Locals vow to fight Garda station closure

A COMMUNITY
group on the Southside has vowed to vehemently oppose any proposal to close its
local Garda station, which is already shut outside business hours.

Members of the
Rathcoole Community Council met with gardai at the station during the summer to
complain about the fact that it is only open between the hours of 10 and 1pm
and from 2pm to 6pm.

They have
pointed out that currently locals are reliant on policing cover from Clondalkin
station, which is almost eight kilometres away, or 10 minutes by car, outside
these hours.

A spokesman for
the community council said residents in the area would vigorously fight any
proposal to close the station after it was reported last week that up to 200
small Garda stations around the country could face closure.

Garda
commissioner, Martin Callinan, has asked chief superintendents to draw up a
list of stations that could be closed due to the requirement of the Government
to make spending cuts in the upcoming Budget.

The Minister for
Justice, Alan Shatter, said in the Dail that one of the options that the
commissioner is considering is whether the force should continue to maintain
over 700 stations throughout the country.

A spokesman for
the Rathcoole Community Council explained that local residents feel vulnerable
when the station is closed.

“We approached
the gardai at Rathcoole a few months ago and we expressed the view that we felt
there was a lack of Garda presence in the area, especially at night time,

? he
said.

“We pointed out
that the Garda station was only open until 6pm. We said that if anything
happened in the village after hours we were reliant on cars coming over from
Clondalkin that might be tied up in other things.

?

The spokesman
said the community council was particularly worried about the lack of Garda
cover because of the growing population and the high proportion of elderly
people in the area.

“Newcastle,
Rathcoole and Saggart are all areas that are growing,

? he added.

“There are a
lot of old people in the village and many vulnerable people in Rathcoole. We
would be concerned about that increased level of vulnerability.

?

He added:

“We
recently fought a successful battle against an incinerator coming into the
village, and we also fought a battle to keep the bus service in the village. If
they do try to close the Garda station they can be assured that they would have
a fight on their hands.

?

Deputy Joanna
Tuffy (Lab) raised the issue of the lack of evening and night time Garda cover
in the area in a parliamentary question to Minister Shatter recently.

“A constituent
who had wanted to report an incident to the gardai was told when she phoned the
station to come in and report the incident in person,

? she said.

“This would mean
my constituent having to take time off work to call into the station while it
was open to the public. With the increased population and the high percentage
of older people living in the area, the service should really have been made
full time.

?

A spokesman at
the Garda press office said that commissioner Callinan had tasked a small group
to examine the overall operational effectiveness and recommend where further
savings and efficiencies could be achieved.

“In order to
ensure that this is a meaningful exercise all Garda resources and aspects of
expenditure will be subject to rigorous examination,

? he said.

“No decisions
have been made at this point.

?