Safety audit planned for Galway city waterways

The rivers and canals of Galway are too accessible at the moment, according to Cllr Niall McNelis who has submitted a Notice of Motion to Galway City Council requesting a safety audit of the city’s waterways.

The Notice of Motion requests “that this council and the Lough Corrib Navigation trust carry out a safety audit on all the access points to the rivers and canals that flow through the city”.

A report by Irish Water Safety on drowning in the Republic of Ireland states that 62% of all drownings from 1988 to 2012 occurred on inland waters, with a total of 10% occurring on the Corrib.

“Over the past number of months there has been a series of deaths by drowning in the river and the canals – some of them by self-harm and some of them accidental,” said Cllr Niall McNelis.

“I was talking to the Students’ Union in NUI Galway and one thing that they wanted to see done was a safety audit of the canals. So I put in a request and it turns out that these audits can be conducted free of charge by Irish Water Safety, who actually happen to have their head office based in Galway.”

Currently, there are 60 lifebuoys located along the river and canals in Galway City, which are checked by Community Wardens on a regular basis – weekly during off-peak season and twice weekly over the summer.

The lifebuoys in question are located at areas where there is public access to the water, and should a safety audit be undertaken, it would be carried out in these areas. This year, Irish Water Safety will be carrying out water safety audits on all piers under the remit of Lough Corrib Navigation Trustees.

“There has also been a public meeting held recently where they were actually looking at getting people to patrol the canals and waterways at night time, similar to what they do in Limerick,” said Cllr McNelis.

“I believe that we should be doing an audit first of all and, where needed, barriers should be put up, or extra lighting or maybe some growth has to be but cut back and stuff like that.”

Another plan, according to Cllr McNelis, is to get a life buoy that will be sponsored by NUI Galway’s Students’ Union, and will be given to either the RNLI or the Fire Brigade.

“This lifebuoy will have a bleeper on it, so basically if somebody goes into the water and you throw this lifebuoy in, it’ll be able to track where the body may be. It’ll have a heat sensor on it,” said Cllr McNelis.

“So, if somebody goes in, you can throw this lifebuoy in and it will follow them along the river bank, so you’ll have a good idea of where they are in the water.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.