AN IRISH university lecturer has revealed she was followed and berated by a man while she was at the beach.
NUIG lecturer Dr Sheila Garrity found herself in a frightening situation while at Silverstrand beach in Galway.
After telling a man off for staring at young women as they were changing out of their swimwear, he proceeded to follow her and shout obscenities at her.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Dr Garrity recalled the ordeal: "I noticed he was watching the young women changing, not glancing," she said.
"He was turned and watching them change and I don't know what came over me, maybe it was my maternal instinct.
"So I just called him out on it, I said, 'Hey can you maybe stop watching the young women change and maybe look straight ahead?'."
The man turned away from the girls - who Dr Garrity presumed to be in their early 20s - for a moment, but turned back shortly after, prompting the lecturer to tell him off again.
"At that moment, the young women got their things and went to their car which was parked close to the shelter.
"I thought 'Oh no I'm left on my own here,' so I gathered up my things and moved out to the bench closer to the beach."
But frighteningly, the man followed her and began hurling abuse her way.
"He was just full of rage and angry. He was acting like he was entitled to be doing what he was doing."
Dr Garrity said that she had to call her husband to come and pick her up in order to escape.
"I switched from feeling very brave and confident to feeling fairly intimidated," she said.
Gardai have been notified of the situation and are currently investigating.
"Our public space is for everyone, it's for our young women, it's for our children, if we don’t call them out on it, it will continue," Dr Garrity added.
