Local cycling and disability activists have long been battling to remove kissing gates from parks and walkways across the city.
People rejoiced across the city last week, following news that the kissing gates, a v-shaped part enclosure shaped gates which have a hinge gate attached, on “The Swamp” walkway in the Claddagh had been removed. For many, the obstructive gates which were introduced to combat horses and motorbikes from being used in the city’s parks, have been a long standing obstacle for cyclists, disabled residents and parents with buggies.
“Once they were removed, many in the community noted they were gone. Within 24 hours they were back, but in those 24 hours, nothing terrible happened to the park,” said Cllr Niall Murphy.
The gates had been removed by the city council to facilitate a fun run which cut through The Swamp, before being reinstated just a day later.
“When I saw a message on twitter saying they had been removed, I was absolutely delighted, but to see it back within 24 hours was gut wrenching,” said avid cyclist Dave Corley, who has compiled a map of all 69 kissing gates throughout the city.
For Cllr Murphy, the topic of kissing gates in Galway have been a bone of contention for a long time. “In the last 2.5 years I’ve been a Councillor, kissing gates have always been an issue. The Council make an argument that without them, you could have horses and motorbikes in the space, but there’s a million places motorbikes and horses can go that aren’t obstructed by kissing gates, Eyre Square for example. There are places cars aren’t allowed to go, but there aren’t gates. They’re removable and can be easily moved back if there was an issue later.
“Kissing gates are for livestock, but we have found ourselves in a city full of them trying to find some purpose for them, but they were never initially intended for access control.”
Cllr Murphy also states that the last audit on public spaces was conducted in 2005, but he is confident that if an audit was done today, “then the kissing gates would be mentioned as being obstructive to people with mobility issues.
“If you’re in a wheelchair, you just can’t get in,” he said.
Gráinne Faller, who has been championing the ‘Sundays 4 Safety’ campaign has said that when it comes to kissing gates and the barricade created for disabled residents of the city is Council sponsored discrimination.
“These gates only lock out people whose mobility is compromised. That includes people with disabilities, parents and small children, people on bikes, older people with mobility or strength issues. Councillors have been quoted as saying that alternatives to the gates need to be identified. Well where is the urgency? Why is is okay to lock people out while they do that? Right now, we are looking at Council sponsored discrimination. It has to change immediately. You cannot exclude whole sections of society for that, or any reason. Access is a right. The time for excuses is finished.
“Accessibility is a right, but too often it is treated as a favour - an add on,” said Gráinne.
In June this year, it had been announced that the Council was going to review kissing gates throughout the city following The Department of Transport directing the National Transport Authority (NTA ) in February to regard access points like kissing gates, which do not comply with universal access and free-flow cycling, as non compliant. This was then countered by a statement from a Galway City Council saying that, the city does not have any “non-compliant access controls on any of our existing or proposed future Active Travel Schemes.”
“The Council has been asked to remove these barriers by campaigners, it has been directed to remove them by the Minister and the NTA. And yet, it’s own chief engineer claimed in an email to the NTA that nothing needs to be done? Councillors talk about the gates blocking undesirable elements from parks and estates and yet, over and over again, you see gates alongside gaps, or low walls or open fields,” said Gráinne.
Dave Corley, who spent two weekends collecting data to outline the kissing gates throughout the city, said that he feels like arguments for the gates being a deterrent to anti-social behaviour doesn’t cut it.
“If it’s discriminatory to the disabled, people with mobility issues, cyclists and residents in general, it’s going too far and shouldn’t be used as policing,” he said.
