Breaking News
County councillor calls for NRA response to speed limit changes
Galway Bay fm newsroom – A county councillor is calling on the National Roads Authority to review and respond to the council’s suggestions regarding speed limit changes in the county.
Oranmore area councillor Jim Cuddy says the council has been dealing with the review of speed limits on national primary roads for the past number of years.
Councillors made amendments to a number of speed limits in a document supplied by the NRA in November, but have not yet received a response from the authority regarding the implementation of these changes.
Councillor Cuddy says the council cannot pass the necessary by-laws to give effect to speed limit changes until NRA approval is given.
Breaking News
Incidence rate for Covid 19 in Galway shows dramatic increase in December and early January

Galway Bay FM Newsroom – The Incidence rate for Covid 19 in Galway Electoral areas has seen a marked increase since August according to the Central Statistics Office with a dramatic increase throughout the month of December,
According to information released by the CSO, the incidence rate remained low in the county throughout the month of August with a slight increase reported in the Tuam and Connemara South Electoral Areas in Early September.
By the 21st of September, this increase in the Incidence rate had spread to The Loughrea, Kinvara and Athenry/Oranmore Local electoral areas with all reporting an incidence rate of 60-120 cases per 100,000.
At the end of Seprtember, Galway City reported an incidence rate of 120-240 cases per 100,000 bringing it in line wiith all other areas bar the Ballinasloe electoral area that still showed a low rate.
Throughout October, the numbers would rise throughout the county but fell throughout the month of November during which period, the country was in Level Five Lockdown.
However, the lifting of restrictions which began on the 1st of December, saw another increase in the incidence rate in the city and county and on the 11th of January, three areas, Tuam, Ballinasloe and Gort/Kinvara had incidence rates of over 960 cases per 100,000 with the remainder between 480 and 960 per 100,000.
Currently, the Incidence Rate For Galway Electoral Areas (per 100,000 people) is as follows:
Gort/Kinvara – 1467.8
Tuam – 1334.6
Galway City – 1090.4
Ballinasloe – 1077.9
Athenry/Oranmore – 974.6
Connamara South – 731
Loughrea – 577.1
Connamara North – 407.2
Breaking News
Galway County Council criticised in Dáil over lack of urgency in addressing links with Tuam Mother and Baby Home

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Galway County Council has been criticised in the Dáil for an alleged lack of urgency in addressing its historic links with the Tuam mother and baby home.
It’s as the local authority is due to discuss the issue at its plenary meeting on Monday and issue a statement.
Previously, the council said it was important to take time to read and consider the final report, while affording all those with a personal connection to the former home a similar opportunity.
However, Junior Minister and Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte told the Dáil she was ‘horrified’ to see the matter was way down the list of items on Monday’s agenda.
Addressing the Dáil, Fianna Fail Deputy Anne Rabbitte says the level of priority being given to the matter is unacceptable.
Breaking News
103 new cases in Galway, 2870 nationally and 52 further deaths from COVID-19

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 52 additional deaths related to COVID-19.
50* of these deaths occurred in January.
The median age of those who died is 82 years and the age range is 39-99 years.
There has been a total of 2,870 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.
As of midnight, Thursday 21st January, the HPSC has been notified of 2,371 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 184,279** confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
Of the cases notified today:
- 1,129 are men / 1,194 are women
- 57% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 40 years old
- 757 in Dublin, 237 in Cork, 154 in Waterford, 123 in Wexford, 114 in Louth, and the remaining 986 cases are spread across all other counties***.
As of 2pm today, 1,931 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 219 are in ICU. 78 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
“The ‘COVID-19 find-test-trace-isolate’ process is vital to our efforts. Our data is telling us that for a third of people, it’s 4 days or more from the time they first experience symptoms of COVID-19 to the time they get tested. We all need to contact our GP as soon as symptoms occur, so we can trace our contacts and prevent further infections.
“This weekend, we need everyone to stay the course with hand washing, covering coughs, wearing face coverings and keeping a 2m distance. In order to take care of each other, we need all to stay at home, except for essential reasons, to minimise the spread of COVID-19 to ourselves and our loved ones.”
The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.
ENDS//
*There are 2 deaths where the date of death is under investigation.
**Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 14 confirmed cases. The figure of 184,279 confirmed cases reflects this.
***County data should be considered provisional as the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting System (CIDR) is a dynamic system and case details are continually being validated and updated.
County | Today’s cases*** (to midnight 21Jan2021) | 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population (to 21Jan2021) | New Cases during last 14 days (to 21Jan2021) |
Ireland | 2,371 | 1,017.1 | 48,433 |
Monaghan | 90 | 1,974.4 | 1,212 |
Waterford | 154 | 1,567.4 | 1,821 |
Louth | 114 | 1,540.1 | 1,985 |
Wexford | 123 | 1,529.5 | 2,290 |
Mayo | 68 | 1,465.8 | 1,913 |
Carlow | 31 | 1,461.4 | 832 |
Limerick | 96 | 1,221.7 | 2,381 |
Dublin | 757 | 1,087.1 | 14,647 |
Cork | 237 | 1,002.8 | 5,444 |
Donegal | 32 | 975.6 | 1,553 |
Galway | 103 | 968.8 | 2,500 |
Cavan | 30 | 962.2 | 733 |
Clare | 35 | 914.0 | 1,086 |
Meath | 96 | 892.6 | 1,741 |
Kilkenny | 28 | 830.4 | 824 |
Tipperary | 67 | 829.2 | 1,323 |
Kildare | 95 | 782.0 | 1,740 |
Roscommon | 6 | 773.1 | 499 |
Laois | 17 | 763.9 | 647 |
Offaly | 15 | 676.0 | 527 |
Wicklow | 59 | 591.9 | 843 |
Kerry | 35 | 580.2 | 857 |
Sligo | 21 | 491.3 | 322 |
Westmeath | 32 | 478.8 | 425 |
Longford | 22 | 452.6 | 185 |
Leitrim | 8 | 321.4 | 103 |
7-day incidence 372.6
5-day moving average 2,315