This article is from page 6 of the 2012-12-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
POLICING in rural areas of the county affected by the latest raft of Garda station closures can be enhanced thanks to a new partnership approach between Clare Garda headquarters and new community groups.
That’s the message sounded out by Chief Superintendent of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin, in the wake of the controversial Budget 2013 decision to call time of eight rural Garda stations in Clare as part of a nationwide cull of 80 outlets.
Superintendent Kerin told a public meeting in Inagh last week that the key to future policing in the eight locations that will lose their Garda sub-stations lay establishing “community fora” that would liaise with the Clare Garda Division.
I’m sending out that invitation to all communities affected by Garda station closures,” said Chief Superintendent Kerin, “that if they were willing to set up a community forum of five or six people affected by Garda station closures, the Gardaí would be willing to meet with them on a monthly basis. The superintendent in those areas will meet with them on a monthly basis – I would be willing to meet with them on a bi-monthly basis,” he added.
Following on the closure of Carrigaholt Station earlier this year, the latest round of swinging cuts of announced in the Budget means that stations in Quin, Inagh, Lahinch, Broadford, Mountshannon, Doonbeg, Kilmihil and Labasheeda are all facing the axe in the new year.
According to Chief Superintendent Kerin the closures can be the catalyst for a new type of working arrangement to emerge between communities and what will be a Garda Division split into a two-district service of Ennis and Kilrush.
“A lot of those areas affected don’t have joint-policing committees,” said Chief Superintendent Kerin, “and I would hope that they set up these fora that would be representative of all strands of society within the community. If we did that, we would know what issues were happening and we would be able to address them,” he added.