Galway Bay FM is this week launching a new programme segment on the environment, to inform us all on how to make a difference in protecting the planet

‘Ours to Protect’ is a nationwide radio initiative, funded by Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound & Vision scheme.

It aims to tackle climate change and champion climate action and will be featured every Thursday for the next year on the morning current affairs programme Galway Talks

It will involve local community, voluntary, NGO and state organisation representatives to discuss topics such as the climate impact of Energy, Travel, Food, Waste, the Circular Economy and Biodiversity

The introductory programme airs this Thursday at 11:30am and presenter John Morley explains how listeners can get involved

An item in a recently published book again draws attention to an old debate about the precise boundaries of Connemara.

The book entitled “Connemara Chronicles – Tales from Iorras Aithneach” has a prologue written by the late author and environmentalist Tim Robinson which places the Twelve Bens mountain range at the apex of the region.

The lines from the song “The Connemara Rose” say that the region is “far west from Galway town”. The song is tuneful but what are the facts?

Maybe no one knows but the late author Tim Robinson cast a scholarly eye on the matter.

In one of his last literary projects -the translation of a book of folklore from Connemara by Judge Seán Forde recently published – Tim Robinson added a prologue entitled “Connemara – Time and Space”.

He went back to the Con Maicne Mara clan who held sway far west about a thousand years ago. Quoting the writings of Roderick O Flaherty in the 17th Century Robinson goes on to conclude as follows: “For me”, he says “Connemara is the land that looks upon the Twelve Bens, that close-knit, mandala-like mountain range, as its stubborn and reclusive heart”. End of quote.

In short, it could mean – if you can see the Twelve Bens, you are in Connemara.

And on this Bank Holiday weekend, thousands are heading in that direction in sunshine blazing from the Atlantic to the mountain tops.

Local TD Denis Naughten says action is urgently required to improve access to treatment for those suffering from rare diseases.

Speaking in the Dáil, he said despite the phrase, rare diseases are not actually that rare but Ireland does not have the expertise to treat many of these conditions.

Deputy Naughten outlined how Ireland is a member of a number of EU networks that offer improved access to treatment.

But he said patients’ medical records must be constantly updated to ensure they have access to the most up-to-date medical care.

Deputy Naughten argued the big problem is that at the moment, it is consultants who are carrying out this time-consuming process, pulling them away from patient care.