Fine Gael local election candidate calls for full reopening of Swinford Garda Station

FINE Gael local election candidate Antoinette Peyton has called for the immediate return of Swinford Garda Station to a 24/7 service.

The station had been run on a full-time basis prior to its amalgamation with Claremorris district in 2014. 

In a statement, Ms Peyton called on Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to return the station to a full-time operation.

She said recent criminal activity in the area – including the robbery of an elderly farmer - had drawn the issue into ‘sharp focus’.

The Swinford Garda Station was in good order before undergoing a major refurbishment in 2012, less than two years before the amalgamation with Claremorris.  

The Fine Gael-led government presided over the closure of 139 garda stations as part of the Garda Síochána District and Station Rationalisation Programme 2012.

Then Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan TD, said the decision was taken ‘in order to streamline practices and to provide the most efficient policing service possible with the scarce resources available at the time’.

The number of gardaí in Mayo, however, has risen by seven percent since the closure of Swinford Garda Station.

“Although the return of Swinford Garda Station to a 24/7 service would not guarantee the elimination of this kind of vicious criminality, it would act as a major deterrent and greatly assist in the apprehending of these violent thugs should those violent and frightening acts occur,” Ms Peyton stated.

“The area was very open as it was well serviced by national primary routes such as the N5, the N17 and the N26. These routes allowed for easy access and quick exits for travelling criminal gangs.” 

She added that the amalgamation of the Claremorris and Swinford policing districts had ‘created too vast an area for effective policing as it stretches from Headford in Co Galway to Doocastle on the Sligo border’.

_{Fine Gael local election candidate Antoinette Peyton pictured at the University of Galway} 

“The reason given at the time of the amalgamation was that it was a cost saving measure at a time when the country's finances were in a difficult place during the Great Recession,” she said.

“There was also assurances made at the time that the tighter control of scarce resources would allow for increased foot and vehicle patrols which do not appear to have materialised.”

Commenting on the number of Garda stations in Mayo, Ms Peyton highlighted there were only five Garda Stations in Mayo that were fully open; Westport, Castlebar, Claremorris, Belmullet and Ballina.

A further fourteen Garda Stations have restricted opening hours, which Ms Peyton said had left their ability to service the community as ‘negligible’.

The 22-year-old is a native of Killasser and will join incumbent Foxford-based councillor Neil Cruise on the Fine Gael ticket in the Swinford Local Electoral Area.