This article is from page 6 of the 2005-09-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
after Shannon town councillors called for a superintendent to be based in the town. Ennis-based Supt John Kerin currently has responsibility
for Shannon.
A letter circulated to councillors from the Department of Justice stated that local Garda management in Clare did “not believe that the necessity exists for the creation of a fifth district headquarters station” in the Clare division. It added that local management was satisfied that the existing available resources at Shannon (53 gardai) were adequate to meet the present policing needs of the town.
Chief Supt Quinn said, “Shannon now has a population equivalent to other areas served by a superintendent and that is where the argument comes from. However other factors come into play and the situation is unlikely to change at the moment.
‘When it comes to making decisions like that, statistics and logistics would influence that decision. It has been raised and examined and con- sidered. We have an inspector – Tom Kennedy – who has responsibility for Shannon, which we don’t have in any of the other stations,” said Chief Supt Quinn.
He accepted that there were anxieties about the lack of a superintend- ent in Shannon. But he said, “It wouldn’t necessarily improve the service there.”
However, Cllr Gerry Flynn said it was “absolutely ludicrous” that the second biggest town in the county did not have a superintendent based in the area and so operated as a sub-district, rather than a district.
Cllr Tony McMahon agreed, “We need to be upgraded to a district sta- tus. We don’t have a courthouse here. We don’t have anything”’.
Cllr Greg Duff said, “Because of increased US military travelling through Shannon in the past six months, the airport is a priority and because of the commitment to the airport, we need more people.” If there was an air-rage incident at Shannon Airport, six gardai would be sent in to deal with it, he said.
Cllr Patricia McCarthy said the town had lost quality gardai who left the town when they saw no opportunities for promotion.
‘Kilrush had a long history of gardai staying for a while and the prob- lems there got out of control,” she said.