Galway Advertiser 1994/1994_01_20/GA_20011994_E1_018.pdf 

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C O M M E N T

&

L E T T E R S

The Salthill Hardstand:

Salthill's Hardstand Protest
Dear Editor, The hardstand fiasco has gone on for the last six or seven years. Councillors are using it as cheap publicity and giving the taxpayer very poor value for money. The Councillors decided that each Ward would have a hardstand. But then came the biggest cow of all: build hardstands in all the Wards but the South, using " n o suitable site" as an excuse. Now when a suitable site is available, Councillor Cox does not agree that hardstands should be allocated on a Ward to Ward basis. My own opinion is thai there should be hardstands in built up areas of the city as there are plenty of suitable sites adjacent to the city that could be properly developed. What is happening now is Salthhill is looking to be racist toward the other Wards and the travelling community. Councillor O'Flaherty doesn't do If or the fairer sex any favours as she keeps falling off the wall. She has previously stated there must be a hardstand in the South Ward, but when there is one proposed and a suitable site she goes against it. Sadly 1 am used to the poppycock the politicians and councillors dish up, but I try to get my own back by not voting for them. Yours sincerely, Tom Waldron Galway.

Time To Talk

FIGURE SKATING IN GALWAY
AT THIS TIME in 1881 the ci ty of Galway was in the grip of a severe frost. The streets were in some places in a very dangerous condition, especially for pedestrians One correspondent wrote to the local newspapers recom mending that the Town Commissioners should have sawdust or turf dust scat tered to prevent accidents.
Of course, there were those who enjoyed the frost and skating became a great amuse ment at Menlo, Woodquay and Ballyloughan. The youngsters, however, were not confined to these centres. They made long slides along the city footpaths and so increased the hazards for the older and less agile citizens. The newspaper reported that there were a number of severe tumbles in the town and that about a half a dozen limbs were broken. Even a local justice of the peace, E.C. Burke, came a cropper in William Street and hurt his back. He was not able to sit on the bench for a week or more because of his injuries. There were no reports of deaths in the city because of the conditions but an accident on the lake at Loughrea did lead to the death of one of the young peo ple skating there. He was a four teen year old boy named Joseph Kevin. He seems to have tried to follow a wounded bird along the ice and it broke under him. In general it was considered that the frost in 1881 was the most severe experienced in the Galway area since 1854. The Corrib lake was reported as completely frozen and several skaters were reported as having gone on the ice as far as Annaghdown. There was criticism of young spoil sports at Renmore ponds who strewed the ice with stones. A special mention was made of the display of skating by Colonel Stevenson of the Royal Irish Rifles at Coolough. A number of army officers and their wives par ticipated in what was described

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AST night the Salthill residents held a meeting to express their deter mined opposition to the proposed hardstand to be built on the land donated by the Bishop of Galway, Dr. McLoughlin. In this week's Advertiser an interview is carried with Travellers Rights' campaigner, Margaret Sweeney in which she calls for a public debate to the held so that those who object to the hardstand can explain their objections to that section of the Galway community whose presence they are protesting against, the Travellers. Certainly one of the points Margaret Sweeney makes is an important one. Much of the concern and anxiety felt by Salthill residents is based on u lack of information regarding the other hardstands around the city, as well as limited experience of the Travelling community itself. As Mrs. Sweeney points out, and she is certainly not alone in what she says, the other three hardstands, which have been functioning for almost seven years, have been very successful. A few weeks ago this newspaper published a letter in which a resident in an area where a hardstand has existed for years praised the good neighbourliness shown by one of the Traveller families during a minor emergency. Stories like this could be multiplied. There is no room in this matter for any kind of moral posturing. Whatever the reasons may be, a number of Salthill residents are genuinely concerned about the prospect of a hardstand in their area. Mrs. Sweeney ask bluntly what Salthill residents are afraid of. This is not so difficult to specify: they are afraid of an influx of caravans, herds of wandering horses, of scrap metal and old, abandoned cars, of excessive drinking, fights, rowdiness, vandalism, and a lowering of the value of their properties because of the close proximi ty of a hardstand. Having spelled out the worst, it must be said that, on the example of the already existing hardstands, there is no evidence to support any of these fears. Even Cllr. Mulholland, who opposes the Salthill hardstand, admits that there is no evidence that property becomes less valuable because a hard stand is nearby. Cllr. Micheal O hUiguin has stated that there is no evidence that the current spate of vandalism has its origin with the Travelling community. Furthermore, the plans for the Salthill hardstand include strict regulations on the exclusion of horses from the grounds, as well as the requirement to maintain the site in a presentable state. Because of the barrier and the caretaker who will be in charge of the hardstand, there is no possibility of dozens of caravans parking at the site. Again taking into consideration the experience of residents near the other hard stands, there is no evidence that drinking, rowdiness and fights have ever figured, and besides, these things are by no means confined to the Travelling community. Finally, in addition to careful monitoring, any fami ly who goes into the Salthill hardstand has first to sign a binding agreement which is legally enforceable. There seem to be very adequate provision to ensure the smooth running of the proposed Salthill hardstand. And something surely needs to be done when one considers the appalling conditions at Hillside. The Salthill hards tand will have parking bays for the caravans of the six families who would live their, as well as excellent facilities for washing and cleaning, and a muchneeded space for recreation and homework. It is important to remember that those Traveller young people now growing up are entitled to the best the State and local government can provide. We have a new and energetic City Manager in Joe Gavin, who has pledg ed himself to deal with the Travelling community's situation. The Galway Advertiser enthusiastically welcomes Margaret Sweeney's call for an open public debate between all parties concerned. It is time to end the confrontation and begin the dialogue.

