CITY TRIBUNE
Man tells Judge he couldn’t attend court due to series of funerals
A judge would love to know how many funerals a man attended over the last 14 years, given that when he was supposed to be in court he claimed to be attending funerals in his native Romania.
Judge Mary Fahy calculated that during her 14 years on the bench in Galway, Robert Samu – who has 33 previous convictions – had spent 99% of that time in Romania.
Samu (48), with an address at 33 Fana Glas, Ballybane, appeared in custody before Galway District Court last week on foot of four bench warrants which had been issued separately for his arrest.
Garda Damien Gormally gave evidence he was aware Samu would be attending the court that morning to answer a theft charge and he arrested him at the Courthouse on foot of a bench warrant issued by Blanchardstown District Court when Samu failed to appear before that court in July.
Garda Gormally said he had three other Galway bench warrants to execute against Samu, which had been issued under the Fines Act for non-payment of fines.
He said Samu had now paid the fines in full.
Judge Fahy remanded Samu on bail to appear before the court in Blanchardstown this Friday. She then struck out the charges for non- payment of three fines, on hearing they had all now been paid.
The judge then turned her attention to the theft matter before the court.
Samu had pleaded guilty in July to the theft of €70 worth of engine oil from Calbro Motor Factors on the Tuam Road on March 24 last year.
The court heard at the time that he had 33 previous convictions, including some for other thefts. Judge Fahy decided to have him assessed for community service in lieu of a prison sentence.
He was assessed by a probation officer in court and deemed to be a suitable candidate.
The judge then directed he carry out 140 hours’ community service in lieu of a five-month prison sentence.
Judge Fahy observed that a probation report handed into court this week in relation to Samu was not favourable.
Defence solicitor, Olivia Traynor said her client’s instructions to her were that both of his uncles had passed away and he had contacted the probation service. She said she had explained to Samu at his last court appearance that it was his job to chase the probation service (about doing the community service) and not the other way around.
“He has 33 previous convictions and most of the time, when his cases are called in this court – and I’m here for 14 years – most of the time, 99% of the time, he is in Romania.
“This court is skirting around, trying to fit in what suits him and he thinks the probation officers should be doing the same now,” Judge Fahy said.
According to the report, which the judge read alound in court, Samu was in Romania every time an appointment was made for him on four different dates in July and August.
“This man has 33 previous convictions and this court has bent over backwards to suit him and he now expects that from every other service. I’m afraid his luck has run out,” Judge Fahy said.
“In the last 14 years, I would like to know how many funerals he has been been to in Romania because he seems to be there a lot.
“The man has been making a fool out of the court for years,” Judge Fahy added before imposing the five-month sentence.
“He should have been thankful and grateful that the court gave him so many chances and that I even considered giving him community service given his 33 previous convictions,” the judge reasoned. Leave to appeal the sentence 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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