Garda crack down on crime gangs is working but more needs to be done

THE Gardaí’s ongoing clampdown on crime gangs targeting people and businesses in isolated rural areas does appear to be enjoying a measure of success but much more needs to be done to end the scourge of rural crime and to ensure people feel safe and secure in their homes. Across the entire country, every single night, countless vulnerable people – many of them living entirely alone and with few neighbours nearby to call on for help – go to sleep terrified that they will be the latest victims of the callous criminal gangs who prey on the weak and lonely.

For years, thanks to the swingeing cuts forced on us by the era of austerity – an era many would say is still very much with us – these gangs were able to act with impunity, using the highways and byways of Ireland to enrich themselves by terrifying rural communities.

In the last week we have heard that Operation Thor, the massive co-ordinated Garda operation initiated to stop these vile criminals, has been a marked success.

According to figures issued to much fanfare from the Government, Operation Thor and other smaller scale operations like it have helped cut the number of burglaries and robberies across rural Ireland by almost a third. This is absolutely to be welcomed but one hopes that in the wake of the operation’s success, our political leaders do not become complacent.

Operation Thor has resulted in numerous prosecutions and the work of the Gardaí – aided in many cases by the Criminal Assets Bureau – have put many of the roving gangs out of action.

Unfortunately, as always seems to be the case when it comes to crime, when one criminal is taken out there is always another waiting to take that place.

The Government and Gardaí need to ensure that every resource is put in place to ensure Operation Thor is able to continue and that the drop in burglaries is seen for what it is, a stepping stone in a war that is far from over.

There are of course many other things Leo Varadkar and his Government might consider. The first and most obvious is to start recruiting more gardaí and re-opening the scores of Garda stations across the country that were mothballed during the recession.

Visible policing, and the knowledge that there is always a garda nearby achieves two very simple things at relatively little cost.

It makes law abiding citizens feel safer and it provides a powerful deterrent to any criminals who might have been considering targeting an area.

Admittedly, the Government have agreed to reopen a small number of Garda stations but the location of some of these – Stepaside Garda Station in Dublin in particular – will do little to appease the many people in rural Ireland whose nearest garda station are still many miles away. Indeed, several towns away in a lot of cases.

Operation Thor has been a success and all involved in it should be proud of what they have achieved. However, they must not rest on their laurels and if there are any further cuts to Garda resources in rural Ireland, it won’t long before those burglary and robbery statistics are climbing once more.