Buncrana's most senior
Garda has pledged to allocate more resources to
prevent a repeat of a drunken beach brawl that
brought the seaside town to national attention last
weekend.
Garda Superintendent, Jimmy Coen, met with Buncrana
councillors on Tuesday evening to discuss a number
of issues of local importance.
While the meeting was arranged prior to the events
of last weekend, the fracas between around 30 youths
from Derry and Buncrana, formed a major part of the
agenda.
Cllr. Paul Bradley said he was happy the local Garda
chief intended to deploy more manpower on weekends
expected to attract large crowds, including young
people, to the town.
He said, however, he did not want the message to go
out that Buncrana did not want visitors.
"This is mainly for future weekends and during the
warm weather in order to avoid a situation like that
arising again in any public place in the Buncrana
area. Obviously in the good weather, we want people
to come to Buncrana and enjoy themselves when they
are here.
"The Buncrana Superintendent indicated that on busy
weekends from now on, he would be putting more
resources in place," said Cllr. Bradley.
The Fine Gael councillor said he hoped a new
on-street drinking ban which he had lobbied for and
which will give Gardai more power in dealing with
public drunkenness, would help curb any future
problems.
Meanwhile, he said a community warden, set to be
appointed shortly, would also have the power to
issue on-the-spot fines for public drinking. |
