GARDAÍ IN Galway have said that violent assaults in the city are "no worse than anywhere else" in populated urban areas of the State.
Chief Supt Tom Curley of Galway West division was responding to concerns about police resourcing and deployment, following several assaults in Galway city centre over the past week.
In one incident early last Sunday, two young men from the city required hospital treatment for a broken jaw and broken nose respectively after an unprovoked attack on Dominick Street, while a Polish man was reportedly attacked on the same day in Eyre Square.
Chief Supt Curley said that the Eyre Square incident had been blown out of proportion and the victim had failed to make a statement to gardaí. It was not true to say that the man had been knocked unconscious when a row broke out among a group of people who had been drinking together, he said.
However, officers were investigating the incident on Dominick Street and would be examining CCTV camera footage in an effort to identify those responsible. The two men who were injured had reported the case to the Garda and statements were being taken, he said.
One of the two, a 19-year-old Salthill resident, said that although he was happy the matter was being investigated, gardaí had not responded when initially called.
He described how he was with a group of friends who had left a licensed premises after one drink as they had no money. They then went to buy a takeaway in Dominick Street in the early hours of last Sunday morning.
Two men in a group of seven had approached them and he and his friend were attacked.
"I walked to Mill Street Garda station, which is around the corner, to report it and was advised to return to the area to await gardaí as they were very busy.
"At that stage I knew I was injured but didn't realise how badly, while my friend had already been taken to casualty," he told The Irish Times.
He said no patrol car arrived and he was taken by friends to hospital, where he underwent surgery for a broken jaw.
Central Statistics Office (CSO) quarterly crime figures published yesterday show that reported public order offences have continued to rise in the Galway West division, which includes Galway city and the west of the county.
Some 332 such offences were reported in the first quarter of 2004, compared with 715 for the first quarter of 2008 and 668 for the second quarter.
Harassment and related offences have also increased substantially, according to statistics for the division. Nationally, the CSO reports a slight drop in public order and other social code offences for this quarter.
Chief Supt Curley said that between 16,000 and 18,000 young people socialised in Galway, which was known as a young person's city, every weekend.
"We are not denying that assaults take place, but it is no worse than other cities given its population," he said.