Let me see if I have this correct. All of the residents of Stepaside will vacate their houses at the same time for a few hours and their are be no Gardai in the area either. Interesting

Pierce
Are you suggesting that the Minister might be at risk if the Garda stationed outside his house was withdrawn? Do you have some knowledge of such risk? Do you…………..etc ?

The irony is that this is Minister Shatter’s constituency and his own house was broken into last march. There is no positive spin. The nearest Gardai are moving 4km away.

Al
Just to put you on the correct road as I would hate anybody else to tell you that you are wrong but the Minister has always had a Garda on duty outside of his house. This practice was started when Republicans threatened to murder or kidnap leading politicians and the risk is still considered to be high enough to warrant precaution !

Perhaps a demo outside RTE and TV3 studios to ask them why they only broadcast what they are told to, and a boycott of the print media , just might wake them up.

They still do…don’t be fooled.

I’m not a sf supporter but they have moved on. Why dont you? Oh thats right some people in this country are still stuck in the past.

The thousands blown up and shot dead by the IRA – some by those who have ‘moved on’ -are certainly stuck in the past.

Erfantastico. The thing is, when you see convicted killers of Gardai being hugged and congratulated on their release from prison by current TD’s from a particular party, it makes this statement all the more ironic. It’s not about moving on, its the blatant gall of SF. They don’t care if stations close, the more the merrier! Don’t be fooled by the populist rhetoric!

The only job that are thriving is a thief.enda closes the garda stations cuts back cops on the beat.

“the more the merrier” what are you suggesting?

You do reliese SF are now committed to peace and condemn actions by dissidents. The war is over.

The war being over does not prevent those who committed crimes against humanity – and indeed other ‘war’ crimes – from being tried and punished. Do you think Lieut WIlliam Calley, who massacred innocent Vietnamese should have been allowed to walk because ‘the war is over?’ Should the Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian mass killers be allowed to walk? Should Hitler’s henchmen?
Of course not. And neither should those behind Teebane, Loughinisland, Bloody Friday, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, Kingsmill, McGurk’s, the La Mon ….on both sides, mass indiscriminate murders are walking free. We know who some of them are. And we’re actually paying their salaries.

I see 7 cops stopping cars today while I was waiting for the bus,after a half a hour one car got a ticket, it took 7 cops a half a hour to give out one ticket well done lads :)

Wouldn’t blame the cops for that Eddie. They were sent there by the masters. That’s part of the problem.

Erfantastico, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at your reply. Committed to peace, don’t make me laugh. They are the single biggest threat to democracy and law and order in this country.

Wow Paddy!
You certainly tell it as it is!

@toorkeel Leave the sensationalist rubbish to the likes of the Sun.

@paddy To compare SF to genocidal maniacs is laughable. I will say that they need to get rid of Adams, McGuinness, Ellis etc if they want to get in government here in the south.

@Erfantastico: What war? Criminals, not soldiers.

The westbrits never got over DeValera and his band of terrorists having the Union flag removed from the 26 counties.Only in Ireland will you hear Irish people begruding other Irish people for defending themselves against foreign aggression and fighting for freedom.

Maybe Robert would explain how no warning car bombs and sectarian massacres qualify as ‘defending yourself’

Aren’t they a civilian police force we are their masters ?

The concept of station closures is actually really good policy! We are completely out of sink with modern countiies. Small stations in unpopulated areas.
Seems like this area is more than covered with stations close by… All the people on j.ie bang on about parish pump politics and yet here is a perfect example of exactly that.. The Goverment want to try and get some sort of economy of scale and people can look beyond their nose…

5 mins in a helicopter perhaps. I’d love to see you drive from Dundrum or Blackrock to Stepaside, Kiltiernan or Glencullen in 5 minutes…

The funny thing is, it costs ?300 per week to run the station. That’s maintenance and utilities. They are going to have to spend close to that amount to maintain an empty station anyway! Garda from the station confirmed that as well…

Excellent rational point Brian. I am afraid that its waisted here though… Rational and logical decision making is not welcomed..

Logic wins out every time, the cops might shed a few pound walking the beat instead of munching buns at their desks .

This isn’t just SF involved in this issue. Local labour councillors, independent TDs etc are against this closure. Shane Ross held a meeting about this recently with a huge turnout. As he said on the night, it’s not a political issue or an opportunity to score points for a party, it’s a community issue that affects all…

Damian…Maybe Shane Ross will write a book on it and cash in on it!!! That seems to be his MO… Write about misery and all that is wrong but charge you 10 euro for the priviliage… Why can’t people see through all these pretend do-gooders…

Perhaps you are right? But to me his cause is genuine as he grew up and has lived/lives in the area… At least he is doing something to highlight the issue.

There is no issue!! Mr Ross is simply playing populist parish pump politics… its ironic becuase its the very thing he rights about. We need economies of scale and this area can be serviced equally as well from the other stations…
All Shane Ross cares about is his own ego…..and radio time on today fm or newstalk so he can get more publicity for his latest book…

Closing any Garda station is a disgrace. I was just mentioning the irony of SF protesting them.

Rob,what can i say haters gonna hate.As i recall the same band of terrorists got us our freedom……irony much