CITY TRIBUNE
Garda in fear of diseases after getting bitten on hand
A Garda – father to a newborn baby – was fearful he might transmit disease to the infant and his partner after he was bitten by a recovering heroin addict, Galway District Court heard last week.
Garda Dermot Bannon became visibly upset in the witness box as he recalled how 29-year-old Noelle Larkin bit his hand as he and two female colleagues were trying to place her in a cell at Galway Garda Station on December 12, 2019.
Larkin, with an address at 8 O’Donoghue Terrace, Woodquay, pleaded guilty to assaulting Garda Bannon, causing him harm. She also pleaded guilty to assaulting Garda Christina Galvin and to resisting Garda Fidelma Mary McGrath in the course of her duty, during the same violent incident.
Inspector Des Beirne, prosecuting, said Garda Bannon and Garda McGrath responded to a Public Order incident at 1pm on the date in question during which Larkin was arrested. She was brought to the station, where she became extremely violent towards the Gardai while being processed in the cell area.
Larkin lashed out at Garda McGrath, Garda Bannon and Garda Galvin, who came to assist them as they tried to place her in a cell.
Larkin spat at the Gardaí, landing a spit on Garda Bannon. He put his hand out to block further spit landing on him and as he did so, Larkin latched onto his hand and bit into it, breaking the skin.
She continued to kick and lash out at the other two Gardaí as well, spitting at Garda Galvin.
Garda Bannon had to attend A&E and undergo a series of blood tests afterwards.
Judge Mary Fahy said that was the most serious charge before the court and asked to speak to Garda Bannon, who was present in court.
In mitigation, defence solicitor, Valerie Corcoran said her client had experienced two major incidents in her life which led her to abuse drugs from an early age.
The first was a road traffic accident and the second occurred when she was a teenager. Gardaí were aware of that incident which was quite traumatic for her client and which led her to abuse drugs, including heroin, from the age of 15.
She said Larkin was now on a methadone programme while under the care of the HSE and the supervision of the Probation Service. She was also due to attend a residential treatment programme.
In light of these factors, Ms Corcoran said she would be looking for a report from the probation services.
Judge Fahy was told Larkin had eight previous convictions, for assault, criminal damage, thefts and Public Order offences.
The judge said this had been a most serious incident where a member of the Gardaí in the course of his duty was assaulted, deliberately spat at and deliberately bitten with skin broken, resulting in Garda Bannon having to undergo blood testing.
“Two blood tests,” Garda Bannon said, while waiting in the witness box to deliver his victim impact statement to the court.
Hearing he was married, Judge Fahy said this would have put certain stresses on the relationship.
“Yes. We were expecting our first child too around that time and it caused a lot of stress as I wasn’t sure if anything was transferred to me.
“And I had to wait until April – four months later – to have a second test to confirm no blood transmissible infections were passed on to me. So, I had to be careful around my partner and our newborn child,” Garda Bannon told Judge Fahy.
She told Garda Bannon she understood what he must have gone through. She noted the assault on Garda Christina Galvin involved spitting as well, which was disgusting and totally inexcusable.
Judge Fahy said that given Larkin had eight previous convictions already, the court would not be looking for a pre-sanction report from the probation services and would proceed to sentencing.
Ms Corcoran said Larkin was in the throes of her drug addiction at the time and had no recollection of the incident.
That was of no comfort to Garda Bannon, she conceded, but she asked Judge Fahy to give Larkin a chance to rehabilitate by completing the residential course of treatment before sentence took place.
Judge Fahy said Larkin could rehabilitate after serving a sentence.
“This young Garda has been very badly affected. I can see it in his face, recounting what happened. It’s affected him, his family and his future. Hopefully, he will be able to put it behind him,” Judge Fahy said.
Sentencing Larkin to eight months in prison for the assault on Garda Bannon, Judge Fahy said she needed to be taught a lesson.
“She must own up to what she has done, do her time and then come out and rehabilitate herself,” the judge said.
Taking Larkin’s guilty plea and personal difficulties into account, Judge Fahy imposed two, concurrent, four-month sentences for the two remaining charges involving the female Gardaí.
Leave to appeal the sentences was granted on Larkin’s own surety of €400 and one independent surety of €800, with half of each amount to be lodged in court.
Ms Corcoran asked for both sums to be reduced as her client was of limited means.
Judge Fahy refused the application, saying: “No, this is a serious matter and people coming into court on serious matters should be prepared for what happens to them.”
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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