Leanann an Cuardach ar aghaidh don fear óg (25) atá ar iarraidh

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January 15, 2019

Galway daily news Craughwell students launch 2019 Our World Irish Aid Awards

Students at Craughwell National School launched the 2019 Our World irish Aid Awards this week with Galway East TD and Minister of State for International Development Ciarán Cannon

The awards, now in their 14th year, invite school children across Ireland to submit projects that highlight the challenges facing children in the developing world, and how Irish Aid can help them.

Speaking at the launch Minister Cannon said that every person counts, and deserves opportunities in life, no matter where they live.

“The Awards will give pupils from across the island of Ireland a unique opportunity to gain an insight into the lives of children in developing countries,” said Minister Cannon.

“And understand that, while we may live thousands of miles away from our Irish Aid partner countries, the way we live our lives makes a difference to theirs.”

Schools and students taking part will receive information packets teaching them about the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, and the role Ireland plays in them.

Ireland was one of 193 countries that signed on to those goals to address the root causes of poverty and to protect the planet.

There are over 600 million young people in the world who don’t have basic reading, writing, or maths skills according to Minister Cannon.

If those there are 57 million primary school aged children who aren’t able to get to school.

“You quickly see why it is essential that Ireland continues to play a proactive role in overseas development and meeting the 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development,” the Minister said.

The theme of this year’s competition is Leave No One Behind where one of the Irish Aid supported project students will be learning about for it is Dunia Designs in the highlands of Tanzania.

Run by Irish expats Evanna Lyons and Alexis Cronin, this eco-friendly company creates furniture and building materials out of plastic waste that would otherwise pollute our environment.

This has the dual effect of combating the 13 million tonnes of plastic that makes its way into our oceans every year, and creating incomes for local families who otherwise would not have the opportunity to work.

Students taking part in the Irish Aid Awards can communicate their understanding of the principles and goals for sustainable development we’re reaching for in any way that pleases them, be it in writing, song, film, artwork or any medium they choose.

All entries will be assessed on their creativity, understanding of the theme and their impact.

Sixty projects which display creative strength and understanding will receive an ‘Our World Irish Aid Award’ plaque at regional awards ceremonies in May.

The top twelve entries will proceed to the national finals, with additional awards for Teacher of the Year and best Newcomer School.

Registration is now open and the deadline for entries is Friday 5 April 2019, for more information go to www.ourworldirishaidawards.ie.

Galway Food Festival to take hiatus for 2019

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January 15, 2019

The Galway Food Festival, which was attended by over 70,000 people last year, will be taking a hiatus in 2019.

The break will allow the Festival to reflect on its position in the food community in Galway, and to look into funding opportunities for developing the future of the festival.

Since 2012, the Galway Food Festival gained national and international recognition and has become one of the Ireland’s most celebrated festivals.

More than 100 food outlets and producers from across Galway and its hinterland took part last year and saw the festival extend its ethos into various communities in the city and county.

JP McMahon, Chairperson of the Galway Food Festival, said: “Over the past seven years the Galway Food Festival has been crucial in establishing Galway as a food destination.

“Its legacy has been continued in various ways, such as through Food On The Edge which grew out of the Galway Food Festival and will be returning this year.”

Over the years, the Galway Food Festival has provided opportunities for local food and drink producers to develop their businesses.

Eugene Greaney, Co-Owner of The Dough Bros said: “We first took part in the Galway Food Festival in 2014 when we had been trading for nine months, and it was a real landmark moment for us in our journey.

“We were set up in the Spanish Arch and for three days people queued for up to an hour for our pizza – you can’t imagine the confidence that gave us.

“At that point we knew we had something that people wanted, and needed to take our business to a bigger audience which led to our pop-up shop.

“The rest as they say is history but the Galway Food Festival really was the springboard for this.”

The Galway Food Festival will return to Galway in 2020.

Fresh appeal to Galwegians to look out for symptoms of meningitis after HSE warning

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January 15, 2019

Galway daily news Vigilance urged as HSE investigates case of meningitis

There has been a fresh appeal to people in Galway to be be on the lookout for the early signs of meningococcal meningitis/ septicaemia in light of advice from the HSE.

