Drinking on the streets in Galway is “out of control”, says local councillor

A councillor in Galway has claimed that drinking on the streets of Galway city is “out of control” and that little is being done to stop it.

According to the Connacht Tribune, councillor Colette Connolly has queried whether the increase in public order incidents in Galway is connected to excessive drinking on the streets, which she believes is spiralling out of control despite the introduction of byelaws to stop people from doing so. Connolly, who succeeded her sister Catherine as a councillor in Galway following Catherine’s election to Dáil Éireann, said that people in Galway don’t feel safe walking around the city anymore. “We see them out drinking on the street, at the Spanish Arch, people are drinking all over the place,” Connolly is quoted as saying in the Connacht Tribune. It’s out of control… people don’t feel safe walking about anymore,” she added. 181 public order incidents were recorded by Gardai in Galway in the first quarter of 2016, an increase of six incidents in the previous quarter, despite the introduction of new byelaws which prohibit drinking in public spaces and give power to Gardaí and community wardens to seize alcohol and issue fines. Exemptions can be issued for special events in Galway – Race week and the Galway Arts festival, for example – if an application is made to Gardai 21 days before an event, exemptions which Connolly was highly critical of. “It’s ludicrous to adopt byelaws in relation to alcohol and simultaneously have an exemption,” Connolly said. “How can we have exemptions to a byelaw – are there any other byelaws where there are exemptions?”