Barricades around drinking areas.

padi89

If it wasn't hard enough to get a drink around the Quay St area from Wed on ,this year it will be a complete nightmare.Basically you won't be able to bring any drink purchased in an off licence into these areas.Last night there were barricades manned by security from the bottom of Quay street,either sides of Cross Street and go up as far as King head area.No bottles,cans etc allowed in the area,which IMO will make a right sh1te of things.
I drink in the pubs anyway race week but its still a pain in the h0le going to the bar with the que ,now its gonna be twice as bad with everyone that wants to drink in the area having to get their booze in a bar:(You will need the patience of a saint this week.

Fey!

It's an incentive to keep glass of the streets and make things safer for everyone. Getting served last night souldn't have been any bother; the pubs weren't that busy from what I've heard.

The worst thing about it is that theere are no "Road Closed" signs for Cross Street at either Spanish Parade or Flood Street, so drivers are having to go up Middle Street and Abbeygate Street onto Merchants Road and around by the Docks and across Wolfe Tone Bridge instead of just going over Wolfe Tone Bridge in the first place! Hopefully that will have been rectified by this evening.

padi89

Fey! wrote:

It's an incentive to keep glass of the streets and make things safer for everyone. Getting served last night souldn't have been any bother; the pubs weren't that busy from what I've heard.

Last night was fine Fey, i wrote from Wed night on.I assumed it was brought in because publicans were getting p1ssed off with people bushin outside their bars,oh well.If the reason is to make the place safer fair enough but it will without doubt make getting a drink a nightmare for people, wheres the fun in that???

s_carnage

Lets turn Middle St into the new Quay St!!
De Burgos will be the new Quays!!

JohnCleary

bottle of buckie in a coke bottle ftw

PopeBuckfastXVI

Fey! wrote:

It's an incentive to keep glass of the streets and make things safer for everyone. Getting served last night souldn't have been any bother; the pubs weren't that busy from what I've heard.

The worst thing about it is that theere are no "Road Closed" signs for Cross Street at either Spanish Parade or Flood Street, so drivers are having to go up Middle Street and Abbeygate Street onto Merchants Road and around by the Docks and across Wolfe Tone Bridge instead of just going over Wolfe Tone Bridge in the first place! Hopefully that will have been rectified by this evening.

Yeah I was stung with this on the way home from work yesterday evening. I hate race week.

wet-paint

padi89 wrote:

If it wasn't hard enough to get a drink around the Quay St area from Wed on ,this year it will be a complete nightmare.Basically you won't be able to bring any drink purchased in an off licence into these areas.Last night there were barricades manned by security from the bottom of Quay street,either sides of Cross Street and go up as far as King head area.No bottles,cans etc allowed in the area,which IMO will make a right sh1te of things.
I drink in the pubs anyway race week but its still a pain in the h0le going to the bar with the que ,now its gonna be twice as bad with everyone that wants to drink in the area having to get their booze in a bar:(You will need the patience of a saint this week.

Eh? They're public thoroughfares, they have no right to either barricade the roads, nor stop you from bringing alcohol onto them. Security have no rights out on the roads, and whether or not you drink a bottle of bucky on the road is no concern of theirs, it's of the gardai.
The fcuk is this?

biko

I think they're trying to get a grip of the situation before the madness starts on Weds. Gardai presence will deter pickpockets/ rose sellers/ buckie brigade.




The Galway Gardai has even started with vests this year. Very fashionable.

Caliden

My cousin will be getting a court summons for littering after his takeaway bag burst open at the bottom and everything inside fell on the ground.
The Garda wasn't happy that he picked everything up so he took his details and told him he would get a summons letter in the post.
What a complete bollox

wet-paint

biko wrote:

I think they're trying to get a grip of the situation before the madness starts on Weds. Gardai presence will deter pickpockets/ rose sellers/ buckie brigade.




The Galway Gardai has even started with vests this year. Very fashionable.

Sure, great idea, but... they're not allowed do it.

And the stab proof vests are meant to be pure mank in hot weather.

snubbleste

It's the Garda and the City Council who decided for safety reasons to put up the barricades to prevent broken glass etc.
Last night it when I went by, they was manned by Garda and security in high vis vests (circa 11:30pm)

wet-paint

Ah, that's cool so. Still though, they've no right to search you for alcohol.

biko

It's their world. We only live in it.

Amazotheamazing

man, that's complete rubbish. The best thing about the streets is bringing your own drink, this just makes it easier for pubs to rip people off.

cornbb

I think I'll stick to the West this week

soundbyte

wet-paint wrote:

Eh? They're public thoroughfares, they have no right to either barricade the roads, nor stop you from bringing alcohol onto them.

wet-paint wrote:

Still though, they've no right to search you for alcohol.

You're wrong there. Bye-laws were passed by the City Council yonks ago which bans drinking in public. Enforcement is up to the Gardai (there are exceptions outside bars along the pedestrianised areas).

Gardai have powers of seizure for your alcohol. Technically they mightn't be able to search you, but they can just strike up a conversation, determine you are intoxicated to such an extent as to endanger yourself or others and get you that way. Or say you were abusive.