The HSE has advised the public to be vigilant regarding the disease as there has been a noted increase in cases across the country in recent weeks.

Eleven cases have been notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre since the last week in December and three people have died as a result of the infection.

Anyone with concerns should ring their GP in the first instance, said Galway East TD Ciaran Cannon.

Minister Cannon said: “If anyone in Galway has any concerns about meningitis they should ring their GP in the first instance.

“Early symptoms can include; fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain, stomach cramps, fever with cold hands and feet and a rash, but do not wait for the rash to appear.

“The advice from the HSE is if someone is ill and getting worse, they should get medical help immediately.

“Parents of children should also check that they are up-to-date regarding their childhood meningococcal vaccinations.”

Minister Cannon added that all age groups have been affected, ranging from infants to elderly. Of the three patients who died, two different strain types were identified.

“Meningitis is a serious illness involving inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

“It can be caused by a variety of different germs, mainly bacterial and viruses. Bacterial meningitis is less common but is usually more serious than viral meningitis and requires urgent treatment with antibiotics and may be accompanied by septicaemia,” added the Minister.

Supermac’s wins long running trademark battle with McDonald’s

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January 15, 2019

Galway Daily news Supermac's wins major trademark battle with McDonald's

Supermac’s has won its trademark battle with global giant McDonald’s over the use of the name ‘Mac’ in Europe.

Pat McDonagh’s Galway grown fast-food chain Supermac’s had been involved in a lengthy battle with McDonald’s as he sought to expand into Europe.

McDonald’s was contesting Supermac’s move to expand its trademark outside of Ireland, claiming it would cause confusion between the two brands.

The Irish Times reports that Supermac’s has won a major victory as the European Union Intellectual Property Office has granted its request to cancel the ‘big mac’ trademark granted to McDonald’s in 1996.

McDonagh argued that the trademark is not being put to use and is just a way for McDonald’s to beat the competition.

In its judgement the Office said that McDonald’s hadn’t submitted sufficient evidence that the trademark was being put to “genuine use” as a burger or restaurant name.

It was also decided that McDonald’s would have to pay the costs of the revocation.

McDonald’s is still free to appeal the Trademark Office’s decision.

Pat McDonagh said they knew they were in for a “David versus Goliath” battle compared with McDonald’s deep pockets.

But he celebrated this judgement as a victory for small businesses everywhere.

McDonagh added that the case shone a light on “trademark bullying” by McDonald’s.

Supermac’s made its application to cancel McDonald’s trademark in April 2017.

Last August McDonald’s hit back with a 41 page filing where it said that the fact that the two chains have co-existed in Ireland for years without confusion was irrelevant.

The decision by the European Trademark Office shows how European institutions can protect local businesses against multinationals.

City council calls for publicly funded student accommodation

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January 15, 2019

Galway Daily news GMIT hosts European Hitel and catering School competition

Galway city council is calling for the construction of publicly funded student accommodation.

At the monthly council meeting on Monday the council unanimously passed a motion calling on the departments of Education and Housing to work with Galway’s colleges to provide student accommodation.

The motion read:

“That Galway City Council’s Housing SPC call on the Minister for Hosing Eoghan Murphy and Joe McHugh TD Department of Education to work with NUIG and GMIT to develop a programme to provide purpose built publicly funded student accommodation.“

Sinn Féin Councillor Mairéad Farrell brought the motion to the Housing Strategic Policy Committee in September, after which it was sent forward to the full council for a vote.

The motion passed unanimously with 16 councillors voting yes and 2 absent from the chamber.

Spicy tomatoes may be on the table with gene editing technology

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January 15, 2019

Galway Daily news Researchers from NUI Galway propse using gene editing to create spicy tomatoes.

Scientists at NUI Galway are proposing creating spicy tomatoes using gene editing technology.

Newly published research from NUI Galway, done together with scientists at Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, suggests that gene editing could be used to activate genes in tomatoes that make chilli peppers spicy.

