ACT for Meningitis are lacing up the runners and want you to do the same next month at the fourth annual Remembering Aoibhe Renville Challenge in Oranmore.

The charity aims to raise awareness and educate society about the signs and symptoms of meningitis while offering free support services in Ireland to those affected by the disease

On Sunday 8th April, the ACT for Meningitis annual sporting event will honour her tenth anniversary.

The charity is calling on those who are there every year and of course those who have never been to ensure they make it this year.

This year’s race line-up includes a 5k fully time-chipped run/walk at 11am and an exciting 3k/16k/3k Duathlon at 3pm, and this year to mark Aoibhe’s 10th anniversary, there will be a 2.5k Junior Race at 10am.

This all takes place at the picturesque Renville Park in Oranmore, overlooking Galway Bay.

Take part in any of the events on the day and every cent of registration fee goes directly to the charity to enable them to continue to support anyone in Ireland affected by Meningitis while raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of this life changing disease.

The Remembering Aoibhe Renville Challenge is held each year close to the anniversary of precious Aoibhe Carroll, (daughter of ACT founders Siobhan and Noel Carroll) who sadly lost her life to Meningitis in 2008 at just four years of age, but ACT believe this is also a chance for everyone who has lost a loved one to come out and take on a personal challenge in their memory.

Aoibhe was a beautiful, happy little 4-year-old girl who loved every minute of her life and touched the hearts of everyone she met.

On April 8th, the weekend of Aoibhes 10th anniversary, you can run, cycle, walk or even crawl around her favourite park to remember her and raise funds to continue to do the lifesaving work being carried out at ACT for Meningitis, which is her legacy.

All events are measured and are time chipped. Registration is open at www.iregister.ie/rarc.

The first 300 people to register will receive a specialised designed event sports top registered. Check out www.iregister.ie/v2/rarc/ or call Dawn on 091-380058.

Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West Éamon Ó Cuív has criticised the Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy for continuing to delay the reform of the Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme.

The scheme was introduced in January 2016 and a commitment was made to review it after one year, however the report has still not been published.

Deputy Ó Cuív described the scheme in its current form as ‘a complete failure’, with only a handful of houses being sold to tenants.

“I have been pursuing the Minister, urging him to make the scheme less restrictive.  A review which was carried out on the scheme has been completed and has been sitting on the Minister’s desk but it still has not been published, he said.

“Like so many reviews carried out by this government, no firm decisions have been made to reform the scheme to make it available to a greater number of people.

“I am once again calling on Minister Murphy to undertake the necessary reforms to allow tenants whose rent is up to date and whose repayments under the scheme would be no higher than their current rental payments to qualify to buy their home.

“This government appears to have an ideological hang up about creating schemes that are easily accessible.  Many of the schemes introduced over the past seven years have had a very low take-up as a result of the stringent criteria and excessive bureaucracy.  The Mortgage to Rent scheme is another example of this; it has had very few applications, mainly as a result of the over-restrictive rules which apply to it.

“Home ownership is still something that the majority of people aspire to and it adds considerably to the stability of the state. Furthermore, the proceeds from the sale of houses under the scheme can be used to build new social housing and reduce the current waiting lists.  If implemented properly this scheme should prove a win-win but if it continues in its current form it will only pose challenges for local authority tenants who want to buy their homes,” added Deputy Ó Cuív.

Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte has called on Minister Katherine Zappone to outline the course of action she will take to address the serious concerns raised regarding the handling of referrals by Tusla.

The comments were made following a report aired on RTE’s This Week Programme yesterday on which Grainia Long of the ISPCC raised serious concerns with the functioning of Tusla services in the Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary region.

The report found that Tusla was non-compliant in 5 out of 6 of its own national standards.

The Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Children and Youth said: “The comments made by Grainia Long are deeply concerning and show that significant problems still remain with the operation of Tusla services. It’s alarming that Tusla has been deemed non-complaint with its own national standards.

“The report found that there is a serious problem with communication between Tusla and An Garda Síochána. Tusla has been slow to deal with referrals made by An Garda Síochána and bring about an intervention where necessary. Vulnerable children who are at risk of neglect or abuse are falling between the cracks as a result of this.

“This has been a long running problem, but we have seen little in the way of action from Minister Zappone. One of the key issues is the lack of accountability within Tusla when it comes to the handling of referrals. There is no mechanism in place to ensure all referrals are appropriately dealt with in a timely manner as soon as they are made. Tusla needs a new ICT system to allow for this, but Minister Zappone has failed to deliver the changes that are necessary.

“There have been numerous reports published which expose serious problems in the manner in which Tusla handles referrals. This issue arose 6 years ago following a review of Tusla services and was discussed more recently at a meeting of the Policing Authority held on February 26th last.

“We are still waiting for decisive action by Government. Minister Zappone needs to set out a clear plan of action to resolve what is a long running problem. In particular, we need to see Tusla provided with the ICT system it needs to properly manage referrals,” concluded Deputy Rabbitte.

Forty-five people are waiting on trolleys today at University Hospital Galway, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The number of patients on trolleys across the State today is 714, a new high.

University Hospital, Limerick is especially overcrowded,  with 80 people on trolleys.

UHG is the second most overcrowded in the country.