Community robbed of Garda due to Royal visit

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – A city community blighted by anti-social behaviour has been robbed of a community Garda for several weeks – to help plan the security surrounding the upcoming Royal visit.

It has been confirmed that the wider Ballybane area is without one of its two community Garda for at least three weeks.

Chief Superintendent Tom Curley said that “we’ve VIP visitors coming” and he indicated that a community Garda has been redeployed for that purpose.

Though Chief Supt Curley did not mention the British Royal Family specifically, the VIPs he referenced are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge who are due to visit the city next Thursday.

As revealed in the Galway City Tribune a fortnight ago, Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton are set to spend March 5 in Galway as part of their official visit to Ireland.

Their itinerary includes a visit to Tigh Chóilí on Mainguard Street and calling in on Salthill-Knocknacarra GAA club at Áras Bóthar na Trá.

Chief Supt Curley made his comments at Knocknacarra Community Centre, during an annual public meeting of the Galway City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) on Tuesday night.

He was responding to a question from a member of the public, Donal Lynch, a representative of Merlin Residents’ Association in Ballybane.

Mr Lynch said anti-social behaviour in Ballybane was an ongoing problem and he queried why the area had lost a community Garda.
This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article and more details on arrangements for the Royal visit, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.