While spicy tomatoes would no doubt be a welcome ingredient to experiment with in the kitchen, their potential goes much further than that.

Capsaicinoids, the spicy compound found in chilli peppers, are used in cancer treatment, anti-inflammatory and pain medication, and even pepper spray.

The thinking is that tomatoes grow much more abundantly than chilli peppers, yielding 110 tonnes of fruits per hectare of land compared to just 3 tonnes per hectare for chilli peppers.

This would enable the harvesting of far higher levels of capsaicinoids for essential uses.

The report detailing this potential was recently published in the international journal Trends in Plant Science.

Co-author of the article, Dr Ronan Sulpice from NUIG’s Ryan Institute said that all the genes necessary to produce capsaicinoids are naturally occurring in tomatoes.

“However, they are silent, and we are proposing to activate them using gene editing technology.”

“The challenge is massive because the pathway responsible for the synthesis of these compounds is very complex, so we are very likely far from the day we will consume spicy tomatoes.”

Efforts are currently underway in Brazil to produce these tomatoes and they hope to have the first results available by the end of 2019.

Dr Agustin Zsögön of the Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil was the lead scientist on this report.

“Engineering the capsaicinoid genetic pathway to the tomato would make it easier and cheaper to produce this compound, which has very interesting applications,” he said.

“We have the tools powerful enough to engineer the genome of any species; the challenge is to know which gene to engineer and where.”

This hypothetical scenario is caught up in the growing debate surrounding the use of CRISPR gene editing technology.

What this research proposes is a process called mutagenesis, switching on genes that are already present in an organism but inactive.

This is different from transgenesis which involves splicing genes into a plant or animal.

The EU has ruled that any plants or animals created using either or these gene editing processes are GM foods, and face greater regulations as such.

Busking bylaws go back to the drawing board

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January 15, 2019

Galway Daily arts culture Galway Street Club say busking bylaws will

The busking bylaws passed by Galway city council last year will have to go back to the council and start all over again due to an error in their text.

Galway city passed busking bylaws last May which contained measures including banning performers from using amps before 6pm on Shop st and other protected streets.

However the bylaws were never brought into effect as the city council sought legal advice on their implementation.

During the monthly council meeting on January 14, councillors were told that legal advice was that the council would have to start from scratch because of an error.

This is because the bylaws were passed without a commencement date included in the text.

Director of Services with the city council Tom Connell said that a summary of this legal advice had been included in the Chief Executive’s report sent to councillors.

Councillors reacted with fury at the meeting to the news that after a long and “divisive” debate, the process would have to begin again.

Councillor Mike Crowe asked Mr Connell how this happened, “Someone dropped the ball on this.”

The councillor is a proponent of the bylaws saying that the current state of busking in the city is having a major impact on rate paying businesses who contribute half the council’s budget.

Mr Connell said that he was sorry the council would have to go through the process again “We were all under the impression the bylaws we adopted were sound.”

He added that he would get back to councillor Crowe with a written response to his question as to how this mistake was made.

The process of advertising that the council intends to pass bylaws regulating busking will soon be undertaken Mr Connell said.

After that there will be a period of public consultation on the proposed bylaws.

Though the process is beginning again, the bylaws are unlikely to take as long to get to the council for a vote this second time round as the already agreed on text will be used as the draft.

Councillor Pearce Flannery said that it was ridiculous that they have to begin again after the amount of hours spent debating the issue over years.

The councillor said that everyone on the council has heard all the points and knows where they stand, and when the new bylaws come back to the council they should be voted on without debate.

He also asked that the full text of the legal advice the council received be sent round to all councillors before the next meeting in February.

Councillor Mike Cubbard said that while he is opposed to the bylaws, he objects to the way the elected representatives were just casually hearing about this now, “We’re getting fobbed off.”

Incoming cold spell this week could bring sleet to Connacht

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January 14, 2019

Galway daily weather Two weather warnings in place for Galway this morning

Temperatures across Europe have plummeted in recent days, resulting in frozen fountains in Italy and snow across Greece.

