chippers in Ballina to close early???

steph1

http://www.westernpeople.ie/news/story/?trs=eyojsnauoj

What do people think of this?

The amount of people that are unemployed here in Ballina at the moment is nearly 3,300 and now they want to put more people either out of a job or on reduced hours meaning more people on the dole.

The problem here is not the takeaways or the chippers but alcohol and the fact that everyone is turfed out onto the streets at the same time.

Think we need to have the clubs and pubs closing times staggered so that people can go and get their chips and their taxis and not have everyone in the street at the same time.

I know if I was one of those business owners I would not be too happy either.

alex73

Totally agree, Ballina from 2am to 4am is a horrible place, Guys urinating in shop doors, vomit, and not to mention those who decide to walk home drunk in their t-shirt J-walking as they go. Its not every night and lately not as bad, but 3 years ago it was terrible.

In my opinion they should target the pubs, there is a limit to how much drink to serve a person. seems like the aim of going to a pub these days is to get drunk.

Pubs should only be allow to serve a certain qty of Alcohol per person.

But I think my views are thoses of minority, from that I could see at 11pm most the them should wanted to get pissed.

Fighting Irish

the reason sh1t like this happens is because it's only the people(aul ones) ringing up the politician asking for something to be done, while everyone else just complains to themselves

alex73

Fighting Irish wrote: »

the reason sh1t like this happens is because it's only the people(aul ones) ringing up the politician asking for something to be done, while everyone else just complains to themselves

i am not an aul one... I just avoid Ballina from 11pm until 5 am. talk about land of the zombies!

steph1

There are a lot of issues here and I know well where some of you are coming from with people j walking on the streets etc as I drive a taxi at night myself and especially on a Saturday night have to dodge the pedestrians as I drive up and down the Sligo Road. Its a nightmare.
However people should also bear in mind the numbers of people that work in the fast food industry some of whom have already had their hours reduced. A lot of these takeaways especially the chinese do not do much business during the week and depend heavily on the trade between Thursday and Sunday nights.
There are a lot of people now who dont go into town early on a Saturday night but stay at home drinking and then come into town around midnight and some of these are well tanked up before they hit any pub or club. Drinking at home is becoming a problem in that there is no limits on what people are drinking especially if they are spirit drinkers. They are probably giving themselves double and triple measures.
I think the whole area of licensing laws needs to be looked at. Its the same in every town in Ireland - all out of clubs and late bars at 2am and then its a nightmare people fighting over taxis, fighting in chippers etc. The problem is too many people in the one place at the one time and a lot of them very intoxicated and it only takes one to kick off and then there is mayhem. However in fairness to the owners of these takeaway businesses the behaviour of the people out in the streets is not really their fault.

alex73

Alcohol has 2 effects.

1. Since Alcohol can't be processed by liver its stored as fat.
2. It stops the liver from processing blood sugar, so once you a drunk your body feels like it has not eaten (even when it has). We bing on food to bring back up our blood sugar level. To stop your body going into hypoglycemia state.

Problem is, if we do this even once a month we run the risk of Diabetes and heart disease.

Alcohol also stops your body absorbing vitamins. So if you are drunk 2 or 3 days in a row you will soon see your body feels terrible.

Well here in Ballina it seems every weekend that there are a lot of Drunk teenages & 20 year olds. I have not seen an empty pub on a saturday night in Ballina. This leads to the takeaways overloaded, streets are then a disgrace with litter.

Only 1 thing to do, tackle the root cause, don't serve to those already drunk and close the pubs a 12 every night.

steph1

Well I agree with you there and that is the root cause of these problems in towns all around the country every Saturday night - alcohol.
However there is hardly anybody going out now in Ballina during the week and its like a ghost town. And a lot of businesses are suffering including my own as there is little demand for taxis bar the hardy annuals that are out every night drinking.
Even if pubs shut at 12 and the disco shuts at two that would in some way alleviate the numbers of people in the street all at once waiting on a taxi or queuing in the takeaway. The closing times need to be staggered.
And to be fair there are two takeaways who are not in the centre of town who open until 3am and there is never any trouble there. Its the town centre thats the problem.
The litter problem is another issue. There are plenty of bins around but sure people dont use them. The worst I have ever seen was last year at the close of the Festival. I was driving through the town at 5am in the morning and I never saw anything like it. It was as if someone dropped a ton of litter from the sky. The place was a disgrace. The organisers of the Festival would want to look into these things and provide ample bins. The whole town looked like a landfill site.

Paul4As

In the article it talks about security guards in the take-away premises...they can uphold the law there, but outside in the street it is a different matter! What about out in streets...where are the Gardai?
Haven't been out in Ballina town centre at 2 o'clock on a Sunday morning for a good while...are there many Gardai about?
It is not just the alcohol that is to blame though...it is the person as well! Too often it is easy to blame it on the booze...it is the attitude of people these days...a lot of people are just pricks even when they are sober, and their behaviour is made worse through drink! Problem not just in Balllina...everywhere!
Even without being under the influence some people will throw litter on to the street even if there is an empty bin right beside them! See it here in Belfast all the time!
Steph1 I think you hit the nail in the head too about home consumption of alcohol and getting tanked-up before hitting the bars and clubs! Because bars and clubs are quieter early evening they are willing to let drunks in at 11 and later just to get some income!

steph1

Well Paul I do see it for myself being a taxi driver as I often get calls to pick up from houses at late hours e.g. 11.30 to 12 midnight to bring people into town. So they have been drinking at home then they just have a couple in the pub before they hit the disco so some of them are nicely merry to put it politely.
The gardai in fairness to them do seem to have much more of a presence than before. However what I cannot understand is the number of very young teenagers who gather outside a certain fastfood joint and just hang around all night and never seem to be moved on. These idiots are just waiting for something to kick off.
Why are they not sent home where they should be at that hour of the morning? Some of these look too young to be out at that hour.
Last Saturday week there were a series of incidents and fights in the town and again Ballina in the news for all the wrong reasons. I am not originally from here but have been living here for a number of years and I like it here. But something needs to be done with these nomarks and clear them from the streets rather than taking it out on the genuine business man or woman who is trying to make a living in these difficult times.