City desperately needs more gardaí

THE garda station on King’s Island is boarded up.

Deciduous trees grow out its windows and roof.

Situated right in the centre of Limerick’s trouble spot, Mary Street Garda station was downgraded about 15 years ago. The detective unit was moved to a garda building at Mayorstone, not far from Thomond Park.

Today only about five gardaí work out of the portable cabins behind the dilapidated station which closes at night. A lone garda van was parked outside the station last evening.

The redbrick building is just a stone’s throw from St Mary Park, the grey housing estate known as the Island Field which is home to the wider Keane family.

The terraced home of murder victim Eric Leamy, aged 19, on St Munchin’s Street is also just around the corner. The spot where he was killed on the Lee Estate can be reached from here in minutes.

Even the outspoken Garda Representative Association (GRA) don’t seem worried about the decline of the station. The Association insists that all the main garda activity in the area is co-ordinated from Mayorstone.

John Gilligan the only councillor who lives in King’s Island describes Mary Street as the most camouflaged garda station in the world. “As things got progressively worse down here the place was wound down. It doesn’t even open every day. This is about exclusion in one of the poorest parts of the city. Some leading city politicians have even lobbied for a new station in Castletroy (a leafy suburb on Limerick’s southside) while this place is forgotten about.”

It also emerged that only five extra gardaí have been drafted into Limerick to combat rising crime levels in the city. The minimum staffing increase will come into effect before the end of the week.

The GRA yesterday called on Justice Minister Michael McDowell to tell where the 2m allocated to fight crime will be spent.

There are around 80 less gardaí working in the Limerick today compared with the mid-1990’s, despite the worsening crime situation.

“While we welcome it, we just don’t know where it will be spent. We need about 100 more gardaí in Limerick,” said GRA Limerick official Paul Browne.

Mr Browne criticised Junior Justice Minister’s Willie O’Dea’s claim that there are adequate garda numbers in Limerick. “It’s simply not true. Numbers on units have become denuded. The minister cannot deny this.”