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Anne Rabbitte TD Minister of State at Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth - Galway East

Minister of State - Anne Rabbitte - INSIDE LOOK - SPECIAL EDITION - August 2022

Published over 1 year ago • 13 min read

A Chara

I hope you are feeling well and safe.

It has been a whirlwind of a year here in my work both with the Department of Health, in my role as Minister for Disabilities and Inclusion and, locally in our constituency.

As we approach Budget 2023, I think now is the perfect time to update you on developments at both government level and progress in our constituency of East Galway.

I was delighted to have three senior ministers visit our constituency recently, including the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien, the Minister for Minister for Social Protection and Rural & Community Development, Heather Humphreys, and the Minister for Sport, Jack Chambers.

I work closely with all three Ministers in my day to day with the goal of ensuring the Galway East is front and centre of all funding allocations and supports.

At times, I need to draw on my days as a camogie player to know when to rise the ball, move left or right hop it and strike! But rest assured, when the ball is struck, I ensure I am laser focused and it makes it way firmly into the back of the net.

Galway's Fair Share has always and will continue to be my mantra, be it with my discussions with An Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, An Tanaiste, Leo Vradkar and all of my colleagues within government.

I hope you enjoy my latest newsletter, briefing you on my work at local level, government level and International visits representing my country, including updates on delivering for Galway.

Stay safe, and should you need my help in any way, do not hesitate to contact me.

Anne


Constituency News

Housing for All


New Disability Services opens in Portumna and Gort

It was an honour to open two new disability services around the constituency in recent months. The first

was a new respite house in Peterswell, Gort. This provides overnight respite for up to 4-5 families per night and is a major boost to the area as respite is such a crucial support.

I also was delighted to open a new Day Service Hub in Portumna earlier this year, which is being

operated by Ability West. This ensures people with disabilities have access to services on their doorstep, as well as being to live and access the community they know.

I hope this is one of many such services to open across Galway in the months and years ahead.


291,000 for Galway Disability Service Vehicles

I was delighted to welcome the allocation of €291,750 to three disability services across Galway to fund the purchase of seven new and replacement vehicles to support people with disabilities accessing their services.

The funding forms part of an €8 million package for disability services across the country I announced at the end of 2021.

The funding is being used to purchase people carriers, saloons or whatever vehicle is required to support people with disabilities to move to and from services.

The funding for Galway services includes €150,000 for Ability West, €125,000 for Brothers of Charity Galway and €16,750 for Cheshire Galway.

These vehicles should be up and running at this point and will provide additional capacity for


Major investment in Galway sports as €10.2 million allocated for Galway under Sports Capital and Equipment Programme.

The money will fund the provision of a wide variety of initiatives, including grounds maintenance machinery and equipment, gyms, pitch resurfacing, lighting, and capital projects such as new dressing rooms gyms.

The funding is spread across a wide variety of sports, from GAA to golf, from tennis to Camóige and from rugby to running and judo.

This is a major boost to facilities across communities in Galway and is indicative of how important sport is in every community in the county. These clubs and organisations are the backbone of many communities – it is what binds them.

It is also great to see Galway clubs receive funding for projects deemed to be of “regional” significance.

This is indicative of the scale of some of the projects and facilities being developed, including Moanbaun in Athenry - a joint venture between Athenry Association Football Club and Athenry Athletics Clubs - which is receiving €300,000 for the provision of a regional eight lane running track, the Galway County Board has been allocated €297,073 for the redevelopment of Tuam Stadium – which has been long called for - and the Galway Camogie Board have been granted €35,788 for ball stop netting and the completion of works on dressing rooms.

I have been working closely with my Fianna Fáil colleague and Minister for Sport, Jack Chambers, to ensure Galway receives its fair share of the funding and I think today’s good news for Galway reflects this.

Minister Chambers has visited Galway twice in the last 12 month so has gotten to see first-hand the hard work being put in to bolster clubs and organisations across the county so he knows the importance of this funding and how far it can go.

Kudos is due to the clubs and the people behind the applications. There is a lot of paperwork and time to get these projects over the line so I’m sure there were many sighs of relief when the announcements were made in February.


Minister for Sport, Jack Chambers, recent visit to my constituency


Minister Chambers, Cllr Connolly and former Leas Ceann Comhairle


Minister Chambers visit to Mountbellew.


