TDs voice fears over Garda station cuts
OPPOSITION TDs have told of their fears the Government is preparing for another raft of Garda station closures after the Justice Minister seemed to back a recommendation in the Future Of Policing report.
The Irish Mail on Sunday last week revealed how the review – chaired by former Boston police chief Kathleen O’Toole – suggested it would be more ‘efficient and effective’ to replace small, rundown stations with mobile units. Then Minister Charlie Flanagan said he was ‘not so sure if a successful or an appropriate narrative for rural Ireland should be the existence of a post office or a Garda station’.
Opposition TDs were originally mute on the recommendation, instead broadly welcoming the report, but this week – after the issue was raised by the MoS – said they were ‘opposed’ to more station closures.
Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan suggested the report did not recognise the importance of the local Garda station in rural Ireland.
‘I think sometimes people looking at reform from a high level can’t appreciate the importance to a local community, particularly in rural areas, of having a Garda station,’ he said. ‘I can understand what the Commission is recommending, but I have been around the public meetings and the consistent message back is people want to see more gardaí in the community, more gardaí on the streets and they regard Garda stations as being a manifestation of gardaí being active locally.’
Sinn Féin’s justice spokesman Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire added his party is opposed to more closures.