Meanwhile, temperatures here in Ireland have been extraordinarily mild in recent weeks for this time of year.

That looks set to change though, with Met Éireann saying that temperatures in Ireland will fall this week, to as low as minus three degrees in parts of the country.

The colder weather looks set to remain for the foreseeable future.

Outbreaks of rain on Tuesday night will push into the West, before clearing during the night.

The weather experts say that it will turn cooler with the clearance and lowest temperatures will fall to between 2 to 6 degrees with a risk of some frost around dawn.

Wednesday will be much colder than what we have had in recent weeks.

There will be scattered heavy showers with a risk of thunder in Galway early on and this heavy rain will extend across the country during the day.

The highest temperatures will be between just 4 and 7 degrees and scattered showers will continue for a time on Wednesday night before clearing making way for clear spells.

It will turn very cold, however, with lowest tempertures falling to minus three degrees with widespread frost and some icy stretches.

Winds will be light to moderate.

Thursday will be dry with sunny spells at first but cloud will increase later.

It will stay cold with frost clearing only slowly in the morning and afternoon temperatures reaching just 3 to 5 degrees.

Connacht could see sleet on Thuesday night, with minimum temperatures of 1 to 4 degrees.

The weekend looks set to remain cool, with frost and outbreaks of rain.

Protest at city hall calls for park wardens to tackle rubbish crisis

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January 14, 2019

A group of 20 demonstrated outside Galway city hall earlier today calling for the creation of dedicated park wardens for Galway city.

The protest was urging councillors to support a motion proposed by councillor Mark Lohan to create a designated council workforce dedicated to cleaning Galway’s parks on a daily basis.

The councillor said that there is a serious problem with rubbish at Merlin Park and Terryland Forest Park.

“At a recent community cleanup I and others from the community picked up 59 bags of rubbish from Terryland Forest Park in one two hour period.”

“That didn’t build up over one day or even one week, there’s been a lack of cleaning at those facilities since the Gateway Scheme ended.”

He added that because of several retirements at city hall, new posts dedicated to cleaning public parks could be created at no extra burden to taxpayers.

Councillor Lohan added that the protest was doing a great job illustrating how litter is damaging local amenities.

Brendan Smith with photos of litter in Galway’s parks

The motion was on the agenda for today’s meeting, but because of a crowded schedule had to be deferred to a special council meeting on February 4.

Local environmentalist and activist organised the protest, which was supported by the Friends of Merlin Woods.

“We are a green and blue city like no other city in Ireland,” Brendan said.

But he said they are being inundated with rubbish of all descriptions.

“And they are not in hidden corners of our parks they are at the entrances to our parks,” Brendan added.

“You can see broken seats and benches that haven’t been fixed or replaced in months if not years, you can see the river being contaminated by rubbish going in.”

Mayor of Galway Niall McNelis spoke with the demonstrators attending the protest and gave his support for the creation of park wardens.

Brendan Smith, protesters and Mayor McNelis

He promised that it would be on the agenda for debate at the meeting on February 4, and that he didn’t think any councillor would be opposed so long as the resources are there.

Councillor Lohan also praised the protest, “This is the public petitioning their local government.”

“They’re here to educate their councillors as they walk in which is valuable.”

Brendan Smith told people attending the protest that it was up to them to petition individual councillors to ensure their support between now and then.

New Bill to allow gay couples to use ‘parent’ on birth certificates

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January 14, 2019

same sex couple parents news galway daily

Same sex couples will soon be allowed to use the word ‘parent’ on birth certificates of children born through donor-assisted births, when a new Bill is passed.

The Civil Registration Bill 2019 will resolve a number of difficulties in the registration of donor assisted births, and will be brought forward as a priority, according to Minister Ciaran Cannon.

This Bill will extend the required particulars for registration of a birth to include “Parent” on a birth certificate.

Currently, birth certificates issued in respect of donor-assisted children born to same sex couples only allow for the recording of the mother’s details.

These changes will facilitate the registration and re-registration of births of children of same sex female couples, and this will affirm their parental rights.

