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Salthill packed with swimmers but no lifeguards

buzz11

We've had a week of fantastic weather and looks like another to come, salthill is jam packed with swimmers, particularly blackrock, but there are no lifeguards on duty and no litter bins at blackrock (the spaces are there but they haven't been put out yet)

There was a big fuss made over safety of the raft but yet the people in charge ignore clear requirement for lifeguards at this time of year when the secondary schools finish and the weather is often at its best.

This question was raised here last year (when the weather was also fine) and apparently the lifeguards start the season at weekends at first, then full time after that.

It just doesn't make sense.

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buzz11

Some daft parking today as well....

thesandeman

buzz11 wrote: »

Some daft parking today as well....

FFS!! They'll have to re lay the grass in the winter.

ben.schlomo

thesandeman wrote: »

FFS!! They'll have to re lay the grass in the winter.

Shtop with your winter, i need it ready for when i go sitting out in January, winter me eye.

Gadgetman496

buzz11 wrote: »

Some daft parking today as well....

That might be a good spot for the Christmas Market? It'll give the grass in Eyre Square time to recover for the 2020 bid

gordongekko

Maybe that's what the barriers are for in Eyre square. Trying to stop motorists parking on it.

shar01

The lifeguards themselves tend to be leaving cert age / first / second year college students. Where I am (east coast) they start full time from June bank holiday.

It has become a feature of our weather in the last few years that May tends to be better than July/August.

youngrun

buzz11 wrote: »

We've had a week of fantastic weather and looks like another to come, salthill is jam packed with swimmers, particularly blackrock, but there are no lifeguards on duty and no litter bins at blackrock (the spaces are there but they haven't been put out yet)

There was a big fuss made over safety of the raft but yet the people in charge ignore clear requirement for lifeguards at this time of year when the secondary schools finish and the weather is often at its best.

This question was raised here last year (when the weather was also fine) and apparently the lifeguards start the season at weekends at first, then full time after that.

It just doesn't make sense.

Thats crazy on both counts, dangerous on the first, is it the city council that employs them?

shar01

youngrun wrote: »

Thats crazy on both counts, dangerous on the first, is it the city council that employs them?

I'm guessing it is the Council that recruits (interviews / arranges Garda vetting and the swim test).

Unfortunately the job of beach lifeguard tends to attract young people and if they themselves are sitting exams, they're not available until early June...

Redhairedguy

On the plus side, with the Triathlon people back training now on Wednesday evenings down Blackrock, there are people out on kayaks/body boards in case some one gets into trouble. Not a dedicated life guard by any means, but definitely a nice assurance for casual swimmers (like myself).

In total agreement about the lack of bins. Had to stick my chewing gum into an old receipt and put it back in my wallet... :pac:

Would absolutely love the raft back... That would be savage.

Also, I used the newly refurbished toilets at the end of the prom yesterday. Quite swanky with their different coloured LEDs for the soap/water/hand dryer. Very progressive thinking with the supplying of safe needle/razor blade disposal as well. :cool:

galljga1

Redhairedguy wrote: »

On the plus side, with the Triathlon people back training now on Wednesday evenings down Blackrock, there are people out on kayaks/body boards in case some one gets into trouble. Not a dedicated life guard by any means, but definitely a nice assurance for casual swimmers (like myself).

In total agreement about the lack of bins. Had to stick my chewing gum into an old receipt and put it back in my wallet... :pac:

Would absolutely love the raft back... That would be savage.

Also, I used the newly refurbished toilets at the end of the prom yesterday. Quite swanky with their different coloured LEDs for the soap/water/hand dryer. Very progressive thinking with the supplying of safe needle/razor blade disposal as well. :cool:

Well done for doing that. If everybody behaved in a similar manner, there would be no need for bins. People bring food, drink, sweets etc. to the beach, the park, the forest. Why can't they bring the litter home with them?

beardybrewer

It's the same logic that has hurling and soccer finishing up now so kids have nothing to do all summer.

