CITY TRIBUNE
Pub and nightclub fined for smoking law breaches
The owners of a Galway City nightclub and pub received hefty fines this week for breaches of smoking regulations on their respective premises and must also pay the costs and legal expenses of the HSE, which prosecuted them.
Imposing the penalties on Skeffington Arms Ltd, which owns DNA nightclub, Ball Alley Lane, and Connacht Taverns Ltd, which owns An Púcán, Forster Street, Judge Mary Fahy again warned other licensed premises that they must be fully compliant with smoking regulations if they are to be granted special exemptions in her court in future.
Both companies and their managers – Shane O’Connor of DNA nightclub, and John Carmody of An Púcán – pleaded guilty at Galway District Court in December to breaches of smoking regulations following inspections by HSE inspectors last August, by failing to prohibit smoking in specified areas of their respective premises, contrary to Section 47 of the Public Health Tobacco Act 2002.
Regulations stipulate designated smoking areas in licensed premises must be situated in a roofless area open to the elements. HSE inspectors found the designated smoking area in DNA nightclub was an enclosed room, while two outside designated smoking areas at An Pucan had overhead canopies.
Judge Mary Fahy expressed concern at the time that both companies had initially ignored the HSE’s findings and it had been forced to issue proceedings against both premises to get them to comply. She warned other licensed premises at the time they would not be granted special exemptions if they too ignored smoking regulations.
Both managers gave undertakings to the court in December that they would comply with the HSE’s recommendations to make their premises compliant with tobacco regulations.
Sentence was adjourned to last week’s court and a solicitor for the HSE informed the court that both premises had made the necessary changes to their smoking areas and were now fully compliant with the regulations.
He said the maximum fines for breaches of the legislation was €4,000, while in the Skeffington’s Arms case, his costs were €2,800 and expenses for the HSE inspections came to €1,400.
He agreed with Judge Fahy that Connacht Taverns Ltd. had complied “in a more timely fashion” with the HSE than Skeffington Arms Ltd. and he said he was seeking costs of just €1,500 against that company.
The solicitor said the HSE was withdrawing the prosecutions against both managers on condition they give undertakings to the court again to continue to comply with smoking regulations until the annual licensing court next September.
Both Mr O’Connor and Mr Carmody gave the necessary undertakings to the court.
Judge Fahy then convicted and fined Skeffington Arms Ltd. €2,000, plus €2,500 costs and €1,200 expenses.
She convicted and fined Connacht Taverns Ltd. €750, plus €1,500 costs.
On the application of the HSE solicitor, Judge Fahy disqualified Skeffington Arms Ltd. from selling cigarettes from machines on its premises for seven days and disqualified Connacht Taverns Ltd from selling cigarettes from machines on its premises for five days.
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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