Council staff’s early-morning clean-up removes post-Races rubbish

The city centre was like a ‘bomb site’ after Ladies Day of the Galway Racing Festival last week, according to a former mayor.

City Councillor Niall McNelis (Labour) said, “the place was absolutely horrific” about the litter-strewn streets in the early hours of Friday morning following Ladies Day revelry.

However, the Chairperson of Galway City Tidy Towns committee, Cllr McNelis heaped praise on Galway City Council litter crews for returning the streets to normality so quickly.

“They were like magicians,” he said. “The place was horrific. Town was crazy for Ladies Day, there was a very young crowd, and I’d say a lot of them weren’t even out at the race track.

“The pubs all close at 2am, and everyone comes out onto the streets, thousands and thousands at the same time, and it was bad, there were food wrappers and plastic drink containers everywhere at 4am. It was like a bomb site. That’s not the fault of the City Council. It really was bad, and that’s what some people saw and were complaining about. But by 5am or 5.30am, the Council crews were in and worked their magic. They did trojan work to clear up the mess,” said Cllr McNelis.

See full story in this week’s Galway City Tribune.