Brazen seagulls swooping on children’s lunches in Eyre Square

Brazen birds are swooping to pilfer children’s lunches in Eyre Square, the city’s mayor has said.

Cllr Niall McNelis said the sunshine over the past few weeks has highlighted the ever-growing problem of seagulls in Galway.

“Seagulls are getting bigger and bigger and they are not really afraid of the public anymore. I had a mother tell me that her young child’s lunch was taken from her hand in Eyre Square by a seagull and roof tops are being overrun with them,” he said.

After receiving numerous calls from the public about seagulls, Mayor McNelis, a Labour Party City Councillor, said he has asked the Environment Section of Galway City Council “if they have any plans to assist in stopping these gulls”.

He said he arrived into the city early one morning over the past week and “the bin bags were being opened by these birds and the mess was all over the place.”

Mayor McNelis has asked the Council “if waste presentation bylaws can be looked at”.

Seagulls have a reputation for being noisy and aggressive pest birds that cause regular problems for humans in coastal towns and cities, including in Cornwall, England.