A public right of way is to be extinguished on Dominick Street as councillors agree to close Burkes Laneway.
The 45-metre gated lane, which has been a den of antisocial behaviour according to councillors, is to be closed to the public in the interest of safety for residents who use the lane to access their homes.
Fine Gael councillor Pádraig Conneely described the lane as “a well known drug hole”.
“There was even an abandoned car with someone sleeping in it at one point,” he said. “It was a toilet with bags of rubbish, and I propose the gate is left there for the security of the people living there.”
However Labour councillor Colette Connolly was concerned by the taking over of the lane and said “we should be getting something like €100,000 from the developer for it”.
Director of services Ciarán Hayes said: “We are proposing the public right of way be extinguished but we will still own the land, because the land is going nowhere it was suggested that the right of way be closed.”
One public objection to the proposal said that for the Galway City Council to allow “this right-of-way to be closed permanently amounts to allowing developer-led planning to take precedence of the Common Law, proper and sustainable planning, and the wishes of ordinary citizens”.
However Labour councillor Billy Cameron supported the move saying: “The lane once went somewhere, now it goes nowhere, it’s a dead end.”
