Gurriers terrorising Ballybane should be ‘taken out’, says ex-mayor
A group of “gurriers” who were terrorising the east of the city should be “taken out”, a former city mayor believes.
Fine Gael Councillor Frank Fahy’s assertion drew a strong rebuke from Chief Superintendent Tom Curley who insisted that due process had to be followed with any alleged culprit even if that process was much more protracted when it came to juveniles.
The suburb of Ballybane was raised several times at this week’s City Joint Policing Committee meeting, beginning with community representative Tommy O’Flaherty, who said the antisocial behaviour there had to be confronted.
He said drivers would not deliver in the area as they feared being showered with stones.
“It’s a fantastic place to be living in. It’s brought down by a couple of gurriers, the community Gardaí are doing their best. We know who they are, we know what they’re up to. People are afraid to come forward due to threats.
“Five or six young people are holding an area to ransom. Something needs to be done…a colleague on Castlepark Road had a stone put through one window and it went out another,” he fumed.
“Are we going to wait until somebody is killed before we react. We need to take these people out.”
Chief Supt Curley interjected. “We can’t use language like that. We can’t take people out … We can have people arrested for antisocial behaviour, but we have to use due process.” To read the rest of this article, see this week's Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week's paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.