Cosgrave’s garda ‘to go in weeks’

THE garda stationed outside the home of former taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, will be leaving the post in ‘around three weeks’, the Mail has learned.

Mr Cosgrave died on October 4 and gardaí are currently giving crime prevention advice to a family member who is still living in the house.

They will remove the garda once that process has been completed.

A source told the MoS: ‘Gardaí are currently involved in a phased down agreement. We are keen to get the person used to the idea of not having a garda outside their home. It’s a weaning period. It will be about three weeks before the garda is gone.’

Mr Cosgrave ended his tenure as taoiseach in 1977. The gardaí confirmed that it is still maintaining a 24-hour watch outside his bungalow in Templeogue, Co. Dublin.

The security watch became the source of a debate on Friday, after a woman rang Liveline questioning why a garda is still stationed at the house.

Callers ridiculed it as a waste of resources. A woman named Sharon said her husband had noticed the garda on duty six weeks after Mr Cosgrave’s death. ‘All our taxes are paying for this,’ she added.

Another caller, Sheila, said: ‘The school across the road from where that garda is was broken into three times in the last month, and that garda or gardaí, whoever they are, couldn’t move or do anything about it.’

In a statement on Friday, gardaí said that following the death of a protected person, it conducts a full review and then makes a determination on security requirements.

This review has been completed and a determination reached. The statement added that the gardaí will not comment further on security matters.

‘All our taxes are paying for this’