Minister Cannon explained that in addition to the current labels of ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ on birth certificates, parents of non-donor assisted children may also avail of the label “Parent” should they so request it.

“While the changes proposed will affect a relatively small number of people, they touch on matters that are very sensitive and of great importance to those families affected.

“My Fine Gael colleague, Minister for Employment Affairs & Social Protection Regina Doherty has met with and spoken to many affected by this issue.

“I am very pleased these changes are being brought forward as a priority to ensure that they can be introduced as soon as possible,” Minister Cannon said.

Men’s Sheds across Galway to receive funding of €20,000

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January 14, 2019

Galway Daily news Number on Pandemic Unemployment in Galway drops below 20,000

A number of Men’s Sheds Groups in Galway will benefit from funding of nearly €20,000, which has been allocated to Sheds around the county.

Men’s Sheds are renowned for their work on community projects, as well as their capacity to advance the health and wellbeing of individual members.

Minister Ring announced the allocation of €500,000 under the Men’s Sheds stream of the Community Enhancement Programme last July.

The allocation was designed to enable individual Sheds to update their facilities by purchasing equipment or by carrying out minor works to improve their shed.

Minister Cannon welcomed the confirmation of the funding, saying: “I am delighted with confirmation from Minister Ring that 310 Men’s Sheds across the country have been allocated funding, with almost €20,000 for the County.”

He drew attention to the Sheds in South and East Galway which include:

Athenry – €1,495 – for installation of CCTV and alarm
Dunmore – €1,495 – for lawnmower, power washer, leaf blower, strimmer, etc
Gort – €1,500 – for renovation of building and relevant materials
Headford – €1,495 – for enhancements to access to Men`s Shed
Kinvara – €1,495 – for purchase of polytunnel and power tools
Loughrea/Carrabane – €1,495 for material for polytunnel and raised beds
Portumna – €1,250 – for enhancement of polytunnel and garden space
Tuam – €1,365 – for purchase of printer, TV and Charnwood dust extractor’.

Minister Cannon said that Men’s Sheds are a valuable facility and in recent years they have become a fixture of life in towns and villages throughout Ireland.

“They offer a safe, comfortable and inclusive environment where men of all ages can share skills, work on meaningful projects and connect with their communities,” he added.

One shot and one stabbed after Mervue funeral

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January 14, 2019

Gardaí are investigating after two people were hospitalised in an incident following a funeral in Mervue on Sunday.

Two people were brought at University Hospital Galway with serious injuries after the funeral at Mervue church on Sunday afternoon.

One person was reportedly treated for a gunshot shot wound and another man had been stabbed.

No arrests have yet been made but Gardaí are conducting inquires in the area and examining cctv footage.

The investigation is following multiple lines of inquiry out of Galway garda station.

Can you solve the Diabetes Challenge?

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January 14, 2019

Galway Daily news Enterprise Ireland invites people to solve the Diabetes Challenge

Enterprise Ireland in partnership with the Health Service Executive are inviting companies to try and solve the SIBR Diabetes Challenge.

The Diabetes Challenge asks small businesses to harness innovation and new technologies to help patients avoid typical complications from diabetes and get earlier care when they do crop up.

Enterprise Ireland is making €200,000 in funding available through its Small Business Innovation Research initiative for a successful company.

The challenge targets two key areas: reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes and screening for related foot disease in all patients.

Gestational diabetes affects one in six pregnancies globally and those women are at greater risk of developing diabetes after the pregnancy.

Tom Kelly, Head of Innovation at Enterprise Ireland said, ‘‘Diabetes has become a serious global health issue which can benefit from innovative solutions to help reduce complications from the disease.

“Enterprise Ireland is proud to partner with the HSE on our first SBIR health challenge to harness the best in innovation to address a global health problem.”

He added that after monitoring innovation practices in the UK, Enterprise Ireland sees huge potential for SIBR to deliver cheaper, smarter healthcare technologies.

A workshop will take place in the city at Galway Technology Centre next February 5 from 10:30am – 12:30pm to brief interested parties on the challenge and the process applicants will go through.

