CITY TRIBUNE
Judge issues warning to pubs and nightclubs over smoking areas
Nightclubs, bars and other licensed premises must comply with strict smoking area regulations or they will not be granted special exemptions in future.
Judge Mary Fahy issued the warning to all licensed premises in her area while dealing with breaches of smoking regulations by Shane O’Connor of DNA nightclub, Ball Alley Lane, Eyre Square, and John Carmody, of An Púcán, Forster Street, both of whom pleaded guilty at Galway District Court to failing to prohibit smoking in specified areas of their respective premises, contrary to Section 47 of the Public Health Tobacco Act 2002.
Mr O’Connor was prosecuted for being in charge of DNA night-club on August 3 last when it failed to prohibit smoking in a specified area.
Skeffington Arms Ltd, trading as DNA nightclub, was also prosecuted for the same offence.
Mr Carmody, of Connacht Taverns Ltd., Connacht Hotel, Dublin Road, Galway, was prosecuted for being in charge of An Púcán, Forster Street, on August 2 last, when he failed to prohibit smoking in two specified areas, namely a covered area at the side of the premises and a large covered courtyard at the rear.
Connacht Taverns Ltd, the company which owns An Púcán, was also prosecuted for the same two offences.
The court heard both premises failed inspections which were carried out by the HSE of their designated smoking areas in early August.
Regulations stipulate designated smoking areas in licensed premises must be situated in a roofless area open to the elements.
HSE inspectors found the designated smoking area in DNA nightclub was a room with a roof, while two outside designated smoking areas at An Púcán had overhead canopies.
Judge Mary Fahy said she was concerned that both premises had initially ignored the HSE’s findings and it had been forced to issue proceedings and prosecute both companies and management at both premises to get them to comply.
A solicitor for the HSE told the court that management at DNA nightclub had now assured him the smoking area would be opened up and plans were afoot to have the roof taken off.
Judge Fahy said that would then make the premises the same as every other premises in the country.
“What I’m concerned about is that warnings were given by the HSE and totally ignored,” she said.
The court heard Mr O’Connor had given an undertaking, when the matter first came before the licence applications court in early December, that the smoking area in the night-club had been cordoned off from the public and it would remain so over Christmas.
Judge Fahy had adjourned the matter to allow time for the company to comply with the HSE’s requirements and she noted the undertaking given. She adjourned the matter to February 6 for sentence on condition the undertaking continued.
She warned that any breach of the undertaking between now and Christmas would be a contempt of court which would be dealt with by way of custodial sentence.
In the case of An Púcán, Mr Carmody and the company, Connacht Taverns Ltd, entered a plea last week to the breaches of smoking regulations on August 2 last.
The HSE’s solicitor told the court it would be prudent to get an undertaking from Connacht Taverns Ltd. and he wanted Mr Carmody to give an undertaking to the court that the smoking areas in An Púcán would comply with the regulations pending sentence on February 6.
He confirmed the premises was compliant with the regulations on re-inspection of its smoking areas recently.
Mr Carmody went into the witness box and gave an undertaking that the premises would comply with smoking regulations.
“In this case, a number of warnings were given by the HSE and those warnings were ignored and then this prosecution followed,” Judge Fahy noted from the court file.
The HSE solicitor said the owners engaged with planners in 2015 and agreed the areas would be compliant but when an inspection took place in 2016 and again last August, the areas were not compliant.
He explained that overhead canopies acted like a roof and, when in use, they made the areas non-compliant, but when they were retracted the areas were compliant because they were in the open air. He said the August inspection took place in the evening and it had been raining.
Judge Fahy asked the solicitor if he wanted the canopies removed and he said there was no need, and as long as they remained retracted the premises was compliant.
Judge Fahy said she didn’t like the sound of that.
“They can open them out when no one is looking. I’m very concerned for fair-mindedness and that every premises is treated fairly. And if some premises are being ‘cute’ and have canopies available to them, then they cannot be technically compliant unless these smoking areas are completely open to the elements.
“That is the law. I didn’t write it. I do not think a premises should be allowed the option of having a temporary roof when it suits.
“If you lived in Galway, you would know it rains five nights out of seven,” the judge said to the Dublin-based solicitor.
A solicitor representing Connacht Taverns said Mr Carmody was giving an undertaking that there would be a one-meter gap between the canopies.
Judge Fahy did not appear impressed. She said it was up to the prosecution to ensure the premises was compliant and the Gardai had a role in policing smoking areas.
“Any premises that comes before this court looking for special exemptions will not get them until they are fully compliant with smoking regulations,” Judge Fahy warned.
Mr Carmody told Judge Fahy he was responsible for An Púcán and would be happy to give undertakings to the court and the HSE to be compliant with smoking regulations.
Judge Fahy adjourned sentence for both premises to February 6.
The HSE solicitor advised the judge she could disqualify a premises from selling cigarettes for three months when it came to sentence for breaches of smoking regulations.
“I expect you to open the law to me on that on February 6. Thankfully, these type of prosecutions are few and far between,” the judge replied.
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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