Street drinking ban to be lifted
Dara BradleyDrinking alcohol on the city’s streets, which is currently outlawed though not enforced, will be allowed during special events from next summer.
Under new bye-laws proposed by Galway City Councillor Peter Keane (FF), organisations will be allowed to apply for special exemptions during special events that would allow the drinking of alcohol on public streets.
As it stands, the city is governed by 1998 bye-laws in which street drinking is banned, however Gardaí concede that during events such as Race Week, they do not have the manpower to implement it.
Another problem identified by Cllr Keane in the 1998 laws is that Gardaí have the powers to confiscate alcoholic drinks but they do not have the power to destroy them.
Under his proposals – which have received the backing of Chief Superintendent Tom Curley – Gardaí will be given the powers of destruction.
Plans to give the powers of destruction were discussed previously by Galway City Council and the city’s Joint Policing Committee (JPC) in 2004 before that year’s local election, but, contrary to common perception, they were never actually implemented.
Cllr Keane said under his modern proposals, organisations such as the Latin Quarter, Vintners Association, Galway City Business Association, Galway Oyster Festival, residents associations and any other ‘bone fide’ organisation, will be allowed to apply to the Chief Executive (CE) of the City Council for an exemption on street drinking.
The CE would grant the application following consultation with Gardaí.
“What we are doing here is not relaxing the bye-laws, we are regulating how and where alcohol is consumed in public,” said Cllr Keane.
For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune