Cllr Alan Harney has been appointed as the Fine Gael disability champion on Galway County Council. “I am very pleased to be in a position to take on this new role working with my colleague the Minister for Disability Hildegarde Naughton TD.” He states.

“The role will focus on what we can do at local authority level to ensure that those with disabilities can participate fully in society. That is practical things like accessibility and raising awareness of disability issues. I think it is particularly important to recognise that many people in our community may be living with a disability which is not visible to others as some disabilities may be.”

“I will be working with our officials in Galway County Council to build on the work that was done by Accessibility Ballinasloe a number of years ago along with people in our community living with disabilities to ensure that we can improve accessibility in our public spaces”, he continued.

“As part of this work, we need to ensure that the public toilets at the bottom of St Michael’s Square are fully accessible once the upgrades there are completed.”

New Bus Route 548
Cllr Harney stated, “This new service will serve communities in New Inn, Kilconnell, Cappatagle, Ballinasloe, Creagh and into South Roscommon and on to Athlone with four services in each direction daily.”
“It will be a huge boost for rural connectivity in our area, and I know there is strong demand for the service and I hope now that it is in place it will be well utilised. I know too that demand is there for students in Colaiste Chiarain in Athlone and it will provide transport options for them also.”
“A stop at Portiuncula Hospital is not currently on the Schedule, I hope that this can be included in future changes. I want to thank Local Link Galway and Transport for Ireland who have heard the calls for an improved bus service in our area following the loss of the Aircoach and Bus Éireann Services. I also want to pay tribute to the many people in our community who have been campaigning for the restoration of bus services over this period also”, he concluded.

Progress on St Brigid’s Hospital
A property agent is due to be appointed to facilitate the sale of the main St Brigid’s Hospital Campus.
“In the short term, following my representations, I expect the HSE to deliver a plan for the clean-up of the campus. I want to thank our officials in Galway County Council who have been engaging on this over the last number of months. It it’s important that we see progress to improve the real derelict look of the buildings and remove the weeds. We also need to see temporary coverings put on the roofs to weatherproof the buildings. I hope we can get progress on this soon”, he states.
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The HSE has confirmed to Alan that they are to develop and enhance the community care hub on the retained lands at the St Enda’s side of St Brigid’s. Phase one will be accommodated in existing buildings, including ICPOP - integrated care programme for older persons, chronic disease management, community health network, primary care team, diagnostic services, home support team and GP suite.
Phase 2 will require a larger capital investment and will include the children’s disability network team, older persons memory and assessment services, audiology services, dental services, paediatric services, addiction services, adult mental health team and day hospital, CAMHs team and day hospital, health and wellbeing services, the National Ambulance service and maintenance.

“Even thought is a little down the road - it is a really exciting vision for the delivery of health services on the St Brigid’s campus into the future. In particular the potential to once again develop mental health and addiction services is very positive and something I would like to see prioritised to address the defecit.”, he concluded.
Cllr Alan Harney has said that the new anti-social behaviour taskforce for town should be set up without delay following regulations being signed for new community safety partnerships at county level across the country.



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Spending a penny on Ballinasloe’s public toilets is long overdue, an early summer meeting of area councillors was informed! Cllr Evelyn Parson (Ind) described the state of the toilet block at St Michael’s carpark in the town as “totally unsatisfactory” and reiterated previous calls for investment in an upgrade – and to make the toilets accessible to people with disabilities. “This has been a bugbear of mine since I came into the Council, I know there has been funding sought from the Community Recognition Fund. If it doesn’t get funding from that, we must get it elsewhere,” said Cllr Parsons.

Ballinasloe has one of the largest populations of older people in the county, she said, and a significant number of people living with varying levels of disability. For these reasons alone, there should be an accessible public toilet in the town.

“At 32.6 per cent, one of the highest numbers of old-age in the county – there is a significant number of older people living here. We have a disability rate that is higher than the average in the State. We have more reason than any other place to have a public toilet,” said Cllr Parsons, adding that the condition of the existing toilets was appalling. We are a hospital town,” said Cllr Parsons referring to the number of patients visiting Ballinasloe to go to Portiuncula.

Cllr Dermot Connolly (SF) explained how “We got representations from a husband and wife who had used both zones. It is highly outdated – it needs to be at least retiled and replumbed. We’re not looking for the bicycle shed but we do want people to be able to use the toilets,” said Cllr Connelly, referring to the €335,000 Dáil bicycle shed.

llr Alan Harney (FG) said it was “clear for all to see” that the current toilets were not fit for purpose. Senior Executive Engineer Derek Troy said every effort was being made to secure the money required to upgrade the toilets. The Minister Confirmed a grant of €125,000 towards the costs of the refurbishment project in early June from the Community Recognition Fund. “

llr Dr. Evelyn Parsons welcomed the news “I’m delighted to see this long-awaited project moving forward! A major priority for accessibility and modern facilities which I have consistently promoted since joining the council for accessibility and inclusion. After sustained work and I submitted a CRF EOI proposal last year, progressed through a strong application from Municipal engineer team to successful funding of €125,000”

Thanks to the local team, a draft layout for the St Michael’s Square public toilets upgrade is now prepared and is available for community feedback.  Dublin City Council announced plans to go to tender earlier this month to build new four cubicle toilets – similar to what’s proposed for Design and Capital outlay at a cool €1.3 million each!! If you’re part of a local group or have an interest in the project, please take a look and share your thoughts. Deadline for feedback is August 1 but if there’s broad agreement, the project will proceed to procurement