Inside Look | Issue 9

September 2021

A Welcome Note

Welcome to your September newsletter!

September heralds the arrival of Autumn and it is a lovely time of year. Autumn shows us that things change, crops ripen and harvest, plants and trees finish their growth for the year and prepare themselves for winter by shedding their dying leaves.

It creates a wonderful time for the senses, as leaves go through their stages changing from green to a variety reds and oranges giving tree’s that one last chance to glow brightly before winter makes them bare.

As always, plenty has been happening in the constituency and at national level.

This month was no different with visits to my constituency by an number of my colleagues including Minister for Housing, Darragh O'Brien, Minister for Mental Health, Mary Butler, Minister for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, and Government Chief Whip and Minister for Sport & Gaeltacht, Jack Chambers.

We are well and truly back to work at Leinster House and it is great to return in person to the Dáil Chambers.

My new constituency office in Athenry is, as anticipated, very busy and it is great to be in a position to meet with constituents, listen and provide support and assistance.

On an uplifting note September was a stellar month for sport with plenty of thoroughly entertaining action happening from court to course. For me, the highlight of the month was to return to Croke Park and see my beloved Galway will the All Ireland 2021.

I am an avid fan of camogie and hurling, and nothing gives me more pleasure than to see these elite athletes entertain and mesmerise with their skill and determination.

Hope you enjoy this month's updates. Next month will be full of Galway wins from Budget 2021!

Anne

Restored Meelick Weir and Walkway

Fantastic to have Ministers @DarraghOBrienTD & @noonan_malcolm in Galway to open the restored Meelick Weir and walkway. A fantastic amenity for the area and one which I’m sure will only grow in popularity now. @Galwaybayfmnews @CTribune

The weir was damaged in severe storms in 2009 and again in 2015/2016, when the walkway was also damaged and was subsequently closed.

The infrastructure links the historic village of Meelick in east Galway to Lusmagh in west Offaly and forms part of the Hymany Way and the Beara-Breifne Way walking trails. The weir was built in the 1840s as part of the Shannon Navigation. More than 300 metres in length, it has a 12-sluice barrage and maintains and regulates the navigation level for the section of the waterway between Athlone (Lough Ree) and Meelick (Lough Derg).

Construction work on the €3.2m Waterways Ireland project began in 2019 and included the restoration of the weir, its 300m walkway and new tilting weir gates, along with other weir refurbishments.

The new tilting weir system will be mechanised, meaning that staff will no longer have to manually install and remove the sluice boards in response to changing water levels.

I know this is very popular with local people and also provides a wonderful tourism opportunity for Galway, Offaly and Tipperary – the three counties that it borders. The restoration of the weir and walkway opens the potential for these historic structures to play an important role in tourism in the future.

The area surrounding Meelick Weir is also of huge historical significance, with Victoria Lock and its lock-keeper’s house, and Meelick Martello, located on Moran Island, all included on the Record of Protected Structures. Meelick Martello is a recorded monument in the care of Waterways Ireland. Nearby Meelick Church, meanwhile, dates back to the 1400s.

In terms of wildlife, it is within both the River Shannon Callows Special Area of Conservation and the Middle Shannon Callows Special Protection Area.

Meelick Weir is an iconic structure and I’m delighted that this restoration project is now complete. The weir is an extremely important piece of navigation infrastructure, enabling the management of water levels on the River Shannon for navigation, and also linking the counties of Offaly and Galway, and the provinces of Leinster and Connaught via the walkway. The systems built into the weir also ensure a safer working environment for our staff.

This is the largest project Waterways Ireland has undertaken since they restored the mainline of the Royal Canal and I would like to commend Waterways Ireland, who have worked diligently to deliver this ambitious project on budget in very challenging times.

Full Resumption of Disability Services

I am very pleased to announce that HSE funded disability day services will fully resume by October 22nd.

We are able to take these steps because our overall strategy is working and it is now safe for day services to increase capacity.

I know how much this means to every person who can now look forward to enjoying normal times with friends and spending time doing what they enjoy again. I want to thank families and carers for the support they have given their loved ones throughout this very difficult period.

I also wish to thank the staff of day service providers for their dedication and commitment in providing support to people with disabilities. There are many unsung heroes in disability services, and I want to assure them that I have seen the huge efforts made to ensure that life has been as normal as possible for some of the most vulnerable in our society.

Infection prevention and control measures that have been introduced to support the safe delivery of adult disability day services since the onset of COVID 19 will remain in place after October 22nd

These arrangements include risk assessments, enhanced environmental hygiene, and pod like arrangements in day service locations. Mask wearing will remain in place in day services, except for those who are exempt from wearing a face covering.

€4.6m under second round of Strengthening Disability Services funding

Delighted to announced the latest tranche of successful applications to the €20 million Strengthening Disability Services Fund. The 36 projects approved total over €4.6 million in funding.

Announced as part of Budget 2021, the one-off grants are being provided to reform disability services, build the capacity of disability organisations and to improve the quality of life of those who rely on these services.

