Woodquay residents furious over sleepless nights

Residents in Woodquay have expressed concerns about anti-social behaviour in the area since the beginning of the academic year, and have reported several incidents of students misbehaving.

Galway City Mayor Cllr Pádraig Conneely met with the residents of the area to listen to complaints and concerns about anti-social behaviour.

Mayor Conneely said the population of Woodquay is made up mostly of elderly residents and there are now several properties on the rental market in Corrib Terrace, Walsh’s Terrace, St Brendan’s Avenue and St Vincent’s Avenue.

These rented properties have been filled by students returning to college and this has caused several problems with the residents of the area.

Students have been reported to be hosting late night parties on a “nightly basis”, according to Mayor Conneely. They have also been consuming alcohol in public, open spaces and causing problems for the elderly people who reside in the area.

There have been incidents where one house hosts a party and several students pass loudly through the area, in search of that particular house. In cases, they cannot remember the house number and are heard shouting various house numbers to each other in an attempt to guess the right one.

This also results in students, who are under the influence of alcohol, banging on doors and ringing the doorbells of elderly residents at 4 o’clock in the morning when people are trying to sleep.

The residents of Woodquay have reported incidents to the Gardaí and would like to have more of a Garda presence in the area.

In an attempt to solve the problem, the residents are compiling a list of houses that are known to host parties.

This list will be given to Gardaí and also the NUI Galway authorities and the concerns will be raised with Superintendent Marie Skehill.