Gardaí put brakes on speeding motorists

Meanwhile, a massive percentage increase in the number of fines issued to cyclists who break the law – up by 186% – has been welcomed by some city councillors.

The total number of Fixed Charge Penalty Notices (FCPN) issued to motorists speeding in the city, from January to the end of November 2019, was 2,481.

This was an increase of 10% on the same period the previous year, or an additional 230 speeding fines.

The figures were contained in the local Garda crime report, presented to a Galway City Joint Policing Committee meeting by Chief Superintendent Tom Curley.

In a separate response to a written question submitted by JPC chairman, Councillor Niall McNelis – about Gardaí helping to police 30km/h zones in city estates – Chief Supt Curley said: “Gardaí continually monitor 30km/h zones in relation to speed and other offences. For example, the Kingston Road area, where a number of operations were conducted recently and 100 people were issued with FCPN.”

There were no fatal accidents on city roads in the first 11 months of 2019, and accidents causing serious injury were down by 33% from 12 to 18.

Meanwhile, Councillor Donal Lyons (Ind) has welcomed a 186% increase in the number of FCPN issued for pedal cyclists. Some 63 cyclists were issued with fines in the 11 months to the end of November, 41 more than the corresponding period the previous year.

Offences for no insurance were down 31% to 157 incidents, and there were 1,505 parking offences between January and November, a reduction of 18%.

Councillor Eddie Hoare (FG) welcomed an increase of 26% in the number of Mandatory Intoxication Tests (MIT) checkpoints but said that there were too many drink driving offences, which stood at 141 incidents (down 9%).

Elsewhere, begging offences were down by 66% to 14 detections. This reduction was a matter of concern to a number of JPC members, who said begging continues to be a problem. Cllr Frank Fahy (FG) said a number of beggars were purporting to be homeless but were not homeless at all – it was giving off a bad image of the city, he said. Cllr Fahy said some beggars were operating at 3am or 4am after nightclubs close.

Chief Supt Curley said he had to prioritise resources. If there are 3,000 people congregating at Eyre Square after a night out, he would allocate Gardaí to policing that potential Public Order situation.

Begging was not being ignored, and it was being dealt with – including on the Headford Road – but he could not have a Garda on every street corner.

Public order offences were up by 12 incidents (2%) to 550; assaults causing harm were down 1% to 90; and minor assaults were up 14% to 296 incidents.