New service will remove 2,000 freight trucks off the road

The Chief Executive of the Western Development Commission (WDC), Lisa McAllister has said that the new rail freight service from Ballina in Co. Mayo to Dublin Port demonstrates the economic viability of rail freight and highlights the many dynamic exportled industries in Mayo. The new service which will facilitate exports was introduced on August 19th and will initially run twice weekly between Dublin Port and Ballina. It is scheduled to increase to a daily service within six months.

Ms. McAllister said, “This is a major development towards reducing carbon footprint as all of the container equipment will be utilised on a ‘roundtrip’ basis, thereby removing both full and empty freight traffic from the Irish road network. Estimates indicate that the service will save up to 5.5 million road kilometres every year and will reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 2,750 tonnes.”

She said that statistics show that rail is also a safer mode of freight transport than road, and that initial volumes will see close to 2,000 truck movements between Dublin and Ballina removed from the roads annually.

Ms. Mc Allister said that the WDC was very pleased about the new rail freight service which will help the export-led growth which the country needs to get out of the downturn. The new service is a turnaround for rail freight traffic from the West, taking heavy goods vehicles off a congested road network.

As well as marking a return of container trains to Dublin Port, the new service also strengthens Ballina’s status as a major rail freight hub. The new service is in addition to the current Ballina to Waterford Port service (which goes via the Great Dublin Area) transporting pulpwood for Coillte from Ballina to Waterford.

The WDC has continually called for a reexamination of the opportunities for more rail freight, recognising its superior environmental record and superior safety record. Ms. Mc Allister said, “While Ireland, as a small island, is likely to have less potential for significant growth in rail freight, there is still scope to increase its modal share, thereby removing large volumes of trucks from the congested network (or minor roads) and utilising the rail network thereby generating revenue for Iarnród Éireann. Indeed it is likely that European policy will increasingly require us to examine options to promote rail freight.”

The WDC congratulated all those involved in working to explore rail freight options, particularly the Irish Exporters Association who facilitated the introduction of the new route.

Deirdre Frost, Policy Analyst at the WDC added, “Since the WDC was founded we have recognised that there is potential for more freight to be carried on our rail network. This type of new service shows that there is demand in the western region which will help further build the productive capacity of the region and allow the region to contribute to national economic growth. Our work has included submissions to the Strategic Rail Review and participation in the Expert Working Group on the Western Rail Corridor.”

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See www.wdc.ie for copies of various submissions made by the WDC on rail freight.

For further information please contact:

Angela Bane, Bane Mullarkey, 087 286 5217

The Western Development Commission (WDC) and Let’s Do It Galway have announced the winners of the LookWest.ie & Pix.ie Volvo Ocean Race Festival Photo Competition.

Ger Conran's Winning Photo

They have also announced that an exhibition of the best 100 photos will take place from Friday 21st August to Sunday 23rd August at Merchant’s Hall, 1 Merchant’s Road, Galway. Admission is free and the exhibition is open to the public from 10.00am to 6.00pm each day.

The overall winner is Ger Conran for his photograph of the entire Volvo Ocean Race fleet sailing on Galway Bay during the in-port racing over the weekend of May 30th and 31st. Second place went to Adi Tig, and third place to Ekaterina Petrova for their photographs which captured the fun and entertainment that took place during the festival.

The prizes, digital cameras, were presented by Mr Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs at a prize-giving ceremony in Galway.

Minister Ó Cuív said, “The Western Development Commission is keen to promote the creative sector in this part of the country, not just because of the inherent importance of the arts in our nation’s psyche and identity, but because it also has the potential to contribute to the sustainable long-term development of this predominantly rural region. Simply put, it makes economic sense to support creativity”.

Lisa McAllister WDC Chief Executive said, “The WDC was delighted to support the Galway Stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race by sponsoring the photo competition as this was a natural fit with our work to position the Western Region as Ireland’s hub for the creative industries. The photo competition and the Creative West Galway Art Trail, which took place in over 20 galleries around Galway during the festival, demonstrate the natural creativity of the Western Region.

Ms. McAllister added, “When international comparisons are factored in the Western Region has the potential to create at least an extra 2,000 jobs in the creative sector. The creative sector refers to those businesses which rely most on human creativity to generate economic value, ranging from TV production, music and theatre to architecture, graphic design and digital media. They are a significant economic contributor to the Western Region and the WDC believes that the sector can be grown considerably, even in these difficult economic times.”

Ms. McAllister said that the Western Region is perfectly positioned for further expansion within the creative sector as the region, by virtue of its natural beauty and quality of life, has long inspired a culture of creativity. She added that the region can continue to attract creative people from all over the world who, from their home in the West, can feed the increasing world appetite for design, music, film, digital media and the arts, and make an important contribution to the region’s economy in the process.

