News
Horses’ carcasses left to rot in council-owned field
Residents of Ballybane in Galway are up in arms that two dead horses have been left to rot – one of them for more than four weeks – in a field owned by the City Council.
The stench from the two corpses has been overwhelming, forcing people to close their windows round the clock. The local authority field is near the local resource centre and playground and backs onto dozens of houses.
Both of the carcasses were dumped in the land-locked field and covered with rubbish and old carpets.
Resident Stephen Spelman said he reported the first horse to the Council’s environmental department a month ago. A staffer assured him the matter would be investigated.
When he telephoned a week later he was told that a warden had been dispatched to the field but was unable to find the equine corpse.
Mr Spelman said he went on holiday overseas and was shocked to discover on his return that not only was the carcass still there, a second one had joined it.
“You wouldn’t believe the foul smell. Even with the window closed, the smell comes in through the air vents – a decomposing body doesn’t smell too nice,” he remarked.
A spokesman for Galway City Council said a company which the local authority engages to deal with carcasses had advised them not to remove it due to health and safety concerns.
“We were told the remains would disintegrate and release gases which are not just noxious but dangerous. On their advice it was treated with a disinfecting chemical to quicken the process to dissipate the gases in order to remove the carcass,” he stated.
“A second carcass was discovered this morning. By the end of this week, they will both be removed by JCB.”
Later the spokesman said the horses would be removed by today.
“The control of horses is an ongoing issue across the city which our housing department are constantly monitoring and attempting to mitigate against. This is irresponsible behaviour of some animal owners,” he continued.
“We do keep on top of it as much as we can but it’s very difficult to monitor this, particularly when you have people dragging dead horses into a field and hiding them under a rock outcrop and under rubbish. It’s not very pleasant for our staff – or the people who live in the areas.”
Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – An extensive gorse fire in the Tonabrocky area this week – which raged for over 12 hours – at one stage threatened a number of houses in the area.
Fire Brigade resources were stretched as they battled on Wednesday evening to contain the fire which burned across several acres before being brought under control in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Fire brigade units from the city, Athenry and Carraroe fought the blaze, which at one point led to fears that residents in nearby houses would have to be evacuated.
Up to six fire tenders were involved in fighting the blaze which is thought to have started around 4 or 5pm on Wednesday – it was one of a series of gorse fires which occurred around the county over the course of the past week.
Fire Brigade personnel fought the blaze through the evening and into the early hours of the morning before eventually having it fully contained by 6am on Thursday morning.
The fire – which sent plumes of smoke several feet into the air and also across local roads – occurred at an area of commonage between Boleybeg and Tonabrocky.
Local councillor, John Connolly, has urged Galway City and County Councils to come together and launch an awareness’ campaign about the dangers of fires during extended periods of dry weather.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The HSE has paid €11.85 million for the building to house its new ‘Integrated Care Hub’ in Knockncacarra – which is €1.35m over the open market value of the office block.
Confidential HSE documentation seen by the Galway City Tribune shows that Block A in Galway West Business Park – the former Aviva Insurance building – was independently valued at €10.5m.
The HSE subsequently paid €11.85m for the property.
According to the documentation, the building will cost €14.85m to fit out – however, that figure was based on construction costs in February 2022 and is expected to rise again due to inflation. Just seven months prior to that estimate, the fit-out works were costed at €10.8m.
A planning application is currently being put together for a new ‘Enhanced Primary Care Centre’ in the building, which will house Primary Care Teams as well as a unit for chronic disease management. A total of 105 staff will be based there.
When the matter was brought to the Board of the HSE nationally, they were told the purchase price was €1.3m above market value.
The other option shortlisted by the HSE was a ‘new build’ on lands at Merlin Park – this was costed at €33.1m because it would involve “considerable site upgrade works” and would much longer to deliver.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Gardaí in the city are investigating two reported incidents over the weekend of indecent exposure and offensive sexual conduct – one of them at a beach in Salthill and the other in the Eyre Square area.
In the first of the incidents in Eyre Square on Friday last, a man approached a woman at around 5.30pm and exposed himself.
The woman reported the incident to the Gardaí who are carrying out an investigation into what happened.
The second incident – which is understood to be unrelated to the first one – occurred at a busy beach in Salthill on Bank Holiday Monday.
One mother who contacted the Galway City Tribune said that she saw a man ‘writhing up and down in the sand’ before putting his hand down in the front of his Bermuda shorts.
She said that about 10-minutes later, the man moved along to the next beach – which was also crowded with people – while another woman nearby, who saw the same actions, contacted the Gardai.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
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