This article is from page 23 of the 2013-03-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 23 JPG
THE closure of nine garda stations has left a “vacuum” in parts of Clare, the county’s senior garda has said.
The closures earlier this year in rural parts of the county left 17 stations open in Clare.
Chief Superintendent of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin, was speaking in Ennis on Thursday night, where he also warned that ongoing cuts to resources may soon start to impact on the ability of Clare gardaí to police charity races and events.
He said, “The closure of nine garda stations has definitely created a vacuum around the county and there is no point in saying otherwise. It is a challenge for us as a garda management.”
Mr Kerin told a meeting oragnised to discuss cuts to garda resources that the biggest loss arising from the closures was the presence of a guard in the community.
The meeting heard a total of 48 gardaí have left the Clare division since March 2010, including two superintendents and one detective inspector.
Chief Supt Kerin told the meeting that four more retirements are anticipated this year, while a number of Clare gardaí are considering taking career breaks in Australia.
A further 25 to 30 guards are also expected to retire from the Clare Garda Division by August 2014, the meeting heard.
Describing the cuts in resources as a “very, very serious situation”, Chief Supt Kerin said he may have to con- sider withdrawing the availability of gardaí for charity events.
“We will continue to do the best with the number’s we’ve got but people have got to understand, if you’re in a business or you’re a farmer whatever, if you have x-amount of resources today and they are gone from you tomorrow, you can’t deliver the same services that you used to be able to do. It’s a matter of trying to do your best with what you have. But it’s not easy”.
He added, “I’m hoping that we can still go out on Saturdays and Sundays and stop traffic for people that are doing charity work. We love getting involved. From our perspective, they are great and they build up a lot of goodwill for us with the public and a lot of our own people are involved with it. But if I’ve only got X-amount of resources on Saturday and Sunday, I can’t put two or three guards doing that (charity events). It’s going to be very difficult to say no to some of these people but that’s the way things are going to go unless things change and unless things change very quickly.”
Mr Kerin said he and other senior gardaí will meet with any communities who are concerned about crime in their area.
Mr Kerin told the meeting a substantial amount of garda resources are now being used to deal with antisocial behaviour in some parts of the county.