Motorists going through hell - parking at a church

snubbleste

Motorists attending a novena in Galway say they have been going through hell
The City Council has now moved to halt illegal parking on roads in the vicinity of the cathedral and traffic wardens have been issuing fines.
This has infuriated those attending the novena, with many claiming that they have nowhere else to park, given the huge numbers flocking to the sessions.

Wow, way to sensationalise a story. About time the City Council started to fulfill their obligation to enforce pedestrian safety, movement and right of way on the footpath. I notice that none of these law-breaking church attendees park on the road and restrict or obstruct it. There is plenty of parking spaces in Galway, unfortunately a payment must be made for some, plus the Cathedral is located on a number of bus routes. No excuse!

Sponge Bob

It is free to park up there after about 6:30pm ( and before 8:30 am) is it not??

snubbleste

I think you're referring to the Council car park adjacent to the Cathedral? This is usually full most days anyway, so when people attending the Novena come along they park where they like - on the grass, double yellows, junctions, blocking footpaths etc., causing problems mainly for pedestrians getting from A to B, forcing them on to the road. I think the article means footpath parking when referring to parking on roads in the area.

Columc

Thank god for that. I alwyas find it hilarious that people attedning the Novena think they can get away with parking their cars anywere, and causing mayham on the roads.

"I park on a double yellow line, but its for a good reason"

Das Kitty

Going through hell...

Hyperbole much?

There is plenty of other paid parking within walking distance of the cathedral. If they want to park close by they should get there early and not be whinging about having to obey the parking laws.

Robbo

It's about time they did away with the €40 Fine (or Decade of the Rosary equivalent) option on the parking tickets.

Madame Razz

They should have a park and ride in place for the Novena. It would solve the parking problem, but also reduce the high numbers of petrified grannies in their micras who are a road hazard.

McTigs

Madame Razz wrote: »

They should have a park and ride in place for the Novena. It would solve the parking problem, but also reduce the high numbers of petrified grannies in their micras who are a road hazard.

i liked your point until you felt the need to have a go at grannies and their little cars.

Micra not good enough for you no? :rolleyes:

snubbleste

There is a clear need for the erection of a temporary barrier to protect vulnerable innocent pedestrians from these wayward anti-social lawbreakers. :cool:

Bosco boy

They should organise a MASS protest!

biko

They should move the cathedral to a field somewhere and put more parking places where it is now.

kellsum

Clearly the pedestrians should be considered and as long as the cars are not causing any obstructions so that the emerengcy services can get through I don't see any problem.
But the majority of church goers are the elderly and my thoughts are that there is no parking any where near the Cathederal that would facilitate the oldies for the two weeks while this novena goes on and they should be excempt.
Perhaps the council should have considered opening up Fisheries Field as a temporary parking measure.

Madame Razz

McTigs wrote: »

i liked your point until you felt the need to have a go at grannies and their little cars.

Micra not good enough for you no? :rolleyes:

At least I know how to drive:)

kellsum

kellsum wrote: »

Clearly the pedestrians should be considered and as long as the cars are not causing any obstructions so that the emerengcy services can get through I don't see any problem.
But the majority of church goers are the elderly and my thoughts are that there is no parking any where near the Cathederal that would facilitate the oldies for the two weeks while this novena goes on and they should be excempt.
Perhaps the council should have considered opening up Fisheries Field as a temporary parking measure.

Why should anyone be allowed break the law for a couple of weeks to suit them?

There was an article in the Sentinel about the novena - the headline was something along the lines of "Young and old flock to the novena" There were four or five pictures attached and the youngest person looked to be well into their forties.

Who owns fisheries field - is it the university, the city or someone else?

foxy_19-89

I was forced (well) on to the road at fisheries field until just before the salmon weir yesterday.

Whats the difference between the novena crowd and students parking there, its shocking, park and ride or something should be available for them. If they park illegally, punish them, isnt that the law?

But im sure no one wants to say anything incase a vote goes downt he drain

johnnyk66

The church makes a fortune every year from this 'mass' mayhem, they should have the decency to fund a park & ride service for the duration of the novena

Bosco boy

johnnyk66 wrote: »

The church makes a fortune every year from this 'mass' mayhem, they should have the decency to fund a park & ride service for the duration of the novena

I agree, they could do the park and ride from St marys college, it's close by and is church property!

McTigs

Madame Razz wrote: »

At least I know how to drive:)

busted

swe_fi

You could have drive-in Novena (Like Drive-in cinema or just McDonalds type drive-in) or build an underground car park under the cathedral.

MajorMax

McTigs wrote: »

i liked your point until you felt the need to have a go at grannies and their little cars.

Micra not good enough for you no? :rolleyes:

My elderly mother lives in Galway and I'll have you know she has replaced her Nissan Micra with a Toyota Yaris (True story)
Get your facts right!!!

