Galway Bay fm newsroom - There are calls for tough sanctions for breach of COVID 19 guidelines after large groups of students congregated at the Spanish Arch and Shop Street areas of the city last evening.
The county Cathaoirleach James Charity has called on third level institutions in Galway as well as the Gardai to take action after images of the crowded scenes were circulated widely on social media.
Councillor Charity has vowed to write to the management of GMIT and NUIG, as well as the Chief Superintendent of An Garda Síochana with a request to meet with him and examine how these scenes can be avoided in future.
He argues that efforts have been ongoing to enforce the message that steps need to be taken locally to reduce social contacts and assist in preventing a potential move to Level 3 restrictions.
Councillor Charity has described the scenes from last evening as 'very disappointing' adding they could potentially have ramifications across the whole county.
It comes as Galway is one of four counties facing level 3 restrictions this week due to the rapid rise in cases in the city and in county towns.
The Acting Chief Medical Officer has appealed to residents in Galway, Cork, Roscommon and Monaghan to to adhere to the public health advice in a bid to break the chains of transmission.
Health officials advised that in Galway, there's been a large cluster following a house party attended by young people.
21 new cases were notified in Galway in last evening's figures - according to the data hub, the total number of confirmed cases to date in the county is 702.
While in Cork, a fifth of cases in the past two weeks have been linked to pubs and restaurants.
390 new cases of Covid 19 were confirmed last night and no further deaths.
Acting CMO Ronan Glynn says Galway is being watched closely....