Dear Editor, Can anyone tell me why it takes a BBC film crew to come over her and expose the stomach-churning scenes of blooding greyhounds in Ireland? I saw the report on the main evening news on RTE late last week. P e o p l e involved in g r e y h o u n d racing will argue, I'm sure, that it is necessary to blood a hound in order to encourage the hound to chase the hare on the track. I have seen greyhound racing on T . V . and as far as I can make out, the dogs have no interest in the artificial hare at all while racing. If it is a basic instinct for the hound to chase prey, then it should not be necessary for them to be en couraged t o be blooded - it should be instinctive! I have never known of a dog that had to be encourag ed to mate! Why? It's in stinctive! The fact that they h a v e n ' t done it before doesn't matter. Greyhounds are and have been bred for centuries, therefore it comes naturally to them. A believer of the notion that fair play is good sport. (Name and Address with Editor)

The Scandal Phone Charges: A of "Blooding" Reply From Telecom
Dear Editor, A letter in your issue of January 6th raised the ques tion of reduced telephone charges over Christmas and the N e w Y e a r . O u r customers availed of the op portunity to contact relatives and friends, nationally and around the world, during the festive season, at reduced prices. The writer made his call from a "private" payphone. " P r i v a t e " payphoncs need to be reprogrammed so that users, such as the writer. can avail of the cheaper rates offered by Telecom at night, at weekends, and over Christmas. The question as to why the writer " d i d not get the 15 minutes for 11 pence" should be directed to the hotel in question or to the supplier of the payphone and not to Telecom Eireann. Yours sincerely, Peter Maxwell Deputy District Manager, Telecom Eireann, Galway.

Cancer - Not Enough Money for Prevention
stated in public. The fact is, as we approach the 21 st cen tury, unless you are lucky enough to develop one of the less common cancers such as Hodgkin's disease or choriocarcinoma, you are just as likely to die as you were FORTY years ago. So for C a n c e r ' , Galway much for scientific progress. Advertiser, January 13th). W h a t ' s more, mortality Ostensibly impressive and rates are going up, and this, reassuring, this statement is despite claims to the con in fact meaningless and trary, is not due to an age misleading. ing population (See Scien Consider that 50 per cent. tific American, January Though tnert " R o u n d n u m b e r s , " said 1994). S a m u e l J o h n s o n , " a r e are many fine people work always false", and this one ing on the cancer problem, is no exception. It may have not least those at Galway's some arithmetical validity - own NBCRI, the system as but cancer sufferers are not a whole has been stuck in numbers. The impression is the same technological rut given that (almost) half of for too long; there is no real ALL cancers are cured. innovation and very little is This is simply not true. It is being done in the area of disingenuous, and unscien prevention. The public is en tific, to mix statistics on all titled to value for money and forms of malignancy, from will not be persuaded by the people's troublesome moles to ad PR vanced liver cancers, into "breakthrough" anone homogeneous, benign nouncements forever. In the lump. To put it another way, US and UK, there is lively there is no such thing as an public discussion of this average cancer patient. issue, but no such debate is "This figure (the spurious taking place in this country5,0 per cent) is rising thanks It's about time that it did. to cancer research." No it Yours isn't. And that's official, Simon Comer though we never hear this Roscahill, C o . Galway. Dear Editor, According to Tom Hud son, C E O of the Irish Cancer Society, "today, almost 50 percent of those who develop cancer go on to lead normal lives and this figure is rising thanks to cancer research" ('Grants

Dear Editor, The fact that Bord na gCon " i g n o r e " the practice of blooding greyhounds (as reported in the Sunday Tribune 16/1/94) comes as no real surprise to those who are involved in trying to im prove animal welfare in this country. I daresay that other v o l u n t a r y organisations working for social o r en vironmental causes would agree as "Some very pretty combina with me. We are all tions '' figure skating. It was in sickened not just with the wanton cruelty inflicted on deed a memorable winter Irish wild and domestic perhaps comparable with the animals, but with this Irish great frost of 1739 mentioned attitude of brushing things by Hardiman when he claimed under the carpet in the hope that (he river was frozen from that they will go away. the bridge to the mouth of Lough Corrib. Then too there Martin A. Whyte was continual recreation on the Joint PRO, Galway ice. Society for the Prevention

Thomas P. O'Neill

of Cruelty to Animals.