers and practitioners.

The Galway East TD said: “I’m very pleased with Minister McHugh`s launch of a project using PE classes to promote and support the learning of Irish.”

The Minister for the Diaspora and International Development explained that this project will ‘support practitioners and teachers to implement a Content and Language Integrated Learning approach to language learning’.

“This is an excellent project which in time will see an increasing number of children using the Irish language in contexts outside the classroom and I look forward to hearing of the progress of this initiative,” added Minister Cannon.

This announcement comes on the same week of the opening of Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh in Knocknacarra, which is one of the largest gaelscoileanna in Ireland.

Navy patrol ship open for tours in Galway on Monday

By

-

June 23, 2019

Galway daily news Navy patrol ship the Samuel Beckett docking for tours in Galway

The Irish Navy patrol ship the LÉ Samuel Beckett will be open for public tours in Galway next week.

The Navy patrol vessel is anchoring alongside Galway on Monday June 24, and the crew will be giving guided tours from 2pm to 4pm.

The LÉ Samuel Beckett is one of four new patrol vessels build for the naval service since 2014.

They are often called the four “playwright” sisters because of their names.

The Samuel Beckett the first to roll off the line in 2014, followed by the LÉ James Joyce in 2015, and the LÉ William Butler Yeats in 2016 and LÉ George Bernard Shaw last year.

The Irish Naval service is currently in a recruitment drive to combat low staffing levels that currently stand at just under 1,100 people.

The number of active service members in the Defence Forces has dropped below 9,000 with pay levels for enlisted members one common issue raised.

LÉ #SamuelBeckett (#P61) will be open to the public for guided tours by the ship’s crew alongside #Galway tomorrow Monday the 24th of June 14:00-16:00. @defenceforces is currently recruiting #joinourteam #ÓglaighnahÉireann pic.twitter.com/iyJA4zK9hl

— Irish Naval Service (@naval_service) June 23, 2019

The duties of Irish patrol ships include looking for illegal fishing vessels and narcotics smugglers in Irish waters.

They also take part in marine rescue missions and deployments to the Mediterranean to combat human trafficking.

Full details of the careers available the requirements can be found at military.ie/careers/naval-service.

Over 100 homes without electricity in Ballygar

By

-

June 23, 2019

Galway Daily news More than 15,000 properties in Galway without power after Storm Ellen

Over 100 homes and businesses in the Ballygar area are without electricity this afternoon.

A line fault in Ballygar is currently affecting the supply of electricity to 112 properties in the area.

The ESB first reported the outage shortly before 11am this morning.

Repairs are underway and power is expected to be restored by 2:45pm this afternoon according to the utility provider.

Oylmpic gold medalists join hundreds in charity Corrib Swim

By

-

June 23, 2019