The increase in crime in rural areas and the impact of cuts to local Garda resources will be the subject of a public meeting to take place in Loughrea.
The meeting, which is being organised by Fianna Fáil, takes place at the Loughrea Spa Hotel, on Tuesday at 8.30pm. The main speaker will be party justice spokesperson Niall Collins. Local Fianna Fáil representatives will also be in attendance.
Speaking ahead of the event, Dep Collins noted how the latest CSO crime figures, published last week, show that Galway has seen a significant increase in the rate of burglaries and fraud over the past year.
“Nationally, there has been a 10.3 per cent surge in burglaries in the year to the end of June, as well as a 43 per cent increase in muggings and thefts from a person, and a 93 per cent increase in robbery of cash or goods in transit,” he said.
Dep Collins believes that in light of the figures, “this is the very worst time to scale back community garda resources across the west of Ireland”.
He pointed out how Justice Minister Alan Shatter has shut down 39 rural Garda stations while dozens more were downgraded.
“At our meeting in Loughrea, I will speak about what I believe needs to be done to address this problem,” he said, “and ensure that we do everything in our power to protect households and business in Galway.”