TrashyTrackman

You are right they normally work weekends first when people are are school/work etc during say and September. But seeing as the school's/colleges are finishing, I can't figure out why they haven't gone full time at this stage

Redhairedguy

To be fair, from what I've seen, a lot of Galway residents are quite good about their rubbish. The bins down the Spanish Arch/Middle Arch are always stuffed to capacity whenever there is a fine day, and people still either try to forcefully stuff their rubbish in, or create a secondary spot with an empty beer box to hold their rubbish; you will on occasion see people leaving their empties around, but I know that is quite frowned on. I watched a guy chase after a group of three girls to hand them back their boojum bags full of rubbish that they just walked away from them. All but one of them went beetroot.

I actually think there should be more bin facilities down that end of town and in Salthill in general. No one likes lugging around their rubbish if they can offload it in a nearby bin.

[Deleted User]

Schedule here: http://www.galway.ie/en/services/leisure/lifeguardservice/

I guess there isn't the budget to provide a greater service.

Basically it is weekends in June and seven days a week for July and August.

snubbleste

You don't pay enough taxes for the service, caller

phelant

buzz11 wrote: »

We've had a week of fantastic weather and looks like another to come, salthill is jam packed with swimmers, particularly blackrock, but there are no lifeguards on duty and no litter bins at blackrock (the spaces are there but they haven't been put out yet)

There was a big fuss made over safety of the raft but yet the people in charge ignore clear requirement for lifeguards at this time of year when the secondary schools finish and the weather is often at its best.

This question was raised here last year (when the weather was also fine) and apparently the lifeguards start the season at weekends at first, then full time after that.

It just doesn't make sense.

Have you contacted the local authorities directly and if so what was their response?

Your Face

If Salthill is packed with swimmers then they're safe enough.
Now, if the sea was full of swimmers it would be of some concern.

J.pilkington

phelant wrote: »

Have you contacted the local authorities directly and if so what was their response?

http://www.galwayindependent.com/news/topics/articles/2016/06/02/4120930-launch-of-beach-lifeguard-services/

GekkePrutser

Redhairedguy wrote: »

To be fair, from what I've seen, a lot of Galway residents are quite good about their rubbish. The bins down the Spanish Arch/Middle Arch are always stuffed to capacity whenever there is a fine day, and people still either try to forcefully stuff their rubbish in, or create a secondary spot with an empty beer box to hold their rubbish; you will on occasion see people leaving their empties around, but I know that is quite frowned on. I watched a guy chase after a group of three girls to hand them back their boojum bags full of rubbish that they just walked away from them. All but one of them went beetroot.

I actually think there should be more bin facilities down that end of town and in Salthill in general. No one likes lugging around their rubbish if they can offload it in a nearby bin.

Tbh there should be more bins everywhere in town. I'm pretty sure they've been removing public bins lately, it's really hard to find them now and they used to be everywhere a few years ago. The ones that are left are not emptied often enough.

I applaud people bringing their rubbish with them but it's really the council to blame IMO.

snubbleste

GekkePrutser wrote: »

..
I applaud people bringing their rubbish with them but it's really the council to blame IMO.

How so?
People produce the rubbish, they should dispose of it themselves in their own bins. User pays principle.

Gremlinertia

snubbleste wrote: »

How so?
People produce the rubbish, they should dispose of it themselves in their own bins. User pays principle.

While i wouldn't use a public bin to dispose of domestically generated waste, for instance food wrappers or vegetable peelings, i would hope that if i got a coffee or an ice cream from somewhere in the vicinity of a public amenity there would be ways to dispose of these.

Mrs OBumble

GekkePrutser wrote: »

I'm pretty sure they've been removing public bins lately, it's really hard to find them now and they used to be everywhere a few years ago.

