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Crime down by almost a fifth in the city
Galway Bay fm newsroom – Crime is down by almost a fifth in Galway city according to the latest Garda figures.
The statistics, showing a decrease of 18 percent were presented at a meeting of the City Joint Policing Committee today.
The Garda figures reveal that there were 4 thousand 699 incidents of crime reported to Gardaí in the city during the first 8 months of the year.
While burglary is down by almost 18 percent, theft from the person, which is most commonly the theft of phones or wallets increased by 26 percent.
Chief Superintendent of the Galway Garda Division, Tom Curley says the increase in thefts from the person is mostly done by people coming in from outside the division.
In terms of drunk driving detections, there were 134 in the first 8 months of the year, an increase of almost 25 percent.
The Chief Super pointed out at the meeting, that he takes road safety very seriously and it’s a high priority for him, with 6 drunk driving incidents reported over the weekend.
Mandatory Alcohol Test checkpoints also increased by a fifth around the city.
According to the report assaults causing harm in the city are down by 40 percent and public order offences were down by a fifth.
Chief Superintendent Curley says that while crime has decreased, there are still too many incidents.
While the Chief Superintendent said he had no comment to make on events such as Arthurs Day, he did say that Gardaí are constantly monitoring up to 20 CCTV cameras at Millstreet Garda Station which give a view of what’s happening in the city.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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