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Senator hits out at possible closure of rural garda stations

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh said that people are worried that crimes may increase if this happens. Meanwhile, Minister Shatter has given the latest update on the closures.

21/09/12 3,000 Views 15 Comments
Image: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland

THE POSSIBLE CLOSURE of garda stations in Galway has come under fire.

Sinn Féin Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh told TheJournal.ie that if the stations were closed, it would be to the detriment of the areas in which they are located.

He said:

We have an issue at the moment that there aren’t enough garda cars to police the area[s]. If you close down a garda station, how are you going to police it? The other stations are going to have to cover those areas.

He added that there had been a number of high profile robberies over the last year in rural areas.

People are afraid that is going to increase if there isn’t an increase in gardaí on the beat.

Senator Ó Clochartaigh described the news as “part of the ongoing attack by government on rural areas”.  He also suggested that the Garda Síochána look at “the [financial] wastage at the top of the system” instead of cutting rural stations to save money.

He added that measuring whether a garda station is needed to stay open by the number of crimes reported to it “is a ludicrous way of managing the efficiency of the station”

The Senator has called on the Minister for Justice to come and debate the issue with the Seanad, and was told after raising the issue in the Order of Business yesterday that the next time Minister Alan Shatter visits the Seanad he will be able to debate with him on this issue.

“I will bring it up with Minister Shatter when I get a chance,” he said.

Garda Comissioner

The Garda Commissioner is currently assessing the potential for improved efficiencies in the structure and organisation of the Garda Síochána as part of the preparation of the draft policing plan for 2013.

Minister Shatter said on Wednesday of this week, in answer to two Dáil questions on the matter:

While I expect that the policing plan for 2013 will contain proposals for the further rationalisation of Garda stations and Districts, it would be premature, in advance of its submission, to speculate on specific measures which it might contain.

Read: Shatter: Garda fears over station closures are “alarmist and irresponsible”>

About the author:

Aoife Barry
aoife@thejournal.ie

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Comments (15 Comments)

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  • UrbexJunkie 21/09/12 #

    During this time of high unemployment it would be silly to close any stations. This just gives more motivation to the criminals out there.

    Reply
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    • Paul Walsh 21/09/12 #

      There are a lot of stations only open for a couple of hours a week anyway, having one garda sitting at a reception desk in a remote station isn’t going to deter crime.

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    • Nuffsaid Thatsall 21/09/12 #

      They’re behind the desk for a few hours & out patrolling for the rest of their days work!

      Reply
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    • Paul Walsh 21/09/12 #

      Or based at a larger station in a nearby town, so why not just let them patrol the whole time? They don’t wander around these small villages waiting for something to happen, give them a car and let them drive around these places.

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    • Nuffsaid Thatsall 21/09/12 #

      What about the local people who just want to discretely call into the station to pass on some information to the local Guard about something suspicious & don’t want a patrol car seen outside their house! And once a rural station is closed down the patrol car allocated to it is let to run it’s course where it’s not replaced!! Rural Patrols by town based Gardai will be less and less and the rural community will be left to the wolves!!

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    • Paul Walsh 21/09/12 #

      Im not saying there should be zero presence, but the reality is that for some stations someone will come from one station, open the second station for a few hours once a week, then go back to the first station. They could be better served patrolling the whole time.

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  • toorkeel 21/09/12 #

    I have to say I find it both amusing and ironic how SF are so “concerned” about the closure of Garda Stations….

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  • Gerard 21/09/12 #

    Crime is on the up, Garda manpower is on the way down and now more Garda stations will be closed. A 4 year old could do the maths. And don’t be fooled when the minister says that “reported” crime levels are down, the key word is reported.

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  • Mark Vieregge 21/09/12 #

    This government has done its best this year to hit the countryside in every way possible and will continue to do so.

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  • Thomas W Cooke 21/09/12 #

    Public frontline services will continue to be cut until finally the government will be forced to face up to the fact that the Croke Park deal needs a serious overhaul or scrapping altogether. I’m constantly amazed at the Lab party’s willingness to allow the reduction in public service with severe consequences on the ordinary citizen and ignoring the cost of the service.

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  • Fon Ellard 21/09/12 #

    I live in a village with a garda station that is as good as closed anyway, they used to open an hour a day but I don’t think they even do that anymore. I wouldn’t see a problem closing the stations if extra cars were made available to the bigger stations so that they could have patrols. I know that the nearest town to where I am are badly in need of extra cars and they have also complained of not having a single 4×4 vehicle so that when there was the icy weather they had to get the civil defence to drive them around the bad roads – ridiculous for a station that’s covering a large town as well as several surrounding villages and rural communities.

    Measuring how necessary a station is by the number of crimes reported to it is crazy though, if I was to ring the number for my local village Garda station it would automatically put me through to the one in the town, so I presume the report would go on the town’s records and not the local station.

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    • Gerry McGuinness 21/09/12 #

      Number 9 on Robert Peels Principles of Law Enforcement – “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible
      evidence of police action in dealing with them”

      You’d be inclined to agree with him wouldn’t you, unfortunately Shatter holds the opposite view, theres no crime so the Gardai must be doing Nothing.

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  • Patrick Lyons 21/09/12 #

    Sinn F̩in Рthe law and order party.

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