Galway City’s Joint Policing Committee was this week asked to get behind a programme that will enable people to feel safer on a night out by using a standard code phrase to alert bar staff to the fact that they are uncomfortable and need some support.
Already 70 pubs in Galway city have provisionally agreed to participate in the training for the Ask For Angela project — a code word campaign that supports people who feel unsafe or intimidated while on a night out. Now, the backers are hoping that the required training programme can be expedited.
The initiative began in Lincolnshire in England in 2016 and received a lot of positive feedback internationally, and since then has been introduced in parts of Ireland. First rolled out in Waterford in November 2017, Cork County Council has now also backed the campaign, and it is also being used in a pub in Limerick.
How it works — If you are on a night out with friends, meeting someone from Tinder or Grindr for the first time, or on a date that just is not working out, if you are uncomfortable and need some support, Ask for Angela can help.
You can go up to the bar or a member of staff and ask for ‘Angela’. The code word lets bar staff know if you’re feeling uncomfortable and need a way to get out of your situation.
The staff member will discreetly separate you from the person and talk to you to find the best way to deal with the situation. They may call you a taxi so you can get home safely, or remove the person from the bar or nightclub.
NUIG SU president Róisín Nic Lochlainn said that the programme can be implemented in Galway and that she has already held discussions with VFI Galway chair Johnny Duggan and with JPC chair, Cllr Niall McNelis.
She welcomed the input of the university’s Active Consent team and said that they will provide key elements of the training.
“It is important that with nightlife reopening that we provide this, so that people can feel safe on a night out,” she said.
