Carrigaline unlikely to get 24-hour Garda station 'in medium to long term'

Cash-strapped council cannot afford to monitor CCTV coverage in county

Carrigaline Garda Station. Picture: Larry Cummins

One of Co Cork's biggest towns is unlikely to get a 24-hour garda station “in the medium to long term” and Cork County Council can't afford on its own to standardise and monitor CCTV coverage in the county.

A meeting of the Cork City and County Joint Policing Committee (JPC) heard calls to increase garda numbers in Carrigaline in light of recent violent incidents in the town.

Independent councillor Ben Dalton O’Sullivan asked that they would write to the minister for justice and the Garda Commissioner requesting an increase in garda personnel for the Togher Garda District, and in particular the Carrigaline area.

He said that since May 2019 he had been lobbying for a full-time garda station in Carrigaline and wrote to the-then minister for justice and the current Garda commissioner “who didn't respond.” Mr Dalton-O'Sullivan pointed out that two ministers were living a short walk away from the station and he hoped they would lobby for it too.

Chief Superintendent Barry McPolin, who is in charge of policing the area, said resources had since been increased.

“In December 2019 there were 116 gardaí in the Togher district. Today there are 122. In Carrigaline there were 18 on January 1 last and 23 now. So they have benefited from the lion's share of new personnel. The Togher district is a busy area. We have finite resources to allocate. We will be keeping a close eye on Carrigaline,” he said.

The senior garda added he hopes additional community policing gardaí will also be allocated there before the end of the year.

Mr Dalton-O'Sullivan asked him if he believed he had enough personnel in the area.

Chief Supt McPolin replied he could always do with more.

He said while he would like to see the Carrigaline station open 24/7, it's only a few miles down the road to Togher which is open 24/7.

“I can't see it opening in the medium to long term,” he added.

Meanwhile, county council chief executive, Tim Lucey, told Fianna Fáil councillor Ian Doyle that having the council take control of CCTV systems in the county would be financially problematic.

Mr Doyle sought an update on the roll-out of promised new CCTV projects, which have been delayed due to issues over data protection. He said in many cases they cut down crime by 50%.

Mr Lucey said they're currently 15 installed in towns in Co Cork and another seven proposed.

“There are a variety of models and makes. To bring all of those into one (uniform) system would cost at least €500,000 in capital costs and for the local authority to administer (monitor and respond to requests for footage) about €350,000 per annum,” Mr Lucey said.

He added administration costs could be considerably more depending on the level of requests for footage.

The council is already cash-strapped as a result of Covid-19 and if it has to take control of monitoring such systems would have to dig further into its ever depleting financial resources.

Mr Doyle said it was probably better that the gardaí took control of all monitoring rather than local authorities.

Chief Supt Con Cadogan, who is in charge of policing the Cork West Garda Division, said CCTV was “invaluable” to the gardaí in terms of deterring and detecting crime.