Tickets are free but places must be booked ahead of time as space is limited.

The challenge will be live on eTenders until February 22.

Consultant physician and HSE Clinical lead for Diabetes, Professor Sean Dinneen said, “This is about HSE clinicians working in a unique way with firms to use technology and digital innovation to ensure that fewer Irish citizens develop avoidable complications of diabetes.

“Usually as HSE clinicians we have to decide in advance what is the product or service we want to procure.

“With SBIR we uniquely present the problem to the firms, and then we can get involved in helping to design the solution.”

He said that this condition can have a “profound impact” on people’s quality of life, such as making them 22 times more likely to need a non-traumatic amputation than other people.

“Applying technology to help them reduce this risk would be a real help to our health service,” he added.

“We are looking forward to working with Enterprise Ireland to address some of these critical challenges with a view to improving the lives and health of Irish citizens.”

Search for Robert Murray missing from Galway city

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January 14, 2019

Galway Daily news search underway for Robert Murray last seen on Thursday

A search is underway to locate Robert Murray who hasn’t been seen since last Thursday.

Robert Murray was last seen in Galway city last Thursday, January 10 near Shop Street around 5:30pm.

According to friends, when Rob was last seen on Thursday afternoon he was wearing a dark blue jacket and jeans.

His family are said to be very worried as it’s not like him to be out of contact for this long.

Major searches have been underway of the coastline around Galway over the weekend by the Oranmore Maree Coastal Search Unit related to a separate incident.

But the search did not find any sign of Rob or any other person.

There has been a massive response on social media with a major drive to locate Rob.

Anyone with any information on Robert Murray has been asked to contact Mill st garda station at 091 538 000.

New initiative to reduce marine waste will help protect Kinvara coastline

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January 13, 2019

Galway Daily news Pieta House sunrise appeal

A new initiative set up to encourage the reduction of marine waste will help protect coastlines of places such as Kinvara from the blight of plastic debris.

That’s according to East Galway TD Ciaran Cannon who welcomed the announcement of the Clean Oceans Initiative, which encourages fishermen to recover as much plastic as possible from the seas around Ireland.

Minister Cannon’s colleague Minister Creed called for the participation of the entire Irish trawl fishing fleet in the scheme by 31 December 2019.

They want all Irish trawlers at every pier and every port actively participating in Ireland’s first co-ordinated initiative on land and at sea to collect, reduce and reuse marine litter and clean up the marine environment.

Minister Cannon said: “Fishermen have a strong understanding of the marine environment and a key role to play in in recovering discarded plastics from the oceans.

“Our fishing vessels are towing nets through the waters around our coast on a daily basis and often find debris, including waste plastics, when the nets are hauled.

“Funding has been made available under Ireland’s European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) to support the new initiative to provide on-board storage facilities and on-shore infrastructure for environmentally friendly disposal of all plastics, waste, ghost fishing gear, etc. recovered at sea.

“The on-shore infrastructure will also be available to fishermen and aquaculture operators to dispose of unwanted fishing gear and other items with a plastic content.”

Home care waiting lists improve in the west but still colossal

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January 13, 2019

The number of people in the west of Ireland waiting for home care packages from the HSE has shown improvement, but it still far too large.

There were 1,205 people waiting for home care supports in the are covering Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon in October, the latest figures available, down from 1,525 last May.

According to information provided to Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall by the Health Service Executive.

That’s second only to the area covering Dublin North, North Central, and North West where there are 1,567 people on a waiting list for home care.

While Galway and the west may have seen improvement, the overall picture is somewhat grimmer as total waiting lists grew by more than 200 people to 6,324.

However many of the HSE’s Community Healthcare Organisations showed declining waiting lists, not just the west.

The increase was largely driven by CHO 9 (Dublin North, North Central, North West) which saw a colossal increase in the number of elderly people seeking support that drove up its waiting list by more than 600.

The shortest waiting lists in the country by a significant margin are in CHO 4 covering Cork/Kerry (166), and CHO 6 covering Wicklow, Dun Laoghaire, and Dublin South-East (212).

