CITY TRIBUNE
Five Gardaí had to take violent drink driver into cell
A final year medical student was disqualified from driving for six years for his second drink driving offence.
Ahmad Hegazy (25), 29 Garbally Oaks, Ballinasloe, pleaded guilty before Galway District Court to drunken driving at College Road, Galway on May 25, 2016.
He pleaded guilty to assaulting two Gardai at Galway Garda Station following his arrest and he also pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving at four different locations around the city on the same night.
Garda Noel Donoghue gave evidence he was on patrol in the city on the night in question in an unmarked Garda car when he noticed a car being driven dangerously by the accused.
He activated the blue light and siren on the patrol car and following further incidents of dangerous driving at Tuam Road, College Road, Bohermore and Bothar Ui Eithir, he managed to stop the car with the help of another Garda on a motorbike.
He said he spoke to the defendant who was unable to spell his name for him and called him a fool.
Garda Donoghue said Hegazy failed a roadside breath test and when he went to arrest him, he said the accused said to him: “You can’t arrest me, you’re just an arse hole. Would you ever f**k off.”
A breath sample at Galway Garda Station showed a reading of 84 mgs of alcohol per 100mls of breath.
The court was told Hegazy became extremely abusive and aggressive in the Garda Station. It took a number of GardaÍ to place him in a cell.
Garda Donoghue said he contacted Hegazy’s parents and they arrived at the Garda Station with Hegazy’s sister. All three, the court was told, are doctors.
They could hear the accused kicking and shouting from the cell as they spoke to Garda Donoghue in the public office.
Both parents and the sister were allowed to speak to the accused through the cell door and he seemed to calm down after that.
Reluctantly, the Gardaí decided to release him and they advised his parents to bring him home in a taxi so that he might sober up.
Garda Donoghue said Hegazy continued to argue and fight with his father on the way up the hallway from the cell to the public office.
He then refused to get into a taxi outside the Garda Station. Gardaí retreated into the Station, hoping the accused would leave with his family if they were not in view.
Seconds later, Hegazy came back into the public office where he kicked in double doors which led into the front office. He knocked everything onto the floor, putting a female Garda who was alone in the office, in fear.
He then ran out into the car park and started fighting with his father again before hitting his mother across the face.
Hegazy’s mother pleaded with Garda Donoghue to take her son away.
It took five Gardai to bring Hegazy, who was kicking, punching and screaming, back into the cell again.
He managed to kick Garda Donoghue in the hands and stomach after he removed his handcuffs and then punched him in the face.
“I have never dealt with such an angry or violent person in all my career. It was as if someone hit a switch and he went totally ‘off the wall’,” Garda Donoghue explained.
In reply to Judge Mary Fahy, he said Hegazy had one previous conviction for drunken driving. The date of that offence was November 2, 2015. He had been convicted on February 25 last year and had been disqualified from driving for two years at the time.
Defence barrister, Gary McDonald said his client’s drink must have been spiked that night as that was the only explanation that could be given for his violent behaviour.
He said his client was a final year medical student and a conviction would be detrimental to his career.
Garda Donoghue told the court that the Gardai didn’t want “to go to town” on the accused.
“We didn’t want to destroy him, but what he did was completely ‘off the wall’. I have gone to riot situations before but his behaviour was crazy,” Garda Donoghue added.
Judge Fahy said there was no excuse for the accused going out drink driving on a second occasion. She convicted and fined Hegazy a total of€1,400 and disqualified him from driving for six years.
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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