The Castlebar Joint Policing Committee is to write to the operators of takeaway restaurants in the town to meet with them in relation to the number of incidents that occur outside them on weekend nights. Fine Gael councillor Noreen Heston raised the issue, asking Superintendent Willie Keaveney how much of his resources were taken up on weekend nights policing these areas. Supt Keaveney told the meeting that from 1am to 4am from Friday to Sunday night, he had to have almost all his officers in close vicinity to the areas they operate in, because when the night clubs start emptying out and people start to congregate in these areas the vast majority of assaults and incidents of anti social behaviour start occurring.
The issue of the council trying to force them to close earlier was raised, but Mayor Michael Kilcoyne informed the meeting that the current takeaways all operate within the planning permission they were granted and are allowed to operate as they currently do.
Supt Keaveney told the meeting that a number of years ago, an agreement was reached with the operators of the takeaways in relation to the closing times and it worked well at the start but once one operator decided to open later they all did and the agreement fell apart.
The meeting was also told that a sub-committee was endeavouring to meet with the operators of teenage discos in the town to discuss an number of issues that have arisen over the past number of years and they were hopeful of having that meeting before the next meeting of the committee.
