Galway meeting told of road safety concerns

The need to continue to to promote the conditions that keep motor insurance premiums down, especially for young people, was highlighted to the Oireachtas joint committee on enterprise and business in Galway yesterday.

The meeting was also told of the importance of pressing ahead with the implementation of the national road safety strategy.

Opening the meeting at Garbally College, Ballinasloe, Minister for European Affairs Noel Treacy said: "The daily statistics of the carnage on our roads starkly portray a situation that appears to be worsening and the Government must not be deflected in our efforts to halt this worrying slide. However, it is, I believe, vital that we do not return to the situation that prevailed before the establishment of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board by me back in 1998."

Mr Treacy said that since its establishment in 2002, the joint committee on enterprise and small business has been one of the most productive and dynamic of the Oireachtas committees and he welcomed it to Ballinasloe.

The self-belief and confidence of the townspeople as well as the sterling work of organisations like the Ballinasloe area community development company, the chamber of commerce, the community council, the credit union, the town council, elected representatives, State agencies, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and Fás, among others, he said, had all helped the town to turn the corner after a very tough few years.

The recent announcement that 125 jobs were to be established by UCSI of Japan in the Creagh Road industrial park was a tremendous boost to the town, he said. He would be working with his Government colleagues and the IDA to continue developing the industrial park to attract further industry.

Seventeen small enterprises operate from the park, employing over 100 people. The next phase of the capital development plan would add 10 industrial units.

CEO of Supermac's, Pat McDonagh, a native of Ballinasloe, highlighted the fact that Galway had the worst roads in the country while significant investment in road infrastructure was being made in places like Limerick, Castlebar and Sligo.

He said law and order problems needed to be addressed in Galway like other areas of the country, and he called for an increased Garda presence in Eyre Square, particularly at weekends.

Mr McDonagh said Ballinasloe had gone through a rough period with the closure of a number of key industries due to foreign competition, but he was in no doubt that the town would recover.

Other speakers included Galway county manager Pat Gallagher and Séamus Bree of Enterprise Ireland.