Galway’s busking scene gets a makeover with introduction of new protocols from the City Council
By Donna Gannon
During the Summer of 2025 the Galway City Council ran a Buskers Community Code of Conduct trial to hear feedback from buskers, local businesses, and the general public.
Locals were asked for their perspectives on the rules governing buskers in Galway, as well as on a clause from the Killarney Buskers Code of Conduct and its relevance for Galway City.
“A Street Performer who plays music and sings songs must have a sufficient repertoire to avoid constant repetition.”
New hire in The Heart of Galway, Gavin, said that colleagues have expressed their opinions on buskers, saying that the repetition of songs has often affected their workday. Gavin stated that he would welcome the ‘unspoken’ implementation of this rule to add some variety to the music sets.
Cormac, an employee at Easons on Shop Street, said “they tend to stick to the same songs again and again”. He expressed that the rule that had been put in place in Killarney would “freshen things up” to benefit both parties.
Cormac said that the ‘2-hour rule’ in the Galway Buskers Code of Conduct is generally stuck to by buskers, and that he has “yet to see anybody stay in all day.”
For staff at Murphy’s Ice Cream, repetition of songs has not been a problem. They said that the only real difficulties came years ago, with loud buskers disrupting customer service, but that issue has long since been resolved.
The Murphy’s Ice Cream employee said that “The ones (buskers) that are always there are always fabulous… This is great, a bit of music outside in the street!”
Sarah Kuo, a regular on the Galway busker scene, said that the Busker Code of Conduct is something that she is familiar with and likes to ensure that all new buskers are taking caution with the distance between performers and the time allowed in each space.
Aisling Fuller, a Galway based singer/songwriter, said that the idea of bringing in a rule against the repetition of songs could be tricky on her usual pre-planned setlist, which she typically repeats twice in her two-hour time slot.
Aisling recalls a time during a Galway match where she ‘played Galway Girl six times and people didn’t mind that,’ so this issue is somewhat circumstantial.
Busking plays an incredibly strong role in keeping the culture in Galway alive, and the Galway City Council is actively recognising this in their efforts to ensure that Buskers, local businesses, and the general public can enjoy it equally.