Minister Chambers, Cllr Shelly Herterich Quinn with members of Colemanton FC


Delivering for Galway schools - Major developments in Education

Over the past number of months alone, there has been an amazing level of commitment given to schools building works across the Galway East constituency. It has been great to work with my Fianna Fáil colleague and Minister for Education, Norma Foley, to ensure that Galway receives its fair share of investment in education.

It was also great to have Minister Foley visit Galway late last year, including stops in Loughrea and Athenry. She got to see first hand the great work being done by teachers and school staff across the county, as well as the excitement of the children, and the need for continued investment in our schools.

Such investment will significantly impact all of Galway's children. It is vitally important that children can receive the best education they can in surroundings that are fit for purpose, with all the modern amenities needed.

I will continue to work with Minister Foley and the Department of Education to ensure a more inclusive education system, which continues to create opportunities for each of our children to build their own lives.

School

Building works

Gortanumera N S

  • 1x 80m2 Mainstream Classroom Plus ensuite & 1x WC for assisted users.
  • St. Teresa's Special School
  • A new eight classroom Special School.

Gort National School

Design being developed to ensure project is fully cost planned and can be prepared to lodge for statutory approvals.

S N na hEaglaise

  • Mechanical & Electrical Works
  • Kiltartan National School
  • 1x 80m2 Mainstream Classroom incl ensuite (total area incl walls and 95m2).
  • St Brendan's NS Loughrea
  • 4 x 15m² SET Classrooms and 1 mainstream to be attached to existing school building.
  • Dunmore Community School
  • 2 x MCR, 1 x 88.6m2 Music Room, 1 x 118.6 m2 Graphics Room, 2 SEN Base.
  • St. Brigid's School
  • External Environment Projects.

Ballinderreen Mxd NS

  • Replace existing boiler.
  • St Oliver Plunkett's NS
  • 1x 95m2 ensuite Mainstream Classroom, 1x 80m2 Prefab rental Sept 2022 - June 2024.
  • SN Ceathru na Laithigh, Brownsgrove, Tuam
  • Application for toilet facility and changing suite to accommodate children with special needs.
  • Tuam Primary School Campus

Trinity Primary School and Tuam Educate Together National School

The development of two schools consisting of a 41-classroom primary school including 5-classbase SEN and an 8 classroom primary school with 2-classbase SEN for Trinity Primary School and Tuam Educate Together National School respectively at Townparks/Parkmore, Dublin Road, Tuam being the reformatting, re-purposing and deep energy retrofit of an existing school and the construction of a new multi-storey school building and associated site works for both schools.

Scoil Naomh Eanna

New Build: Primary School - New 8 classroom school building including 1 Special Needs Unit with an approx. area of 1,886m².

Portumna Community School

  • 1 General Classroom,
  • 4 SET rooms,
  • 1 multimedia room,
  • 1 Science lab/Prep area,
  • 1 Home Economics room,
  • 1 Graphics room,
  • 1 Construction/Engineering/Tech room and prep area,
  • 2 Classroom SEN base.
  • Toilet Facilities.

LEAVING CERTIFICATE 2022


On Friday morning the wait ends for 63,383 former secondary school students as they take delivery of the 2022 Leaving Cert results.

While the format of the Leaving Cert was significantly altered during the pandemic — a system based on teachers’ estimates was used in 2020 while a hybrid option was adopted in 2021 — these formats were discarded this year and the class of ‘22 was the first in three years to sit a full set of Leaving Certificate examinations.

Once they get their results students will have to wait until Thursday, 8th September, when the CAO’s First Round Offers are issued, to find out if they were successful with their college applications.

This Friday, The Irish Times’ Results 2022 supplement will feature analysis of this year’s results along with CAO points trends from previous years for college planning and advice for those planning to embark on college life.

The following week, on Friday 9th September, The Irish Times will feature a special CAO First Round supplement on college options following the release of college offers the previous day.

This will include full first round points listings, analysis of trends, and advice on what next steps prospective students should take as they plan for third-level.

What then?

Students who have applied for a third-level place through the CAO will invariably seek to convert their Leaving Cert results into points.

They can do this by using the CAO’s points calculator at cao.ie/?page=points_calc or they can use a table such as the one below as a quick reference.

The results of the Leaving Certificate 2022 exams will be released through the Candidate Self-Service Portal (CCSP) by the State Examinations Commission at 10am on Friday, 2 September 2022.

