This article is from page 3 of the 2011-11-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
HALF of all Garda vehicles in Clare are unfit for use and will have been scrapped within weeks, The Clare People can reveal.
Of the 33 cars in the Clare Division’s Garda fleet, eight have been scrapped, while another nine cars are nearing their maximum mileage of 300,000 kilometres and will soon be taken off the road.
Every pocket of the county will see reduced Garda patrols, as a result. The only detective car available to gardaí in Ennistymon is no longer available.
The district patrol car from Killaloe is no longer fit for use and has been replaced by a Tulla car, while cars from the Killaloe-based traffic corps are being used by gardaí on the beat.
Several of the cars attached to Ennis Garda Station are deployed across the county, in an effort to ensure rural parts are policed. No new vehicles are being purchased, due to cutbacks.
The head of policing in Clare, Chief Superintendent John Kerin, declined to comment on the figures, but Garda sources say the situation has got out of control and say they cannot do their job to the best of their ability without the basic re- sources.
Meanwhile, according to official figures obtained by The Clare People , 18 gardaí retired last year, while five have retired so far this year and another one will retire later this week, December 1.
Another 17 gardaí have indicated their intentions to retire by February, which will bring to 41 the number leaving the force since the beginning of last year.
A nationwide recruitment freeze means that numbers are expected to continue to dwindle until new recruits are taken on in a few years’ time.
“If they all go, we will have lost 41 people. At least 12 or 13 of the 17 have made their minds up,” said Chief Supt Kerin.
“If they all go, 41 is a hell of a lot of people,” he added.
The Ennis and west Clare districts are the hardest hit. 14 have retired in Ennis and outlying stations since the start of last year.
In west Clare, nine gardaí retired since the start of last year. Four gardaí retired in Killaloe last year and none this year.
One garda retired in Ennistymon last year and none are likely to retire this year. Last year, nine gardaí retired in Shannon, which included five from immigration at Shannon Airport.
“The biggest impact at the moment is Kilrush and the amount of experience lost in a rural district. It takes quite a while to build up experience. The people who left Kilrush last year have been replaced by others in the division.
“We had a few replacement people in Ennis, on transfers, and if I can I send replacements to Kilrush,” said Chief Supt Kerin.
However, transfers are rare and are not additional personnel.
Chief Supt Kerin said that there are no plans to close any of the rural stations where gardaí are retiring such as Doonbeg and Carrigaholt.
“Until we are told otherwise as regards the closure of stations we will be opening the stations for limited periods, two or three times a week. There will be cover.
“People will be able to carry out transactions, ordinary business,” he said.
Chief Supt Kerin said that decisions on the allocation of resources will have to be taken in February, while final numbers of retirees are established.
“It will be the end of February before we know who is retired. We will sit down and see if we have to reduce numbers in specialist units then,” he said.