Garda controversy

Castlebar Gardaí reject councillor’s claims they don’t know the town

Michael Duffy

A spokesperson for Castlebar Gardaí has denied claims made by a Castlebar town councillor that some of the gardaí stationed in the county town are not familiar with its geography and the location of the some the largest housing estates in the town.
Cllr Kevin Guthrie told The Mayo News after a recent meeting of Castlebar Town Council it was ‘vital’ that all gardaí knew every part of the town to ensure a rapid response to calls.
“I know there are a number of new gardaí in the town and, although they are not expected to instantly know every address in the town, I believe they should know where all the major populated areas of the town are,” said Cllr Guthrie, who said the matter was brought to his attention recently by some residents of Knockthomas.
“There has been a number of well-documented incidents of anti-social behaviour in the Knockthomas area in recent times and recently a call was made to Castlebar Garda Station to ask for assistance, only for the garda who answered the call to ask ‘where’s Knockthomas?’ Knockthomas is one of the biggest estates in the town and you would expect all the guards in the town to know it well,” said Cllr Guthrie.
However, a spokesperson for Castlebar Garda Station denied that this response was made and said that the garda in question  asked ‘what steps in Knockthomas’ was the anti-social behaviour taking place on.
“The garda was trying to find out what part of Knockthomas the incident in question was taking place at, not where Knockthomas was.”
The spokesperson added that all new gardaí spend their first month shadowing an experienced member of staff, getting to know the town and its surroundings.
“It naturally takes the new gardaí a certain length of time to get to know every area of the town but all calls are always responded to,” said the spokesperson, who added that the new superintendent, Ray Brennan, was available to meet with any of the residents’ associations or groups in the town who had problems they wanted tackled.
“Supt Brennan held a meeting with the residents’ association of Knockthomas last week and he is free to speak to anyone else who has genuine concerns.
He was previously the Community Relations Officer in the busy Finglas district and he is determined to create good community relations between the Gardaí and the public, and indeed our town councillors here in Castlebar,” concluded the spokesperson.