You can read about how to view your exam script and appeal your results.

CAO round one offers will be made at 2pm on Thursday, 8 September 2022.

My website has a comprehensive page on Leaving Certificate 2022:

Leaving Certificate Resource Page

The goal of this page is to support Leaving Certificate students of 2022 with links that take you to specific information about the Calculated Grades, CAO, Apprenticeships, Wellbeing Resources to help and support Leaving Certificate 2022 students. We will be updating this page regularly so please feel free to bookmark.


€100 million investment in Boston Scientific

Global leader in medical device technology Boston Scientific unveiled a new €100 million expansion of its operations at Ballybrit in Galway.

BOSTON SCIENTIFIC ANNOUNCES €100M INVESTMENT IN GALWAY CAMPUS

https://bit.ly/3vl4ohR


Minister Humphreys visit to my constituency



€37 million in new funding for roads in Galway

The funding provided by the Department of Rural and Community Development will be complemented by a local financial contribution from landowners/ householders, as well as local authority resources.

Local connectivity is vital for rural communities and Government clearly recognises this.

The Local Improvement Scheme is an important source of funding for small non-public roads and laneways leading to homes and farms or to amenities such as lakes, rivers and beaches.

This funding will support the continued improvement of non-public roads and lanes that are not normally maintained by the local authorities.


Development Of State-of-the-art Enterprise And Remote Working Hub, Comworks, in Loughrea

As remote working increasingly becomes the norm, it was great to see the planned development of a new Enterprise and Co-working Hub in Loughrea.

Operated by Comworks and located in the Railway House building on Station Road in Loughrea, this state-of-the-art Hub is home to premium facilities such as

  • hot desks
  • permanent desks
  • privacy pods
  • team pods
  • meeting
  • conference and event spaces
  • break out spaces.

I understand there will also be a host of other educational business supports and seminars.

This is a prime location in Loughrea and will bring enormous value to the people who use it, as well as the town and more broadly, the towns, villages and townlands close by.


Galway Wild Geese make shortlist at .ie Awards 2022 and win award of €2,000 to continue their work

Galway Wild Geese were thrilled to have have been shortlisted in the Community Digital category of the .IE Digital Town Awards and receive a special commendation for their work.

The mission for Galway Wild Geese is to realise the full potential of the towns and villages of East Galway and connect the towns, villages and town-lands via the digital highway.

Through its digital project XPLORE LOCAL, local businesses are enabled to promote themselves via web and app features that encourage interaction, participation and insight.

This includes initiatives such as virtual tokens which can only be spent on goods and services within the community.

As part of its aim to create a ‘Climate Smart’ community, the Wild Geese work closely with the European Union and have been appointed Climate Change Ambassadors which means they will be supported to digitally promote and educate on climate action in more practical ways within the community.

.IE Digital Town has been developed to foster digital enhancement and adoption in Ireland – helping businesses, citizens and communities harness the benefits of the internet and to thrive online;

  • supporting remote working
  • tackling the digital divide
  • decentralisation and rural development
  • encouraging sustainability through an enhanced digital economy; to advocate for a strong internet ecosystem to enable a better Ireland online.

These ambitions are achieved by two specific pillars of activity currently underway.

IE Digital Town Blueprint

The second pillar of activity is the .IE Digital Town Blueprint. The goal is define a digital town, to develop the metrics to measure a town’s digital readiness; and quantify the effects of digital on a town’s local economy, society, and culture.

To help town leaders and policymakers embed their own digital town programmes and action plans in empirical data, .IE partnered has partnered with the DCU Irish Institute of Digital Business to fully explore the concept and value of the “digital town” through a comprehensive research project. It is the first research of its kind in Europe. You can read more about it here .IE Digital Town Blueprint page.


Minister Chambers visit to East Galway


Portumna Community Come Together to Raise Funds for Irish Emergency Alliance – Ukraine Humanitarian Relief

On Saturday, 9th April, 2022, Galway Wild Geese hosted a fundraiser at Portumna Market Square in aid of the Irish Emergency Alliance.

Donations of home baking, home made crafts, books, cds, albums, curios were provided by the community.

The Irish Emergency Alliance founded by 7 Irish Charities are founders including the charity Self Help Africa are on the border of Slovakia and Ukraine.

Ronan Scully reporting from the border between Ukraine and Slovakia, says his “heart and soul are broken” at what he is seeing.

