Campaign to make isolated path safe

STUDENT leaders and public representatives in Galway are to begin a campaign to make safe the isolated walkway where Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo was murdered.

Representatives of the 9,000 students at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, which is close to the area where 17-year-old Manuela’s body was found, will meet on Monday night to discuss whether to seek the closure of the shortcut.

“I’ll be asking class reps to get feedback from the general student body to see how they would feel about that,” said students’ union welfare officer, Patrick Bonner. “Safety is now my top priority,” he said.

Local councillor Mary Leahy who lives in Renmore, the suburb connected to Galway city centre by the walkway across Lough Atalia, will work with students to get their views heard by city authorities.

“We need to consider carefully whether we want it closed because there would be still be the temptation to use it unofficially and that might make it even more dangerous, but we’ll wait to see what the consensus of the students and the local residents is,” she said.

Ms Leahy said the issue of public lighting across the strip of land, which runs parallel to the railway line and is owned by CIÉ, should also be explored.

Fellow city council member and Renmore resident, Terry O’Flaherty, said the question of what to do with the walkway would be raised at the council’s next meeting, also on Monday night. “A lot of people use the shortcut and they don’t want to see it go, but at the same time they don’t want it left as it is so we need to look at how it could be made into a proper walkway with lighting and signage and CCTV if possible.”

The walkway, which has been used by local people for a century, cuts 20 minutes off the 30-minute walk into the city centre but it is in darkness at night, and is surrounded by wasteland and bushes.

Máire Ní Mhulláin, media relations officer for Galway City Council, said requests to provide public lighting would be considered.

“We look at requests for lighting on an ongoing basis — from councillors, developers of new estates, business groups etc. In this case we would have to look at the ownership of the land and talk to the ESB about the technical feasibility of lighting it, but we would look into that if requested.”

Irish Rail said it would also be open to requests made to look at safety measures for the area. “We would be happy to discuss any concerns or proposals the council would have,” said spokesman Barry Kenny.

Manuela’s 42 classmates began their return journey to Switzerland yesterday after cutting short what was to have been a two-week English course at the Galway Language Centre. Manuela was last seen alive on Monday night, just two days after arriving in the city, and her partially clothed and strangled remains were found on Tuesday morning.

Gardaí did not comment on the progress of the investigation yesterday. Much emphasis is being placed on forensic evidence from the scene where Manuela’s body lay and detectives are checking a long list of sex offenders and violent attackers to see if any details match.

They are also examining two serious attacks on women in Galway city in recent months and four attacks on women in Athlone in August and September to see if there is any link.