Chairman of Let’s Do It Galway, John Killeen said, “We were delighted that the WDC came on board for the Photo Competition and the Creative West – Galway Art Trail and I’d like to thank them for generating such huge interest in the competition. The stopover was a fantastic success, and partnerships, like the one with the WDC, were an important contributor to the successful staging of Ireland’s largest sporting event. The photographs are a fantastic legacy of the Volvo Ocean Race Festival which saw 650,000 people visit the race village and Salthill during the two weeks.”

From an entry of over 17,000, a short list of 100 photos was drawn up. Marine Sports Photographer, David Branigan then had the difficult task of picking the winner and two runners-up. David selected pictures “to reflect the themes of the Volvo Ocean Race visit to Galway and how this unique event interacted with the city, its people and visitors.”

He added, “The Volvo Ocean Race is referred to as ‘life at the extreme’ where seven boats and their crews battle man and nature for ten months over a course that is more than 37,000 miles long.”

In choosing Ger Conran’s winning photograph of the entire fleet sailing on Galway Bay, David Branigan said that it was an excellent example of good composition and being in the right place at the right time for a sports shot. The picture also shows Ireland’s Green Dragon on the right making a bold move by ducking behind the other boats to win a clean start of the In-Port Race off Salthill.

Second place went to Adi Tig for his photograph of a street performer at the Race Village and Ekaterina Petrova, originally from Russia and now living in Limerick, was chosen for third place for her photo of dancers performing a Brazilian dance. David chose these photos because they are “typical of the fun and entertainment that took place during the festival.”

Marcus Mac Innes, Founder and CEO of Pix.ie said, “The Volvo Ocean Race really captured the imagination of not only the people of Galway, but all those who attended the festival from around Ireland. We didn’t expect anything like the response we achieved and with over 17,000 photos submitted it broke the previous Pixie record by a long way. All the photos remain available to view at http://pix.ie/go/lookwest and have already been seen by nearly a quarter of a million people from over 180 countries around the world making it one of the most visited showcases of Ireland this year.”

Lisa McAllister concluded by thanking people for entering the photo competition and said that the 17,000 plus entries will help communicate the message of what the West of Ireland can achieve, and the many benefits of locating here, to a worldwide audience.

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For further information please contact:

Lisa McAllister, WDC, 086 771 9969
or Joanne Grehan, WDC, 086 856 5802
or Angela Bane, Bane Mullarkey, 087 286 5217

100 of the best photographs from the LookWest.ie & Pix.ie Volvo Ocean Race Festival Photo

Competition will be exhibited for the weekend from Friday 21st August to Sunday 23rd August at Merchant’s Hall, 1 Merchant’s Road, Galway. Admission is free and open to the public from 10.00am to 6.00pm each day.

The photo competition, sponsored by the Western Development Commission (WDC) and run in conjunction with photo sharing website Pix.ie, took place over the two weeks of the Volvo Ocean Race Festival and smashed the previous record of uploaded photos from an Irish event. The photo exhibition is being staged by the WDC in collaboration with Let’s Do It Galway.

Joanne Grehan of the WDC said, “The competition was a fantastic success and we were absolutely thrilled with the response from the public. It was different from the more traditional photographic competitions in that all of the photographs were uploaded onto the photo sharing website Pix.ie. The previous upload record for an Irish event was 8,000 photos but we set a target of 10,000 to break that record and this really captured the imagination of the people of Galway and visitors to the city for the festival. The end result was that more than 17,000 photos of Galway were uploaded, making it Ireland’s largest ever photo sharing project.

“Of course the huge number of entries made the job of drawing up the shortlist more difficult, but Marine Sports Photographer, David Branigan, whittled them down to select the best 100. All the photographs capture the colour and excitement of the festival and will be on display from Friday to Sunday (21st to 23rd August) from 10.00am to 6.00pm. The festival was an event that will be long remembered by all who attended so the exhibition is an opportunity to remember and revisit the wonderful two weeks of the festival.

All of the shortlisted pictures were selected to reflect the themes of the Volvo Ocean Race visit to Galway and how this unique event interacted with the city, its people and visitors. The photographs capture the opening ceremony, the boats, the air show, the entertainment and the excitement and fun of the race village.

The organisers of the competition were also delighted with the promotional spin offs for the city; because it was an online competition it opened up Galway and the Western Region to a worldwide audience.

The photo competition was sponsored by The Western Development Commission (WDC) as part of its work to highlight the ‘Creative West’ as the Western Region rapidly becomes Ireland’s hub for the creative industries.

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For further information please contact: Joanne Grehan, WDC, 086 856 5802 Or Angela Bane, Bane Mullarkey, 087 286 5217