Urgent need to see gardai 'back on the beat' in Kildare, Dáil told

Kildare South TD, Mark Wall this week told the Dáil there is an urgent need to see gardai “back on the beat” in Co Kildare.

According to the Labour Deputy, there is a chronic shortage of garda numbers in the county, which, he said, with a population of 250,000, received just an additional six gardai as part of recent allocations.

Deputy Wall claimed that crime is spreading from the capital into Co Kildare and other commuter areas, with garda numbers not matching statistics.

Although, he said, the population in Kildare is booming, garda numbers in the county are among the lowest per head of population in the State.

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Deputy Wall was speaking when “Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions” came before the House on Wednesday, June 25 last.

Addressing the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Deputy Wall said: “When we look at the additional population numbers this country will have to take in the coming years, a lot of the concentration will be in the commuting counties of Kildare, Wicklow, Meath and Louth, yet the Garda figures for these counties are among the lowest per head of population in the State.

“We must look at the whole social infrastructure. It is great having the roads and the rail network but the social infrastructure must be there and a part of that is having the Garda numbers to protect those who are living in that particular location.”

Deputy Wall gave the example of the town of Newbridge, which with a population of 25,000, has according to Garda statistics, 57 gardai stationed in the town.

As the Deputy pointed out, this equates to a ratio of 440 people for every one garda, a figure which he said was simply “not acceptable in any form.”

He said that his own home town of Athy has a population of over 11,000 people, with just 34 gardai serving the town.

He said: “I know the Minister will come back to me if he gets the chance and will tell me this is a matter for the Garda Commissioner, as have I have been told on numerous occasions in this House and the Seanad before.

“However, somebody needs to start matching up Garda numbers and population figures. Somebody needs to make that decision very quickly because we cannot continue with what is going on at the moment with Garda numbers not reflecting the population and my own county with 250,000 people not having the Garda numbers.

“As my colleague, Deputy Lawlor, said, antisocial behaviour is increasing in these towns. We need to see gardaí back on the beat as has been said throughout the debate today. I would really appreciate if consideration could be given to that.”