Budget 2013 Justice: Closures will sever connection with communities

Garda representatives said the closure of 100 stations will “sever” connections between communities and local gardaí.

The Garda Representative Association said patrols would have to be cut and this would create a “safe breeding ground” for criminals.

The GRA, the largest staff body, said the stations were not being closed for reasons of efficiency, as claimed, but because garda numbers were being reduced.

The announcement was first made in a statement by Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan, which referred to “consolidation” rather than closures.

The commissioner said the move was part of a comprehensive review of the entire police network to “enhance service delivery, increase efficiency and streamline practices”.

He said 28 garda districts were also being reduced to 14.

Mr Callinan said the changes represented the “most fundamental restructuring” of the force since the foundation of the organisation.

“The current challenge for An Garda Síochána is to maintain public safety in homes, on streets and in public places while operating in an extremely difficult financial environment. This requires making difficult decisions.”

GRA president John Parker attacked the commissioner for “disguising closure as consolidation” and withdrawing gardaí from rural areas and calling it “rationalisation”.

“It is being called rationalisation — as if it is an efficiency measure — but while the cost savings are minimal, the service lost to the community will be immeasurable.

“Fear of crime is palpable in rural communities and it is the local garda station that provides reassurance to the community and a deterrent to criminals.

“This scraps the core values of community policing in the areas targeted to lose their stations, and over time will weaken and eventually sever the strong connections between the community and their local garda. Patrols will be necessarily reduced and a safe breeding ground for future criminals will fill the void.”

Fianna Fail justice spokesman Niall Collins accused Mr Shatter of displaying “jaw dropping cynicism” announcing the closures on budget day.

“[It] confirms the worst suspicions of those who have accused the minister of being soft on crime and soft on the causes of crime.

“At a time when vulnerable communities everywhere are worrying about crime and looking to the Government for leadership, all they see is a sustained and continuing effort to degrade the presence and profile of gardaí in our towns and cities.”

The Fine Gael chairman of the Dublin City Joint Policing Committee believes that the 100 station closures makes financial and policing sense.

Cllr Gerry Breen argued that Ireland has too many Garda stations with 664 still in use. There are less than 100 in the North.

Based on population comparatives with the North (but not on area comparatives), Ireland would have 120 Garda stations.

“Many of these stations were established when the push bike was the only means of transport. Nowadays, apart from high powered cars and motorbikes, decent roads, secure electronic communication are everywhere available to gardaí.”

Quoting statistics, he said if we were to match the Scottish police station numbers (360), it would release at least an additional 1,365 gardaí onto the streets.

“That said, to call these stations Garda stations is in my book a misnomer as 94% of them only operate for three hours a day or less.”

[comment]We tracked all of the Budget 2013 announcements in our live blog here.[/comment]