This article is from page 4 of the 2012-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE Chairperson of the Lahinch Community Council has welcomed the closure of Lahinch Garda Station announced last week, saying the station was already “virtually closed”.
Local businessman Donogh O’Loghlin believes that the closure of Lahinch Garda Station will not have an effect on the safety of the local population. Mr O’Loghlin did say that a more flexible approach to Garda rostering in the local area, especially on weekends, could have a positive impact on the situation with anti-social behaviour in Lahinch.
“I am not really concerned by the closure of the station. It is a beautiful building but I think it has been more or less closed for years already,” he said.
“It should have been closed years ago really. The local people here don’t have any idea when there will be a garda present in the station or not, so what is the point of having it there? There are 30 guards stationed just two miles out the road in Ennistymon. That should be enough.”
Mr O’Loghlin did say that anti-social behaviour was a major problem in Lahinch, especially during the summer months, but also said that this could be better tackled by a reorganisation of Garda man-hours, rather than having a station in Lahinch.
“We have guards walking the streets in Lahinch on a Monday or a Tuesday, but we don’t see them when we need them at the weekends. It’s about having the right garda resources here at the right time,” he said.
“Being a guard in this part of Clare is like being at a holiday camp. I don’t know why there is not more manpower being used at the weekends, when all the problems with anti-social behaviour are taking place.”