Six Mayo garda stations to close this week

Six Mayo garda stations to close this week


Edwin McGreal
edwinmcgreal@mayonews.ie

With six garda stations in Mayo to close this week as a result of the latest set of garda cutbacks, rural security is under further threat.
That was the view of Mayo County Council member Cllr Michael Kilcoyne (Independent) who feels these cuts will give ‘a free run’ to criminals after a recent crime wave in the county.
Stations in Blacksod, Ballycastle, Ballyglass, Ballyvary, Hollymount and Lahardane will all close on either Wednesday or Thursday of this week as part of the latest stream of cutbacks announced by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.
“It affects rural areas because local people will not feel safe and it gives a free run to criminals because there are no local gardaí around,” Cllr Kilcoyne told The Mayo News yesterday.
“It is the message that it sends out that I’d be worried about. People feel insecure in their house and this is going to make it worse and you cannot put a value on people’s peace of mind,” he said.
Two of the stations set to close are currently vacant - Blacksod and Ballyglass - while other stations do not have a full-time presence but Cllr Kilcoyne argues that having a garda based in the area was vital.
“Some of these stations had only a garda there for part of the week but there was a presence there and that was vital. Overall numbers of gardaí have been reduced so are garda chiefs going to be able to spare bodies to patrol the rural areas sufficiently? I don’t think so.
“For instance if something happens in Ballyglass, you’re talking about Gardaí coming from Castlebar and by the time they are there, the criminals are well gone. These stations were costing about €5,000 a year, is that so expensive?
“Another issue is the lack of local knowledge that you had when a garda was based in a rural station. It is absolutely key for policing but the government don’t seem to see this,” he said.
He accused Alan Shatter and Taoiseach Enda Kenny of being out of touch with the needs of those in rural areas.
“If a guy is the Taoiseach or the Minister for Justice and he looks out his own window and sees his own security personnel there, he’s going to have no appreciation for the effect the close of rural garda stations will have on people in those areas,” he said,
Blacksod will be incorporated into the Belmullet sub-district; Ballycastle into Killala, which will be supported by Ballina Garda Station. Ballyglass will be incorporated into the Partry sub-district, also supported by Castlebar Garda Station; Ballyvary will be incorporated into Castlebar; Hollymount into Claremorris and Lahardane into Crossmolina, supported by Ballina Garda Station.

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