We were delighted to raise over €2,000 euro and thanks to the generosity of all who donated and volunteered on the day. Special shout-out to Monika and Una!


Gort awarded €100,000 as part of first tranche of

Town Centre First Plans

I was pleased to welcome the allocation of 100,000 euros to Gort as part of the Government’s first ever Town Centre First Plans, which serve as a key to tackling dereliction and revitalising town centres.

Galway County Council is now working closely with local community groups, retailers and the other members of the ‘Town Team’ in devising and delivering on the objectives of a masterplan for the town.

The aim of this is to reimagine and revitalise Gort as it has so much potential that has gone untapped.

A masterplan for the town will give it the boost it needs for the years ahead.



Launch of Atlantic Technological University Galway


Launch of GMIT Innovation Centre


Launch of Portershed


Grow Remote Forest Meetup

Grow Remote - Lough Derg Chapter held a meet-up for remote workers at Portumna Forest Park.

The event was sponsored by Grow Remote. A forest picnic lunch catered for by the wonderful Lexis Hampers and Catering. This was an opportunity for community remote workers to discover fellow remote workers, share experiences and challenges.

Chapter Leaders were on hand to answer any questions on getting started, training opportunities, getting remote work-ready, job opportunities.

Employers interested in moving to remote-first were also invited to the event where Grow Remote Employer Partner Program information was shared.

Andrea Lippert, the founder of Andaire, provided an entertaining and insightful tour of Portumna Forest Park. Andrea is an artist, Qigong, Tai Chi, and meditation practitioner with many years of experience in life coaching.

After the picnic lunch, Andrea guided the group on a gentle walk, slowing down, getting aware of this amazing connection between flora and fauna of a forest, getting aware of these magnificent trees often much older than we are.

We forget that Ireland was once covered with trees, a squirrel could travel from Cork to Donegal without ever touching the ground, jumping from tree to tree. Only little is left today and maybe that makes our woodlands extra special.

Portumna Forest Park is a wonderful area to explore the world of forest and lake and Andrea will guide in this wonderful habitat while we chat about trees. Which trees here are native to Ireland? What are their special features? What is the connection between the Celtic Tree Calendar and Ogham writing? From Grimm’s fairy tales to the great Irish legends, stories are what bind it all together, nature and people and our connection to the land. Being out and about in the woods.

Grow Remote has a big ambition to change how employment spreads across Ireland. Grow Remote connects remote workers, companies, and local communities so that people can choose to work where they want to live, and not vice versa.

Grow Remote, through events and an ever-increasing network of local ‘Chapters’, bypasses traditional methods for creating employment opportunities in rural areas by equipping community leaders with the necessary tools and resources required to build a remote working ecosystem and connection between remote-jobs, at a national and international stage, remote workers and local communities at the local level.

It operates as a ‘Meitheal’ - the old way of working in rural Ireland where everyone becomes part of the solution, helping support the economic and social revolution of Irish villages and rural towns ensuring rural communities are more viable, sustainable, and vibrant.

Learn more about GROW REMOTE


Meeting with Men's Shed CEO, Enda Egan, in Portumna


Interns 2022


AN TAOISEACH VISIT TO EASYFIX


Department of Health

Disability Participation & Awareness Fund

Minister Rabbitte Opens The First Funding Call For The Disability Participation And Awareness Fund 2021 | Annerabbitte https://bit.ly/3piE5aM


Inclusion & Disability Labs

Visting Down Syndrome Ireland - North East Visit Co Cavan & Co Monaghan

Visiting Co. Clare Disability Services 2022

Dulick Centre


Delighted to Officially open the new of CT Scanning Suite at Cappagh Hospital in conjunction with Deptuty McAuliffe

Officially launched the National Autism telephone line in conjunction with Minister James Browne

Officially opened 1st Prader-Willis residential house in Wexford.

Visiting CUMAS NEW ROSS along with Minister Browne and Cllr Sheehan

CHO Disability Funding


International Engagements meeting with the WHO

Geneva Copenhagen

Paris

Romania

Bucharest

World Summit of Women 2021 Lisbon

Disability Participation And Awareness Fund - Minister Rabbitte Opens The First Funding Call For The Disability Participation And Awareness Fund 2021 | Annerabbitte https://bit.ly/3piE5aM

Delivering in Government


Countdown to Budget 2023


Anne Rabbitte TD Minister of State at Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth - Galway East

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