The reason for this is because of all the arseholes over the last few years that smashed glasses and buckie bottles on the streets during Race Week. Why not do like the rest of us and bring your empty cans with you.

But sure if you want, just say someone off the Interweb said you could drink wherever you wanted.

cornbb

My experience of the Galway gardai is that they don't mind you drinking in public as long as you don't make an arse of yourself and pick up after yourself. Which is perfectly reasonable.

Fey!

It's Galway Corporation and the Gardai who are enforcing this, and whilst there are security for extra manpower on all of the barricades, they are also manned by the Gardai.

Personally, I think that it's a brilliant idea, as I work in an area that's always covered in broken glass on holiday weekends and race week. And I also agree with another poster here that this situation wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for people littering so badly in other years.

As for the traffic diversions and lack of signposting, both Galway Corporation and the Gardai have now been asked to put diversion/road closed ahead signs at Flood Street and at Spanish Parade for those who might not be aware of them, or who may simply have forgotten about them.

padi89

Fey! wrote:

And I also agree with another poster here that this situation wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for people littering so badly in other years.

The littering is bad alright but its going to happen anywhere you have a mass gathering like the races.Look at the racecourse for example its a mess during and after the meetings but at least they have cleaners working as the event is happening. I think the corporation have been terrible in dealing with it in town.Bins are overflowing early on in the evenings so people are just going to leave it beside the bin or on the ground where it will be kicked about the place.There would be no harm in providing alot more bins than they usually do and more importantly emptying them.While i can see banning glass will make it safer it will do nothing for littering the place is still going to end up a mess.

Fey!

The thing is, it's a lot easier clean up broken plastic than broken glass.

Don't get me wrong; I wholeheartedly agree that Galway Corporation are a disgrace in the way they deal with issues such as rubbish. There do appear to be a huge amounts of jobsworths in City Hall.

Or should that be it's-not-my-jobs?

As for the signs for traffic, no sign of them despite requests.

wet-paint

soundbyte wrote:

You're wrong there. Bye-laws were passed by the City Council yonks ago which bans drinking in public. Enforcement is up to the Gardai (there are exceptions outside bars along the pedestrianised areas).

Gardai have powers of seizure for your alcohol. Technically they mightn't be able to search you, but they can just strike up a conversation, determine you are intoxicated to such an extent as to endanger yourself or others and get you that way. Or say you were abusive.

The reason for this is because of all the arseholes over the last few years that smashed glasses and buckie bottles on the streets during Race Week. Why not do like the rest of us and bring your empty cans with you.

You're contradicting yourself there mate. I know very well that's illegal to drink in public, just as it isn't illegal to walk down the street with a crate of beer in the bag on your back. People live on these streets, this would mean that they're breaking the law when they go to the offie to pick up a bottle of plonk for the dinner in front of the television.I'm on about having drink on your person, not being drunk.

Obviously, if you are indeed a danger to yourself they'll take notice, but I'm of the sort that'd go to Harvest for eight cans of Kopparberg, stand at Wooden Heart for a few hours with the boys, and head further, or home.
They can't search you because they think you have drink on your person.They can't.
That's the point I'm making. Sure, I agree with the points you make, but they're veering away from the topic, and not really addressing my arguements.

Regarding a cop striking up a conversation to see if you're hammered, he'll be in luck this week I'd say. You seem to have the idea that they're "out to get people." With the crowds that are around this week, I doubt they have to try and get people, people will be literally falling in their way. If you don't act the prick, you should be fine.

Are you sure about the bars being exceptions to the rule? Those fabric fences they put up to put out seats seem to make people think they're allowed to drink out there, and AFAIK they're not. Sure the bar might allow them, I think but it's illegal. I may of course be wrong, I'll be asking the family copper tomorrow anyway, as I've always wondered why people are allowed to drink on the street during race week and arts festival.

@ Cornbb, my experiences mirror yours exactly.
edited to rephrase things

Fey!

The drinking inside the fabric barriers outside pubs is allowed, but the premises has to have insurance to cover that area before the corporation will give them a license to put out tables, chairs and barriers. And, if I'm not mistaken, they pay extra to the corpo if their business name is on the barriers!

This also applies to restaurants.

padi89

I really dont believe this whole episode has got fvck all to do with rubbish and broken glasses.Im going with my initial view that its the bar owners that dont want people drinking alcohol outside their pubs if it has'nt been purchased there.Its greed more than any safety issue.
I dont even know if il bother with that area the next few nights,Mon and last night were fine but it'll be a joke from now on.
Full time cleaners and more bins would have been a better idea than landing a bunch of security guards about the place.

biko

Why don't we talk more AFTER the races?

We already know what the city turns into unsupervised, lots of happy revellers but also drunk teenagers, vomit, fights at Supermacs, etc ... It'll be interesting to see how it works now with more Garda presence.

I've been to Hogmanay before they started with tickets and searches and even though it was a blast there was some major safety issues.

