CITY TRIBUNE
Man jailed for throttling Garda in violent struggle
A man who almost choked a Garda while holding him and another Garda in a ‘judo hold’ has been sentenced to a total of eighteen months in prison.
Daniel Bane (25), from 13 Ard Esker, Tuam Road, Athenry, appeared in custody before Galway District Court where he pleaded guilty to obstructing Garda Seamus O’Donnell and Garda Patricia Sloyan in the course of their duty, at Tesco, Oranmore, on August 16, last year.
He also pleaded guilty to the theft of a trolley-load of items worth €190, from the store on the same date and to the theft of €8 worth of dog treats, also on the same date.
Bane further pleaded guilty to having a claw hammer concealed in the door panel of a car he was driving while uninsured at Woodquay on January 20 last, and to having €10 worth of cannabis in his possession on the same date.
Sergeant Grace Hennessy told the court Garda O’Donnell and Garda Sloyan responded to a call and went to Tesco at 5pm where they found Bane being held by a member of security.
CCTV showed Bane leave the store without paying for a trolley full of items. He then returned from the car park and entered the store again before taking bags of dog treats.
Security apprehended him on his return visit to the store and called Gardai. Bane became extremely violent when Garda O’Donnell told him he was about to be arrested.
Garda O’Donnell struggled to arrest Bane and both of them fell to the floor outside the entrance to Tesco.
Bane grabbed Garda O’Donnell by the throat with both hands and wrapped his legs around him. He kicked out at Garda Sloyan as she tried to pull Bane’s hands from Garda O’Donnell’s throat.
“He grabbed Garda O’Donnell by the throat and was trying to choke him. Garda O’Donnell could not release his grip and he was finding it difficult to breathe.
“Garda Sloyan tried to stop Daniel Bane from choking Garda O’Donnell and a violent struggle ensued,” Sgt Hennessy said.
Garda Sloyan told the court Bane kicked out at her, bruising her legs from her thighs down to her ankles as she tried to pull him off her colleague.
She said Bane then wrapped his legs around her while he was still throttling Garda O’Donnell and he managed to kick her in the back a number of times with his heels.
He released his grip on Garda O’Donnell and twisted her left wrist in an effort to break it as she tried to loosen his grip, she said.
Garda Sloyan shouted for help and a man who was shopping in Tesco at the time came to the Garda’s aid.
She said they could see Garda O’Donnell’s face turning red by this time as he could not free himself from Bane’s grip.
The bystander succeeded in releasing Bane’s grip but he too was kicked and Bane managed to bite him in the ribs. The bystander man, assisted by two other male customers, eventually helped in restraining Bane at the scene.
Sgt. Hennessy said Garda Sloyan suffered soft tissue injuries and “acute stress reaction” as a result of the assault and was off work for five weeks.
Garda O’Donnell gave evidence of the impact the attack had on him. He said Bane had tried to choke him and the attack had lasted “quite some time” before assistance arrived. He had been off work for seven weeks due to the injuries he sustained.
Defence solicitor, Brian Gilmartin, said Bane had some judo skills and had used him on this occasion. He said Bane smoked cannabis to excess and takes tablets.
He added Bane had a difficult upbringing. His mother and two sisters were present and a letter from one of the sisters was handed into court.
“Garda O’Donnell was within inches of being choked,” Judge Mary Fahy observed.
The court heard Bane had 20 previous convictions, mostly for Public Order offences.
Judge Fahy imposed sentences totalling eighteen months and she disqualified him for four years for driving without insurance.
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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