Cllr Mark Cooney (FG ) has condemned the possibility of closures of rural Garda stations believed to be part of a new national review of bases set up by Commissioner Fachtna Murphy.
Despite a spokesman for Justice Minister Dermot Ahern declaring last week (April 19 ) that there are no current plans to close any rural stations, he could not comment on the ongoing review of garda bases or give any guarantee that rural stations would not be shut down in the future.
One of the national papers this week believes up to one third of Garda stations “face a serious threat of being shut down altogether”.
Of the 703 Garda stations in the State, 236 are one-man, rural stations and it is felt these are the ones most at risk.
Cllr Cooney expressed his astonishment that anyone could even contemplate closing such stations.
“While these stations may not operate on a 24-hour basis, they are essential to the rural communities they serve,” he pointed out.
“The local Garda knows the people in those communities and is aware of everything that happens. The relatively low crime levels in such rural areas clearly indicate the success and necessity of such local Garda stations.”
The rural area of Athlone has three such stations in Glasson, Ballinahown and Ballymore.
Cllr Cooney has had many dealings over the years with the Gardai based in those stations and is aware of their professionalism and local knowledge.
“It would be impossible for those areas to be adequately policed from the larger towns,” said Cllr Cooney.
“As a society, we have to be concerned for the security of our rural community and, in particular, the safety of the elderly and vulnerable in our society.”
He concluded by stating that any such closure plans must be strenuously resisted.
However, with Justice Minister Dermot Ahern currently finalising tough new measures that will give Gardai significantly increased powers to combat gangland criminals, there are fears the focus on urban crime will leave isolated areas of the country vulnerable to criminals.
There has been a huge increase in garda numbers in major city centre stations in Dublin, Cork and Limerick over the past six years.
There are now 292 gardai in Store Street in Dublin's city centre (up from 225 in 2002 ), 182 in Blanchardstown (up from 132 ), and 240 in Henry Street in Limerick (up from 184 ).
But the numbers assigned to small rural stations have either remained static or declined.
The Garda Press Office said it did not wish to expand on the information about the national review already provided by Commissioner Murphy.
