If the people of Galway city have been shocked by the recent surge of public violence and antisocial behaviour, they are not showing it.
Students and tourists still throng Eyre Square and Shop Street, while the night-time trade on Quay Street has been as strong this week as at any week during the summer.
As the sun descends over the Claddagh, Mayor of Galway, Eddie Hoare (FG), chats to security staff at the Róisín Dubh Pub, where this year’s Galway Comedy Festival is being launched.
He says he takes comfort in the fact that the public violence seen in recent days, where an altercation in a car park in Galway city led to a car being driven at speed at a group of people, has not escalated.
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“What has happened over the last week isn’t acceptable and won’t be accepted,” he says.
“I have asked for calm from all those involved. The violence could have resurfaced [since the weekend], but so far it hasn’t, and I take comfort in that. Some calm is being exercised.”
Cllr Hoare admits that antisocial behaviour has been a growing problem in Galway city for at least a year, and that the issue will be raised at the Fine Gael think-in in Limerick.
“I will be meeting with [Minister for Justice] Helen McEntee this weekend to tell her that we do need more Garda resources in the west to deal with the incidents on our streets, not just the incidents of this week, but of the last 12 months. That message will be communicated to the Minister,” he says.
“Incidents like this happen in every city across Ireland and across the world. We pride ourselves on being a safe city and parents should feel comforted by the fact that additional resources have been made available to help manage this situation.”
A short walk away on Cross Street, local businessman David Greely is closing his antiques shop for the night. Mr Greely, who is the chairperson of the newly reformed Galway Business Watch, believes that garda numbers in Galway have been allowed to fall behind those in other cities.
“Hopefully the gardaí and the council will be able to put an end to this behaviour quickly. But we do need more gardaí, we don’t have enough of them to be a physical deterrent at the moment,” he says.
“There is a feeling among the business community that Galway is always sucking the hind tit. It seems to be a Galway thing. We’ve been hearing about ring roads for years and port developments, and it never happens. If you look at Limerick, Cork and Dublin, they get their roads, tunnels and developments.”
Galway Business Watch will host a meeting of local businesses early next week, with crime and antisocial behaviour top of the agenda.
To see a garda in the city centre does make a big difference and we would like to see more of that
Like some in the local business community, Mr Greely believes that the recent violence in the city has been blown out of proportion.
“I think that antisocial behaviour has been getting worse in the city. Or at least it has become more visible,” he says.
“Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen this [antisocial behaviour] highlighted because of some very public incidents on the streets of Galway. There is a certain amount of antisocial behaviour in every city, but it’s just a case of keeping on top of it. Galway still feels like a safe city to me.”
Just off Shop Street, the Eyre Square Shopping Centre is one of Ireland’s busiest retail facilities, with a daily footfall of some 40,000 individuals.
The facility is managed by Avril Smyth, who says that, while antisocial behaviour is getting worse, major violent incidents are still rare in the city.
“What has happened over the last few days is something unusual, something you’d only see every couple of years. There is an awful lot of talk going around, people are scaremongering to a certain extent, but it hasn’t affected footfall or sales in the centre,” she says.
“It [antisocial behaviour] probably is escalating but it is not as bad as what is being publicised. There is a lot of talk, but we haven’t seen an impact on footfall. Whether that will change in the future, we don’t know.
“But we would absolutely like to see a greater garda presence in the city. To see a garda in the city centre does make a big difference and we would like to see more of that.”
Councillor Níall McNelis, of the Labour Party, operates a successful business on Quay Street and is currently the chairperson of the Galway City Joint Policing Committee. He says that he has full confidence in the local gardaí, even though he believes that they are understaffed.
“I am hearing people say that they don’t bother ringing the guards anymore, because there is no response. That’s a cop-out in my opinion. People need to ring the guards, have it recorded that there is a complaint, that gives [Garda] management the opportunity to build up a case to say that they are getting calls but they don’t have the resources,” he said.
“Our [Garda] resources are at an all-time low. Galway city has been left behind in terms of numbers. We need extra gardaí and there is no point sending down young recruits.”
With thousands of college students set to begin their studies in Galway this week, Cllr McNelis insists that the city is still safe for young people.
“My biggest concern for students isn’t crime, it’s that they get home safe each night. They will drink more than they are used to, they will take stuff that they haven’t taken before,” he says.
“It is very, very rare that you hear about a student being beaten up in Galway city.”