CITY TRIBUNE
Man jailed for carrying neck of a broken bottle
A 21-year-old man has been jailed for six months for carrying the neck of a broken bottle in his pocket which had been adapted to cause serious injury.
Imposing sentence at Galway District Court on Ross McDonagh, Judge Mary Fahy said it was fortuitous that a Garda had searched him and found the weapon.
McDonagh, who has addresses at 127 Ard Alainn, Ballybane, and 4 Oaklands, Athenry, appeared in custody before the court where he pleaded guilty to having a broken bottle, made or adapted to cause serious injury or incapacitate another person at Eyre Square, on September 3 last year.
He pleaded guilty also to breaching the peace in Oranmore village on November 6 last year, to being drunk in public at Prospect Hill on August 14 last and to failing to appear before the court to answer all of the above charges in February.
Garda Valerie Scully was on duty in Eyre Square at 1.45am on September 3 last when she observed a disturbance taking place involving a group of young men.
She noticed McDonagh attempt to leave the area when he saw her. She stopped and searched him, finding the broken bottle in his pocket. He denied knowing the weapon was in his pocket.
Handing a photograph of the broken bottle into court, Sgt. Georgina Lohan, prosecuting, said Gardai believed the bottle had been adapted to cause serious injury.
Judge Fahy agreed the bottle would cause serious or fatal injuries if it was used.
Sgt Lohan said McDonagh was found by Garda Fergal O’Grady, standing in the middle of the main street in Oranmore, roaring and shouting while stripped to the waist at 3am on November 6 last year.
Garda O’Grady had had a word with McDonagh earlier that night and his father, who was with him at the time, told the Garda he would take him home.
McDonagh was abusive to Garda O’Grady when he went to arrest him during their second encounter that night. He told him he didn’t care about going to prison and he would kill anyone who came near him.
McDonagh was arrested for his own safety at Prospect Hill last August after Garda Declan Murphy found him staggering on a footpath. He was highly intoxicated at the time, the court heard.
Defence solicitor, Colin Lynch, said his client had got into difficulties from a young age after his parents separated and he had left school before sitting his Junior Certificate.
Sgt Lohan confirmed McDonagh had 20 previous convictions, including one for a serious assault, while the rest were for public order offences.
Mr Lynch said McDonagh did very well while in St Patrick’s Institution (which has now been closed) as a youngster and had sat his Junior Certificate there.
He said it was unfortunate that when his client is “out” he gravitates towards drink and drugs and that gets him into trouble.
Mr Lynch said McDonagh had now reached the stage where he wanted to go into a rehabilitation centre to address his addictions.
Judge Fahy said she could tailor his sentence so that he would come under the supervision of the probation service which would help him achieve that goal.
She sentenced him to six months in prison for having the broken bottle in his pocket in Eyre Square.
“That is a serious offence. It’s very serious to be armed anywhere, but particularly in Eyre Square at that hour when there are large congregations of young people coming out of pubs and clubs. It was fortuitous the Garda was there to catch this,” Judge Fahy said.
She noted McDonagh was very aggressive towards Garda O’Grady in Oranmore and she imposed a consecutive two-month sentence for that offence which she suspended for twelve months on condition McDonagh be of good behaviour and link in with his probation officer within 48 hours of his release from prison and attend a rehabilitation programme for his alcohol and drug addictions.
The judge fined him €200 for being drunk in public, payable forthwith or five days in prison in default. A concurrent, one-month sentence was imposed on him for failing to appear before the court in February. Leave to appeal the sentences was granted.
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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