?Cee?view

swe_fi wrote: »

You could have drive-in Novena (Like Drive-in cinema or just McDonalds type drive-in) or build an underground car park under the cathedral.

Novena App?

Fozzie Bear

My observations on this, myself and my missus walk by the Cathedral every evening on our daily walk. The parking while a bit OTT in places is not completely blocking the footpath or roadway for that matter from what I saw. We can easily walk past using the footpath and if we meet someone coming the other way its just a matter of stepping to one side for a second until they pass. Traffic can pass both ways on the road its just a matter of taking your time. The actual jams come before hand when people are heading to the Cathedral and traffic is backed up from there out to the magic round about at Tesco. We are usually quicker walking this as I have timed it against a particular car on a few evenings. Also at the end of Mass when several thousand people pour out of the Cathedral and head for their cars which causes mayhem for an hour until it clears up again.

A few well placed Gardai directing traffic would sort it all out in my opinion. As for ticketing illegally parked vehicles well a large contingent of the Novena crowd are travellers. Good luck with getting them to pay;)

Zzippy

Deleted User wrote: »

Why should anyone be allowed break the law for a couple of weeks to suit them?

There was an article in the Sentinel about the novena - the headline was something along the lines of "Young and old flock to the novena" There were four or five pictures attached and the youngest person looked to be well into their forties.

Who owns fisheries field - is it the university, the city or someone else?

Fisheries field is owned by NUIG.
Yesterday I saw a car being parked across the exit from Fisheries Field (there are 2 parallel lanes), completely blocking one, just as a car was coming down the lane to come out. The old dear didn't give a sh1t, just hopped out of the car and across to the cathedral, leaving the car trying to exit to reverse all the way up the lane and go over to the other one to get out. Not a garda to be seen anywhere... :rolleyes:

Madame Razz

These 'God' loving folk really need to realise that going praying does not give you the right to abandon your car where you please. I can remember witnessing an altercation between a man and a clamper(back in the days when they clamped) who got so riled up by the fact that he was clamped that the guards had to be called. He didn't even have a ticket on his car, despite being in a clearly marked pay and display area, and he thought that that should be ok because he was at the Novena???

It's God delusion at it's best:p

While I dont condone illegal parking, some of the posts on here are a tiny bit OTT and I doubt many of the oldies will be on boards, so I'll have a go at defending them!
It is only nine days, not two weeks.
We have a new Garda Traffic Corps; could they not try to build up a bit of goodwill by helping traffic flow at the busiest times?
The Cathedral could I'm sure have volunteers helping with parking, especially in order to avoid genuinely reckless or dangerous parking.
Bad driving is the rule, not the exception in Galway, anyway. Check out those yellow boxes by the Salmon Weir Bridge or any roundabout any day.
There seems to be a dearth of threads on the absolutely enormous amount of law-breaking that occurs any evening in Galway. Public Intoxication, antisocial behaviour, littering are all illegal (and I have been guilty of all of them, though never arrested for any of them). Sure its just young people having a laugh.
Anyway, all I'm saying is that a bit more tolerance mightn't go astray.

snubbleste

The Garda are fully aware of the event and they send out people to direct traffic after each mass. The authorities are aware parking is an issue every single year at this event and that navigation is compromised as a result of illicit behaviour, yet until 2011 did nothing about it.

This is a heavily used throughfare with a large footfall linking the university/western suburbs to the centre, adjacent to one of only four bridges spanning the corrib and is a national route(N59).

In the past when people complained about illicit parking in the area, the response you got was nonchalant or a classic shoulder shrug. There is no excuse for parking on the footpath, otherwise the Council/Garda need to say the footpath is closed and create a safe diversion for pedestrian traffic as they are obliged to do.

Discodog

Why does it have to be a Solemn Novena - why can't we have a happy one ?. Almighty traffic jam at midday today - so annoying when one takes the wrong route having forgotten about the Novena.

Maybe I should stop & buy some of those exquisite souvenirs being sold from the vans

Madame Razz

Discodog wrote: »

Maybe I should stop & buy some of those exquisite souvenirs being sold from the vans

You could stockpile them and use them as Christmas presents, your friends and family would be thrilled:p

Discodog

Madame Razz wrote: »

You could stockpile them and use them as Christmas presents, your friends and family would be thrilled:p

Gosh can you imagine if a relative gave you one as a very sincere present :eek:

I once bought a wonderful souvenir from a shrine in France - a nodding head Sheep !.

ben.schlomo

Deleted User wrote: »

Why should anyone be allowed break the law for a couple of weeks to suit them?

There was an article in the Sentinel about the novena - the headline was something along the lines of "Young and old flock to the novena" There were four or five pictures attached and the youngest person looked to be well into their forties.

Who owns fisheries field - is it the university, the city or someone else?

I had to look twice at those Sentinel pics alright to look for the so called 'young' people, still haven't seen one.

Discodog

Young ?. It was more like Shaun of the Dead today !.