Members of the Portumna Credit Union can expect enhanced financial services and facilities at their local branch from next week.

Members of the Portumna branch will be able to avail of lower lending rates, Fexco Foreign Exchange facilities, 24/7 Banking via the App (for the Athenry branch) and website and a private lending room, when the services are officially launched on Friday 25 January.

Portumna & District Credit Union merged with Athenry Credit Union a few months ago, and it was decided to make a significant investment in the financial services and facilities at the Portumna branch.

Minister Ciaran Cannon welcomed the launch date, saying: “The investment in the Portumna Credit Union Branch is also an investment in the town of Portumna and its surrounding district.

“It will ensure that the Credit Union continues to be one of the first ports of call for all the financial needs of the local community and that those needs are met in the most up-to-date manner.”

Gardaí have dealt with a crash on the M6 between Junction 16 Loughrea and Junction 17 Athenry.

Traffic on the motorway was disrupted for a period as Gardaí attended the scene of the second crash on Galway motorways today.

This morning, the M18 was closed both ways after four cars were involved in a collision on the motorway at approximately 10:30am.

The collision happened between Junction 17 Kiltiernan and Junction 18 Rathmorissey.

Gardai and recovery services have since cleared the scenes of both incidents.

Nobody was reported injured in the crash earlier today.

Ex-Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibin has slammed Fianna Fáil ahead of his new party’s public meeting tonight, saying that there is no difference between the party and People Before Profit when it comes to ‘the right of life’.

Tóibin, who resigned from Sinn Féin in November, said he wants to establish two Cummans – in Galway City and County Galway.

In announcing his resignation from the party, he stated that restrictions imposed on him by the party over his views on abortion had prevented him from ‘fully representing my constituents’.

Speaking to Galway Daily ahead of tonight’s meeting, Tóibin described his intention to hold 32 public meetings in the 32 Counties of Ireland.

The Independent TD has been encouraged by the amount in attendance at these public meetings thus far.

He said that there are roughly 150 new members per meeting.

He commented on his delight that there was over 350 people in attendance at his public meeting in Cork while 270 people flocked to see him in Donegal.

To add to this, Tóibin declared his new party already has 5 Cummans established in Cork.

In addition, Tóibin said that 6 different Oireachtas members across the political spectrum are seriously considering joining his party.

Although the party doesn’t have an official name as of yet, that hasn’t stopped them preparing for the local and European elections this May.

Tóibin described how his party was already out canvassing while holding selection conventions for candidates to run under the party banner.

The Meath West TD affirmed the pro-life stance as being a crucial element to his party.

We asked Tóibin if he was worried about potentially splitting the pro-life vote around the Country and more specifically in Galway?

In Galway, Fianna Fáil representatives Éamon Ó Cuív and Eugene Murphy are tenacious in their pro-life stances.

Tóibin criticized the leadership of Fianna Fáil claiming there is no difference between the leadership of Fianna Fáil and People Before Profit when it comes to the right to life.

He claimed the leadership of Fianna Fáil is going in the wrong direction to its party members when it comes to the right to life.

Tóibin wanted to remind people that political parties are not social clubs and the time has come for people to realign based on issues of conscience such as the right to life.

The former Sinn Féin TD said it was important to note that his new party wholeheartedly supports a United Ireland.

He criticized the lack of action from Fianna Fáil when it comes to establishing themselves in the North.

“We have made more inroads up north in 2 months than Fianna Fáil have in 20 years”.

Tóibin basis this on the fact that his new party already has 6 functioning Cummans north of the border.

He concluded by expressing his belief that the lack of competition for Sinn Féin in the North of Ireland has led to a decline in the nationalist vote for much of the last ten to fifteen years.

It is his hope that his party can fill a void among the nationalist electorate who traditionally stay at home when election time comes around.

The public meeting will take place this evening in the Menlo Park Hotel at 7.30pm.