Various animal welfare organisations in Galway will benefit from €82,000 in funding, Galway West TD Seán Kyne has confirmed.

The biggest beneficiary of this funding will be the Galway SPCA, which rehabilitates rescued and abandoned animals.

The Fine Gael TD expressed his belief that this funding from the Department of Agriculture will help the organisations continue their important work for the benefit of communities across the county.

The organisations to receive funding include:

Seán Kyne emphasized the importance of “upholding the highest animal welfare standards”.

He based this importance on his experience in farming and agriculture along with being the owner of a rescue dog.

The TD expressed his gratitude that Galway is home to various amounts of organisations who work to promote animal welfare.

It is ‘high time’ that the review into the line north of Athenry commenced, according to an East Galway TD.

Many now see the review as a ‘major stumbling block’ to the creation of ‘a new unifying force in the region’, said Minister Ciaran Cannon.

Commenting on the current situation, the Fine Gael TD said: “The many supporters of the Quiet Man Greenway in Athenry, Milltown and Tuam sit and watch while other regions and counties benefit from funding announcements for similar amenities and while we cheer these places on for their efforts, we simply want the same chance as all other greenway beneficiaries.

“This is not alone for sporting organisations but for local jobs, local health and local futures.

“It is high time that this review got underway and more to the point, high time that it got out of the way of progress. Minister Seán Canney, who demanded this review in the first place, needs to impress upon both Irish Rail and Minister Shane Ross the importance of bringing this review to a conclusion as quickly as possible.”

Peadar Tóibín’s new anti-abortion republican party will hold a public meeting in Galway next week as part of a series of meetings taking place across the country.

The TD will be speaking at the event which will take place in the Menlo Park Hotel, on Wednesday 16 January at 7.30pm.

Around 200 people attended a similar meeting in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal last night.

He says that he has been blown away by the level of support and that there has been an ‘avalanche of people’, from a Fianna Fáil or Sinn Féin background, who have got in contact about the new movement.

Many of these people are seriously frustrated that the leaderships of their parties do not represent them anymore, according to the Meath West TD.

Peadar Tóibín TD left Sinn Féin recently due to his opposition to abortion and the new party is also a left-leaning All-Ireland republican party but with strong pro-life views.

The ex-Sinn Féin TD said that it’s like ‘watching a pressure cooker valve being released at meetings’.

“People are saying that they have no one to vote for, that all the parties are uniform on so many issues. The truth is respectful opposition is not the enemy, it’s an important part of a health a democracy,” he said.

“People in housing crisis, who have health care issues and are struggling to makes ends meet want and need their issues to be crowbarred back up the political priority agenda.

“Yet the political establishment seem to be prioritising everything else but economic justice.

“We are an All-Ireland party. We seek the unity of the Irish people north and south. We seek the self-determination and Irish independence north and south.

“A seek to develop a broad inclusive organisation to achieve that. It is our view that that Sinn Féin has narrowed the space in which people can participate. We will be broader and much more welcoming.”

The new party believes that ‘all human life should be protected and that no mother or child should be left behind’.

“We seek to protect the most vulnerable in society at all stages of life. We believe that all of the necessary economic and social supports must be provided to mothers and families to ensure that they know that they can raise their children in confidence,” he added.