The fund will be used in a variety of ways, including the development of facilities, progressing wellbeing programmes, provision of counsellor/ psychotherapy services as well as other essential projects.

I am delighted that people with disabilities will be the clear beneficiaries of the funding that the Government has provided, it is my priority that our disability services are first and fore-most person-centred.

This latest tranche of funding will see funding for bespoke projects for people with different types of disability, for people at home, in residential settings as well as tailored changes to some services, including respite, to better meet the needs of the service user. These grants will further bolster our voluntary disability service providers and help them meet the challenges they may face in delivering services.

I am proud to have ensured the creation of this fund, which came on top of an additional €100m for disability services in 2021, and I will be following the progress of these items closely to see the realisation of benefits for service users.

People with disabilities have been disproportionately affected by the COVID crisis, and this funding will be of some benefit to ensure that innovative and essential services are improving to meet the needs and demands of service users.

Towards Work, Your Journey to employment

Towards Work is the central point for people with disabilities in Ireland to access resources and support in your journey towards employment or entrepreneurship.

Whether you are looking for further training and skill development, CV preparation advice, mentorship or accessibility aids, you can access a range of supports leading to successful employment. The Entrepreneurship section includes useful information for anyone looking to become self-employed, including grants, training resources and case studies.

A Forgotten Polish Hero of the Great Irish Famine

“No pen can describe the distress by which I am surrounded,” Pawel Edmund Strzelecki wrote while in Mayo in February 1847 - a time when Ireland was in the throes of the Great Famine.

Thankfully, Ireland has moved on many leaps and bounds since then and although the role Strzelecki played is sometimes overlooked in the history books, I’m proud he’s being remembered here in the Irish Workhouse Centre Portumna with such a powerful exhibition.

Portumna is an ideal location to remember Pawel Strzelecki because we’re lucky to have a vibrant Polish community here. Men and women from across Poland have made Portumna their home and their contribution branches into various aspects of life - from social to sports to cultural.

Such integration adds vitality to the community and helps provide a more multi-cultural experience for all of Portumna. And that is something to be proud of.

The Great Famine was one of the darkest periods in Ireland’s history. The conditions people were living under were some of the bleakest we could imagine. For many, death was merely a meal away.

Strzelecki could see this and, once appointed as the main agent of the British Relief Association in 1847, he greatly reduced the destitution being endured by families across the region. He ensured starving children were being fed, clothed and that basic hygiene was being promoted.

His approach was visionary, and by distributing daily rations through schools, he gave young children a fighting chance and we cannot underestimate the difference this made.

Even when the British Government ceased their famine relief in 1847, so strong was the humanitarian DNA in Strzelecki, that he stayed in Ireland until 1949 to help those most in need.

This exhibition provides us with an insight into not only the monumental work of Strzelecki but what life was like for people at the time. We can see just how stark their lives were, the struggles they faced.

Strzelecki shed light on the darkness of our country and it was his sheer determination and selflessness that ensured the outside world knew of the plight facing the Irish people.

When we cast an eye back over the histories of both Ireland and Poland, there are many similarities and shared experiences. Pawel Strzelecki is another aspect to this shared past.

It’s important we remember Strzelecki’s legacy and this exhibition helps bring to the fore, the impact he had on this nation and it’s something that should never be forgotten.

I’m also sure it instils a sense of pride in the Polish community here that one their ancestors played such an important role in the survival of countless children and their families across the West of Ireland.

A big thank you to Donal Burke, Manager of the Irish Workhouse and his team in the workhouse for developing the exhibition space and for organising the event. They’re a wonderful team who are passionate about their work and the continued development of the Irish Workhouse, which is such a wonderful asset to Portumna.

My final thank you is to the people of Poland for giving us Pawel Strzelecki at a time when we were on our knees. He fed the children of this county when nobody else seemed to care and for that, we are eternally grateful.

Gort, Ballinasloe and Portumna form a Galway Entente Cordiale

Delighted to see Gort, Ballinasloe and Portumna come together to form a Galway entente cordiale and be successful in their pitch for funding from Grow Remote.

Their goal is to create connection of remote working in the west and midwest and:

raise the awareness of remote working within the area as a core element of thriving community
surface and connect remote workers
focus on the younger cohort for whom isolation has been a particular challenge

The Grow Remote Community Fund supports innovative ideas which aim to activate the power of remote work locally.

As we emerge into the next phase of remote working in Ireland, Grow Remote made a €10,000 fund available to support the most creative and transformative project ideas coming from within our community.

The projects must achieve one or more of these four aims:

Make visible the thousands of remote jobs open and available to local communities today
Enable Remote workers to actively participate locally
Promote and advocate for remote working in your local community
Reduce isolation of remote workers

Grow Remote - 1st Meet-up Gort

In a series of Grow Remote events for Ballinasloe, Gort and Portumna, the newly formed Galway entente have announced three events.

