CITY TRIBUNE
Angry victim ‘left in fear’ after late-night homophobic attack
A non-binary person has told of being afraid of walking the city’s streets after suffering physically and emotionally in an apparent homophobic incident a week after Galway Gay Pride.
Zerhanah, a bisexual who does not identify as exclusively male or female, recalled being thrown to the ground when coming to the aid of a friend who was allegedly punched several times during a late night attack at Spanish Arch.
The Dubliner who lives in Galway said it was a reminder that despite great societal and legislative changes, homophobia was ‘still a thing’.
“Most queer people have had things shouted at them on the street. I’ve had my fair share of things shouted at me – faggot, dyke, you name it I’ve been called it but I’ve never been physically attacked for it before and obviously it was terrifying,” the 19-year-old told the Galway City Tribune.
“It did shock me; the reality that I’m living somewhere you can’t just go outside and be yourself, be openly queer and expect to feel safe. You can’t brush it off. It’s scary leaving the house because I don’t know if this will happen again. A lot of people think this wouldn’t happen, that we’ve moved past that, but the issue is we really haven’t.”
In a post on Twitter following the incident, Zerhanah said: “Thank u random men in Galway for punching my friend, throwing me into the ground, spraining my leg and calling us faggots just for dancing and having a nice time at Spanish Arch. I will report you and I will get you done for this.”
In a post the following day, Zerhanah thanked people for the support. “Just wanted to say thank u to everyone sending me love and support right now. I’m home from hospital and in a lot of pain and emotional from what happened but I’ll b okay and ily (I love you) all. There are some proper assholes out there so everyone please stay safe,” the tweet said.
The NUIG law and taxation student, who uses the pronoun ‘they’ rather than he or she, recounted the events of the night to this newspaper.
“We were having a few drinks at Spanish Arch and suddenly the word ‘faggot’ was being thrown around. We were a group of very obviously queer people; five or six very outwardly queer presenting. There was a group of about 10 lads there too.
“Two of my friends were up dancing and the word ‘faggot’ was being thrown around by the group of lads. We didn’t know if it was directed at us or not but my friend turned around, and said ‘what are you saying?’ He then started to be punched and got about six punches to the face. I ran over to try pull him away. As soon as I stood up to pull him away I was thrown onto the ground by one of them. The word ‘faggot’ was still being thrown around, I could hear it being shouted at me. I went over on my ankle; couldn’t stand up, couldn’t walk. I was basically on the ground wailing for help,” said Zerhanah.
An ambulance arrived and the People Before Profit political activist gave a statement on the night to Gardaí but did not make an official complaint when contacted days later by a Garda, who confirmed there was no CCTV footage of the incident.
“My friend is fine, his jaw was quite sore after it but there was no bruising. He knows self-defence so he managed to get out of it. Unfortunately I took the brunt of the soreness. I’m still not properly able to walk without the crutch at times,” Zerhanah said.
A Garda spokesperson said: “We don’t have a report of an assault in the Spanish Arch area over the weekend (Thursday, August 19, to Sunday, 22).”
Former Mayor, Councillor Niall McNelis (Labour), Chair of Galway City Joint Policing Committee, said in general, Galway was a safe place to live and socialise but assaults were increasing.
“I would hope and pray that it wasn’t a homophobic assault. I’d like to think that it wouldn’t be in Galway because it is a safe city, and an open city. If it was then we have a problem.
“I wouldn’t like the message to go out that Galway is not safe, because generally it is. But yes, recently we have had problems with assaults, and they are increasing and we have to ask is that because we are socialising outdoors, or because of the level of alcohol or because of large congregations in places like Eyre Square. People will be sending their teenagers to Galway now with college starting back. I would say to them that Galway is safe,” said Cllr McNelis.
Gay Pride was held in the city from August 8 to 15. Its chair, city councillor Owen Hanley, spoke about negativity towards the LGBT+ community, after the rainbow flag was stolen during the festival.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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