Deputy Shortall said that despite promises for increased funding for home care services, the situation was getting worse.

“When I first obtained these figures from the HSE more than six months ago I was appalled that over 6,100 vulnerable older people could be left waiting for such a basic service.”

“The Minister has repeatedly promised action on this issue, but the updated figures that I have received show that the situation has dis-improved,” she said.

Minister for Health Simon Harris announced last year that 550 additional home care packages would be funded as part of the HSE’s 2019 Winter Plan.

The latest update from the HSE on the Winter Plan in December said that €10.6 million had been allocated for additional packages.

Of those, 346 packages had been approved as of December 23, with a further 190 due to be allocated this month.

Deputy Shortall pointed out that it made no economic sense not to fund home care as it works out massively cheaper than having people in a nursing home or hospital bed.

According to her the average cost of home care works out at just €160 per person weekly, compared with €1,000 for a nursing home, or €6,000 for an acute hospital bed.

“Enabling older people to remain at home serves them best and is also a much more cost effective way for providing services,” she said.

“Many older people need only a minimum amount of day-to-day support that will allow them to live independently.”

Burger King start delivering to homes and offices in Galway City

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January 13, 2019

burger king galway delivery — OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Fans of the fast food favourite Burger King can now order straight to their home or office in Galway.

The new service is available seven days a week from 12 noon until 10pm on the Just Eat website and app.

The whopping new new partnership between Just Eat and Burger King is the latest in a series of new restaurant partner signings for Ireland’s leading food ordering and delivery service.

As the range of choice and a variety of flavours continues to grow for Galwegians, customers in Headford Road, Riverside, Ballybrit, Doughiska, Roscam, Renmore, Mervue, Ballinfoyle, Castlegar and Terryland will be the first to benefit from the initial phase of this roll-out.

Celebrating the announcement, Amanda Roche Kelly, MD at Just Eat Ireland, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Burger King in Galway to the Just Eat platform and remain committed to the continuous growth in the variety of options available to customers in the county.

“Adding Burger King to our offering was another first for the takeaway industry here in Ireland and we are proud to be able to extend this tasty new option to our loyal Galway users.

“Whether you want a burrito for brunch, a salad for lunch or a signature BK Whopper for dinner, we have it all on the Just Eat app.”

Check-out the menu here.

House prices could rise by 10 percent in Galway city this year

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January 13, 2019

galway daily news average rent in galway rooms for rent in galway city price

House prices could continue to see a meteoric rise this year by as much as 10 percent according to estimates.

The Sunday Times Property Price Guide 2019 is predicting that house prices in Galway city will rise between 8%-10%, with an average cost of €250,000 for a house.

Out in the county the guides predicts lower, but still substantial increases of up to 5%.

It predicts averages prices to vary significantly from town to town in county: Tuam (€146,000), Clifden (€102,500), Loughrea (€156,000).

In 2018 the average price of a house rose by 10.3 percent, while apartment prices went up by nearly 15 percent according to the guide, driven by investor activity.

It says the rising prices have been driven by low mortgage rates and on ongoing issue with low housing stock.

While the number of homes being built is starting to climb, its still not matching the 35,000 needed each year to meet demand.

Standard & Poor’s said house building was up 30% in the first half of 2018, but supply and demand aren’t expected to start to equalise until 2021.

Whereas previously growth had centred on Dublin, according to the guide last year prices increases in the rest of Ireland outstripped the capital.

Average house prices rose by 8.4 percent nationwide, but when you take Dublin out of the equation that goes up to 10.6 percent.

The county which is predicted to see the biggest jump in prices this year is Westmeath, where it’s estimated that a house in Athlone will cost and average of €165,000.

Overall prices are expected to go up by an average of 8 percent nationwide, more than twice the prediction for the capital.

However it warns that all of this is up in the air until the end of March, when the outcome of Brexit could stabilise fears, or plunge markets into chaos.

Plans progress for social housing development in Galway city

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January 13, 2019