Garda ‘ring of steel’ for Rathkeale at Christmas
‘Armed Support Unit will be there’
A GARDA drug unit, armed unit and detective unit will operate in the small town of Rathkeale, Co. Limerick, ahead of a major influx of Travellers from across Ireland, the UK and Europe in the run-up to Christmas.
A triage clinic will also be set up, while CCTV cameras will relay live images to a centralised control room in Limerick city operated by gardaí.
Holiday court sittings will also be provided, if required, while gardaí will maintain a presence at local schools during pupil dropoff and pick-up times, and a Garda personnel carrier will be based in the town on a 24/7 basis.
This year’s plan is being headed up by District Superintendent John Deasy, and District Inspector Alan Cullen, who outlined the plan at a local policing meeting in the town on Thursday night.
During the festive period, the town’s population can swell from 1,500 up to 3,000.
Gardaí have been increasing the resources allocated to policing Rathkeale at Christmas in recent years as a direct response to concerns raised by the local settled and local Traveller population.
‘Last year we decided to deploy our resources to deal with the problems directly. We applied for a separate budget for the policing of the [West Limerick] District over the Christmas period [and] 95% of it was spent in Rathkeale,’ Insp. Cullen said. ‘Overall we would have increased supervision throughout the Christmas period.’
Last year’s operation cost €22,000 and was ‘very successful’, according to gardaí.
The Divisional Drug Unit will carry out ‘swoops around the town’ searching people for illicit drug use. ‘Our Armed Support Unit (ASU), our detective branch, our detectives from Newcastle West and from Limerick city will also be deployed to the town.’
Speaking after the meeting, Supt Deasy said the plan would have a four-prong approach for dealing with anti-social behaviour; roads policing and enforcement; criminality; and drug activity.
‘Our objective is to make sure every part of the community in Rathkeale are able to go about their business without being interfered with,’ he said. ‘There have been issues raised in relation to antisocial behaviour and road policing issues with young offenders.
‘We’ve listened to people and we’ve listened to when they think the optimum need for a policing presence is, and we’ll factor that into our plan.
‘We will use the ASU. They will be in the area during the course of the operation. The (city-based) Divisional Dog Unit will come out and set up specific targeted patrols.’
He said they had already engaged with local pubs and fast food outlets reminding them to obey the liquor licensing laws ‘to get people out of the main town of Rathkeale’ at night.
Gardaí said they are also liaising with youth volunteer organisation Foróige to engage with ‘the huge volume of young people that come into Rathkeale for the Christmas period’ to ‘see is there any way of getting the message across, to deter anti-social behaviour’.
It is being done to address ‘the fears’ of locals, ‘who are deterred from coming into Rathkeale Main Street and doing their business’, gardaí added.
The influx of ‘high powered cars’ is also a problem and speed ramps have been placed throughout the town by Limerick City and County Council in an effort to curb concerns over road traffic issues.
‘The volume of vehicles through the main street increases significantly... [speed ramps] are trying to slow traffic down for the safety of pedestrians,’ Supt Deasy said.
Local sources said ‘general mayhem’ is caused over Christmas in Rathkeale, and that visiting Travellers engage in racing one another through the streets in high powered vehicles.
Many of the drivers are underage, reliable sources added.
‘I’m living just outside the town and it becomes an absolute rodeo at Christmas,’ said a source. ‘If you’re driving along the N69, they will pull up alongside both sides of you and they treat it like a race.
‘It’s manic at the best of times on a Friday night, but at Christmas, its like the Wild West,’ they added.
COMBATING rural crime is one of the biggest challenges facing the country and one this newspaper has consistently highlighted for many years now. Thousands of people living in isolated areas live in fear of burglary, often aggravated, by gangs that use the motorway network for speedy and undetected getaways.
Many also feel abandoned in their isolation, and more exposed than those who live in major population centres that have not seen the same level of Garda station closures experienced in rural areas. As Michelle Fleming describes in this newspaper today, it took 45 minutes for gardaí to attend the scene of a menacing theft in Lanesborough, Co. Longford, a delay replicated all across the country since the centralisation of policing in fewer stations.
That’s why this week’s visit by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to the Longford Joint Policing Committee in Ballymahon was so welcome. He is only nine weeks in the job, so his presence sent an important message that those outside the cities and bigger towns matter, and have as much right to feel secure as anyone else.
He did not offer false hope of reopening stations, though he did not rule it out entirely, and focused instead on other measures that might be paid for by the savings. No-one expects overnight miracles, and Mr Harris did not sugarcoat it, but by attending at all, he immediately pointed to a future where the concerns of rural dwellers at least carry weight.
Promises often can be hollow, and Drew Harris did not make false ones.
Instead, he sent the important signal that he is listening, and that any measures put in place will be for the long term, and hopefully will make the entire country a safer place for all.