The only ones I can recall being removed were at the back door to the Eyre Square Centre (pretty sure that was managed by the shopping centre not the council), and the one at the bus-stop where the 405-Ballybane used to turn around.

In town, I'm not aware of any being missing. And they most certainly aren't difficult to find.

[Deleted User]

snubbleste wrote: »

How so?
People produce the rubbish, they should dispose of it themselves in their own bins. User pays principle.

We pay tax to have things like public bins provided for waste produced when out and about in the city. Idiotic to think things like public bins shouldn't be provided.

thesandeman

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The only ones I can recall being removed were at the back door to the Eyre Square Centre (pretty sure that was managed by the shopping centre not the council), and the one at the bus-stop where the 405-Ballybane used to turn around.

In town, I'm not aware of any being missing. And they most certainly aren't difficult to find.

The one that was outside Supermacs and Daybreak moved along slowly over the last couple of years. Last spotted by the taxi rank when I nearly took one of the drivers eye out due to a sudden gust of wind when I was butting a fag. It's stupid not having a bin there especially as it's a seating area of the Square/Park. I do notice a lot of people try to keep things neat by stuffing their wrappers into coffee cups etc but they just blow away.
The one outside Vivo/Gala also moved away from outside the door to up the road 'overnight' a few years ago. The Corpo lads knew nothing about that until they came to empty it but they just went with the flow.
Personally I think it should be part of the PP for anywhere serving takeaway food to have a bin directly outside.

[Deleted User]

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The only ones I can recall being removed were at the back door to the Eyre Square Centre (pretty sure that was managed by the shopping centre not the council), and the one at the bus-stop where the 405-Ballybane used to turn around.

In town, I'm not aware of any being missing. And they most certainly aren't difficult to find.

Stop the nonsense. It's near impossible to find bins all over the city. I've walked from the Eye Cinema via College Road and seen just one bin. That's ridiculous. And it's the same across a lot of the city.

And besides, what about the lifeguards in Salthill?

buzz11

Deleted User wrote: »

And besides, what about the lifeguards in Salthill?

The lifeguards have started duty this weekend and according to the Galway Co co website, they work weekends in June and then full time for July, Aug and weekends until Mid Sept.

Its blindingly obvious that need to start mid May, instead of 1st June.

[Deleted User]

I'm going to go out of my way to defend the Council and the Lifeguards here.
I worked as a Lifeguard for 4 years, but it was quite a while ago.

Basically, for 90% of the summer, the Lifeguards working on the beach, have a very monotonous, boring job, with little to no swimmers in the water
It has always been the case, that the majority of the beach lifeguards are between the ages of 18 and 23
While the majority of them are available to work all of June, there is no demand. The cost of employing these lifeguards is quite high, and reaps no returns
Nothing has changed in terms of the lifeguards employment. As far back as I remember, the lifeguards have always worked weekends in June (the busiest periods) and then all of July and August. This is nothing new
I'm sure that people who know more than you or me about the situation, have looked into the requirements of having lifeguards working all 30 days in June, and decided that this is the not the best way to spend the councils money.
And unfortunately, if a heat wave occurs, they can't magic up some lifeguards to work on the beaches.

Finally, the swimmers safety, is their own responsibility, first and foremost. If kids are swimming in the sea, and there are no lifeguards on duty, it is their parents responsibility for their well being.
If adults are swimming, and there are no lifeguards on duty, it is the persons own responsibility for their safety.

I've been to plenty of beach resorts around Europe, during summer months, and the majority of them do not have a dedicated lifeguard on duty.

As for the bins, I agree more bins are needed, but after just returning from London, I spent a good 30 minutes carrying a coffee cup, looking for a bin. This is not just an Irish/Galway problem

Congrats on your first post..... 8 years later!

[Deleted User]

aw wrote: »

Congrats on your first post..... 8 years later!

I had an account on Adverts, and had forgotten my password. Finally got around to resetting it this morning