Im going with my initial view that its the bar owners that dont want people drinking alcohol outside their pubs if it has'nt been purchased there.Its greed more than any safety issue.

The publicans couldn't give a toss. They know the bars/pubs will be jammers the entire evening/every evening. I can't see how they loose money.

padi89

biko wrote:

The publicans couldn't give a toss. They know the bars/pubs will be jammers the entire evening/every evening. I can't see how they loose money.

They dont or havent lost money as of now but its the potential to earn alot more.If people cannot bring in their own drink into the area then they have no other choice but to purchase it in the bar.

po0k

Why don't they cut to the chase and erect scaffolding with temporary bars on them. Punters in the street swipe their credit card and are fed booze till they reach their [card's] limit, at which point they must swipe one of their other status tokens.

Zzippy

I'm with padi89 on this - bouncers in a couple of the pubs last year were under instructions not to let people who were drinking offie outside in to use the jacks - fair enough, but it shows that bar owners were pissed off about people drinking outside with beer they didn't purchase in the bar.
As far as I see it - there is no difference between me buying a bag of cans in Harvest and drinking them on Quay St, and someone buying a pint in Neachtains or wherever and drinking it while chatting to me. We are both drinking on the street. If you're concerned about broken glass then by all means prevent people bringing in glass, but surely you can't stop me bringing a few cans in with me??! I'm not exactly going to smash them now, am I... :rolleyes:

If drinking in public is illegal, then stop everyone drinking on Quay St, not just offie customers.

biko

The pub should set up temp bars outside and sell cans and pints in plastic. As long as no-one is drinking from glass the rubbish problem is easy, employ a few more people to sweep and change bins over the races.

Does anyone live on Shop street? Can I put my stash there?

Caliden

biko wrote:

The pub should set up temp bars outside and sell cans and pints in plastic. As long as no-one is drinking from glass the rubbish problem is easy, employ a few more people to sweep and change bins over the races.

Does anyone live on Shop street? Can I put my stash there?

Friends of mine live above Deely's menswear near Taffe's. Such a class house, you could be entertained by just staring out the window watching people pass by.
And the address is #1 Shop St., lucky bastards!

Zzippy

Was chatting to one of the security guys on the barrier last night - "apparently" last year some guy was skulled by a full can thrown from the crowd, hence why cans are also banned from this area.

gaeilgegrinds

Have to say, was out lastnight & think it's a great idea. No glass to be walked on & made so much sense!

JohnCleary

gaeilgegrinds wrote:

Have to say, was out lastnight & think it's a great idea. No glass to be walked on & made so much sense!

I couldn't help but notice LOTS of glass bottles (Not smashed but not far off) of beer/cider etc. outside the area of Busker's.

The place was mobbed last night, took over 20 mins to get from Jury's Inn to Supermacs at Cross street via. Quay Street. Savage craic though!

gaeilgegrinds

Can't say I saw one and was as sober as a judge what with the bub & all, that's weird!

JohnCleary

gaeilgegrinds wrote:

Can't say I saw one and was as sober as a judge what with the bub & all, that's weird!

I was kinda shocked TBH, I guess some people just managed to sneek bottles past the bar bouncers and dropped them when empty. There wasn't LOADS of them, but I definately saw around 10 - 15 in a bunch on the kerb.

padi89

JohnCleary wrote:

I couldn't help but notice LOTS of glass bottles (Not smashed but not far off) of beer/cider etc. outside the area of Busker's.

Same as Wed night aswell,the crowds were too much,barriers were as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.

Piste

I was out last night I had no idea we weren't to bring drink past the barriers, I brought in a naggin of malibu and was drinking it while queuing for the atm and no-one said a word to me!

Zzippy

Piste wrote:

I was out last night I had no idea we weren't to bring drink past the barriers, I brought in a naggin of malibu and was drinking it while queuing for the atm and no-one said a word to me!

If its the ATM on Mainguard St you're talking about, that was outside the barriers IIRC

JohnCleary

Piste wrote:

I was out last night I had no idea we weren't to bring drink past the barriers, I brought in a naggin of malibu and was drinking it while queuing for the atm and no-one said a word to me!

Arent naggins of Malibu plastic?

gaeilgegrinds

That's what I thought...although maybe it's changed?

padi89

The barriers were pointless in the end, they didn't work.I met plenty of people inside the area with bottles,cans etc.My friends brought in bottles of buckfast on a number of nights and not a word was said,simple fact is with the amount of people around it cannot be controlled.

slickmcvic

ya didnt have to be a genius to get drink past the barriers..we did and in the process of drinkin a fine can of cider the bouncer from the quays came over and told us The gardai said it was illegal to drink off licence from the streets!!

Eh HELLO!! So Its grand to drink on the street as long as from a quay street pub..anywhere else and its an offence.

gaeilgegrinds

Seemingly that's true so my friends put their cans into plastic glasses!

JohnCleary

gaeilgegrinds wrote:

Seemingly that's true so my friends put their cans into plastic glasses!

Aye I had my naggin and 2 cans of RedBull in a bottle of Galway Water. If anyone asked i'd just have said it's the tap water