Helicopter flights to and from the Galway Race Festival were suspended for several hours yesterday due to the first spell of bad weather for several days.
Low cloud and poor visibility restricted air travel during the evening meeting, which opened with a spectacular win by Lorna's Star (no relation) a four-to-one favourite in the Guinness (QR) Handicap Hurdle.
Galway airport aerodrome manager and senior air traffic officer Tony Gibson noticed a new phenomenon yesterday: more helicopter shuttles to a hostelry in Kilcolgan, south of the city, than to and from Ballybrit.
"I guess this means the place to be was Moran's of the Weir," he speculated. More than half of some 150 "air movements" involved self-same destination.
The air traffic control team of Ronnie McGoldrick and Andrea Connaughton at Galway airport's tower and Mr Gibson with colleague Michael Connolly at Ballybrit, recorded peaks of 600 movements during Wednesday and Thursday, when helicopter flights were capped at this number under Irish Aviation Authority instructions. "Overall, operations appear to be up on last year, and we still have two days to go," Mr Gibson said.
Ground traffic was also busy, with long delays in and around the city yesterday as visitors departed and Galwegians headed out to the festival. Fianna Fáil was charging €75 a ticket for its tent, as a gesture to "democracy" or some such thing, but some party members complained that it was pointless when the Taoiseach and senior Ministers were no longer there.
A party member also noted that some Cabinet members who were not in Ballybrit all week appeared to be making a pre-election "virtue" out of same.
Gardaí said there were some minor incidents during the week, with three wallet thefts reported on the busiest day - Thursday - when some 48,000 people attended.
Three people were also arrested in Tuam, Co Galway, yesterday over the theft of a mobile phone and shoes belonging to a man who was accosted by the occupants of a BMW car while walking home to Roscam at around 5am. The festival continues today and tomorrow, with racing starting at 2.15pm each day.
