Kissing gates still hinder accessibility despite Council’s pledge to implement pilot scheme

By Michelle Geraghty

Galway City Council announced plans to remove or replace three so-called ‘kissing gates’ in the city before the end of 2023, but all three gates remain in place. 

“The Council agreed to remove three kissing gates in the city on a trial basis, and I don’t understand what the delay is,” said Cllr Alan Curran of the Social Democrats. Cllr Curran is disappointed that the Council has not acted on their plans to remove the gates. 

Pilot scheme

Two gates at South Park in the Claddagh and one in Terryland Forest Park are earmarked for removal by the Council on a pilot basis, before potentially rolling the scheme out to other areas.

“These gates are a major barrier and hindrance for those with buggies, wheelchairs, mobility devices, cargo bikes and trikes to access Terryland Forest Park and the beautiful coastal walk and cycle path in South Park,” said Cllr Curran. “There is little rationale to their continued use”. 

Kissing gates are designed to block larger vehicles from accessing parks, amenities and laneways. While they allow able-bodied pedestrians to pass with relative ease, in reality, they are seen by locals and activists as a barrier to accessibility.

A permanent barrier

“[These] gates defeat the purpose of opening the parks. They’re a permanent barrier to buggies, wheelchairs and cyclists,” said Mr Brendan Smith, community representative on the Climate Action, Environment, Recreation & Amenity Special Policy Committee, and chairperson of the Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park.

“They should be gone completely. There are other ways to stop motorised vehicles going into parks,” he said.

Mr Smith has been lobbying for the removal of the kissing gates in Terryland for some time. He believes the addition of permanent park wardens would make parks safe and people friendly without the need for any barriers.

Data mapping

According to Mr David Corley, an active travel and accessibility advocate, the kissing gates at South Park and Terryland are just three of over 70 such gates across the city.

“The gates are supposed to prevent anti-social behaviour by, for example, blocking scramblers,” said Mr Corley. “But there are no reports or data on this. Instead, they’re inconveniencing so many in the community and especially the most vulnerable.”

Mr Corley, has been mapping all the known locations of active travel and accessibility barriers in Galway City as part of his #barriers2Galway project since September 2022.  

Galway City Council incorporated Mr Corley’s map in their ‘Access Control Points’ audit report issued on 27 October, 2022. 

The National Transport Authority (NTA) requested this audit from all local authorities across the country to identify existing “non-compliant access control infrastructure” on active travel projects in their areas. 

No response

Despite numerous requests to Galway City Council for a status update on the pilot scheme to remove the gates at South Park and Terryland, we have not received a statement on the issue.