CITY TRIBUNE
New data shows 40% of Galway’s rough sleepers are from abroad
There were record numbers of rough sleepers on the city’s streets this Summer, fresh figures from a local homeless charity confirm.
Some 85 rough sleepers were in contact with COPE Galway homeless services this July.
The majority of them (66) were male, and 19 were female.
Over 77 nights between late May and early August, some 984 sleeping bags and duvets were distributed to rough sleepers in the city by COPE.
That works out at an average pf 13 per night. Some 532 were returned, the data said.
A large number (42) of the 85 rough sleepers, were categorised by COPE as being “eligible and approved for services by local authority”.
Eight of them were categorised as “non-centre of interest in Galway”.
A further 35 (including 26 males and nine females) were “without habitual residency”. This means that around 40% of the rough sleepers are not ordinarily resident in Ireland and do not have close links with the country.
Factors to satisfy the right to reside include: length of time spent in Ireland; continuity of residence; and general nature of your residence.
The figures were presented at a multi-agency meeting convened to highlight the homelessness problem, and negative impact rough sleepers were having on city centre businesses.
It was attended by Galway Garda Superintendent Marie Skehill, community Garda Clare Burke; Maeve Joyce of Galway Chamber; Dermot Mahon and Helena Martyn of Galway City Council; and Galway City Councillors, Ollie Crowe and Peter Keane of Fianna Fáil, and Niall McNelis of Labour.
Garda figures presented to the meeting confirmed that some 36 individuals were dealt with this Summer for aggressively begging on the city’s streets.
Those figures, coupled with COPE’s figures that there were 35 rough sleepers without habitual residency, appear to confirm the anecdotal suggestions that people from abroad are coming to Galway, from abroad, including Eastern Europeans and Roma, to beg, and they are sleeping rough while doing so.
Cllr McNelis said there was no evidence yet of the rough sleeping beggars from abroad being part of an organised gang or trafficking but it is a problem.
“Rough sleepers are just one aspect of the homeless crisis. There are all sorts of other facets of it, such as high rents and people sleeping on the couches of friends and family and so on. But rough sleeping is the most visible aspect of the problem, and it is the most stark,” said Cllr McNelis.
“The problem with Roma and others coming here to beg and sleep rough, I believe is seasonal. A lot of them are gone and more will be leaving this week and next. That has been confirmed at the meeting.
“When they are gone, the problem of homelessness will remain. There will still be rough sleepers. Some of the people who are sleeping rough have mental health problems and some of them will not engage with the services such as Cope. There is a problem of supply and demand. There are not enough houses to meet the demand.
“There are two sides to this. There is the human tragedy, and the heartache of people who are sleeping rough. There is one woman who is pregnant and sleeping rough – that shouldn’t happen in this day and age that there is no room at the inn for a pregnant woman.
“But aside from the human tragedy, there is a parallel problem of the damage the homelessness crisis is having on Galway’s image, and the negative impacts it is having on city centre businesses. That’s not to ignore or diminish the terrible human plight suffered by rough sleepers, but we must also acknowledge that it is impacting negatively on Galway’s image, and on businesses,” said Cllr McNelis.
At a recent count last week, on Monday and Tuesday, Fairgreen Hostel (26 beds) and Osterley Lodge (10 single beds) were at 100% occupancy.
On the night of August 14 and morning of August 15 there were a total of 17 rough sleepers in the city, COPE said.
A further 21 people were placed in private emergency accommodation such as B&Bs, hotels and short-term lets in some student digs.
However, COPE has warned that the availability of this accommodation will soon come to an end with the return of students, “with limited alternatives available beyond”.
Cllr McNelis added: “This problem is going to get worse. It is about to blow up in our faces and we need to get more bed capacity for rough sleepers in time for Winter.”
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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