Mayor to meet organisers of ‘boy racer’ events

This weekend’s planned ‘car enthusiast’ event in Salthill has been postponed, after organisers agreed to meet Mayor Mike Cubbard for discussions.

Gardaí had prepared for ‘significant extra resources’ to be devoted to traffic duties over the weekend following social media indications that the group was set to arrive again on Sunday morning.

Estimates as to the number of cars that gathered in the city last Sunday have varied from 200 to close on 1,000 – the extra cars led to serious traffic delays in many parts of the city.

Gardaí have confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that 80 detections for offences under the Road Traffic Act were recorded last Sunday in the city, with one vehicle being seized in the Oranmore area.

A spokesperson said extra Gardaí would continue to be deployed to help deal with any breaches of the Road Traffic Act in the city area.

However, Gardaí have also pointed out that many of the vehicles driven by the so-called car enthusiasts were fully compliant with all the ‘basics’ of tax, insurance, NCT and driving licence requirements and were in a good roadworthy condition.

Chairman of the Galway City Joint Policing Committee, Cllr Niall McNelis, told the Galway City Tribune that while he accepted that the vast majority of the car enthusiasts have everything in order, their arrival in such numbers ‘just blocked up Salthill and large parts of the city’.

A spokesperson for Galway City Council said that while they as a local authority had no control over who used the roads, they were concerned over traffic issues that had arisen last Sunday and on previous Sundays.

This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.