The first event kicked off in Gort with a Historical Walking Tour of Gort followed by event at the Lady Gregory Hotel.

The event was expertly organised by Laura Tannian, Enterprise Development Manager at Forge Works and Chapter Leader for Grow Remote.

Gort, like every town and village in Ireland, has its heritage hidden in plain sight. Séan O'Connor shared his knowledge to an enraptured audience.

Did you know?

Gort once had its own currency. There were around 600 people living here in 1800 when the houses were first built. The houses on Boland’s lane were built by the Boland family who were wealthy landlords and shopkeepers with land in Lough Cutra.

The family acquired the leases for all the houses on the lane in 1834. The Bolands were an unusual Irish family, even by modern standards, in that they had their money coined, the Bolands coin!

As such, they were recorded as the first bankers in Gort. As a lot of people in the town worked for this family and were paid with Bolands money, they had no choice but to spend their wages in Bolands shops! This type of system was quite common in America at the time but not in Ireland.

Brent Mostert, Architect with Galway County Council also spoke about the iconic Christ the King monument in the town square.

The evening ended with a meeting of local remote workers at the Lady Gregory Hotel. Well done Laura!

Upcoming Events

Portumna
Ballinasloe

Rethink Ireland - The Equality Fund

The Equality Fund was set up in 2018 by The Peter Kinney and Lisa Sandquist Foundation in conjunction with Rethink Ireland to support marginalised communities in their struggle for a more just society.

The Equality Fund receives match funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development, and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to further these goals.

The funding is based on a belief that solutions to combat systemic inequalities must come from the affected communities.

Make Way Day

Delighted to support for the ‘Make Way Day’ campaign taking place on Friday 24 September 2021.

This is a Disability Federation Ireland (DFI) led initiative, working in collaboration with local government, the voluntary sector and the Roads Policing Unit of An Garda Síochána.

‘Make Way Day’ asks all members of the community to consider the needs of people with disabilities in the public spaces we all use and share. This is particularly relevant at a time that we are using our open spaces more than we have ever done.

Members of the public are invited to be mindful of obstacles on footpaths, such as cars and bikes illegally parked, or bins obstructing the way, and to highlight them using the ‘Make Way Day’ online tool or on social media.

This is a way for those living with a disability to shine a light on a common problem they experience as they go about their daily life. Equally, it is a great way for the wider community to become more mindful of the needs of our neighbours, friends, and fellow citizens and to gain insight into how people with disabilities sometimes face obstacles to their mobility and freedom.

Government Chief Whip and Minister for Sport visits a series of Galway Sports Clubs

New Meals on Wheels Network Interactive Service Map Launched

A new online map which will allow people to find their nearest Meals on Wheels service has gone live.

The interactive map is part of the new mealsonwheelsnetwork.ie website developed by Irish Rural Link. It also contains information on other local services which could be of use to people living alone or vulnerable people.

Over 250 providers of Meals on Wheels were identified by Irish Rural Link during their needs assessment process while they developed the new map and website.

The facility is part-funded by the HSE, while also relying on fundraising and voluntary time given by hundreds of people around the country, and essentially involves hot meals being home-delivered to elderly or vulnerable people living alone, on a regular basis.

The interactive map is the first of its kind in Ireland for Meals on Wheels.

Galway Community Café | A Safe Place to Talk

Galway Community Café is a free out-of-hours adult mental health service designed and run by people with lived experience of mental health challenges, and / or supporting those with lived experience.

The café provides a safe, non-judgemental place for individuals to come and have a chat with a trained member of staff. Our team have lived experience of using mental health services and can provide peer support or signposting for customers experiencing emotional distress.

How does it work?

The café is an open space which individuals are invited into. Due to Covid-19 guidelines, we are currently operating on an appointment basis – you can book a table or space here

When you arrive, you are greeted at the door by our team lead, welcomed and invited in, where you can then choose a space in our café.

On the tables, we have our menu which goes through a list of options you can choose from, whether you want to ask a question, talk to someone or even have a space to sit quietly, with or without someone. We also have the option for tea, coffee, water or hot chocolate free of charge.

If you choose to chat to someone, our team of peer connectors are here to listen and chat with you, whatever you may be going through.

Galway - All Ireland Champions

On the day that the first Galway team to ever win the O’Duffy Cup was honoured, the Tribeswomen returned to the top of the tree for the fourth time, when just outstaying the same opposition that fell victim to the county’s trailblazers in 1996.

It was Siobhán McGrath who scored the crucial goal when Sarsfields ended Slaughtneil’s dominance as All-Ireland Club champions in 2020 and the flying forward came up with the defining major once again.

It was a game befitting an All-Ireland final with phenomenal quality in terms of physicality, skill and stamina and while it could have gone either way with a different bounce of a ball or the difference of a blocked pass here or there, it was difficult to argue against the eventual result given how Galway had led for most of the affair.

It was an absolute pleasure for me to attend the match with my daughters avid Galway fans and camogie players.