Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to sympathise with the wife and extended family of Detective Garda Donohoe and with the Garda Síochána and, by extension, the State, following his horrific murder last Friday evening. Almost everyone in the House has spoken of it today.

This motion is about the staffing of Garda stations in the future, and every Member has spoken. I compliment Deputy Niall Collins on tabling the motion to discuss the future of the Garda Síochána and the drive within the system and within the Department of Justice and Equality to close down rural Garda stations.

I come from a rural part of County Cork. Elderly people in rural communities, and indeed entire rural communities, feel very vulnerable at the moment. Not one day or week goes by without people hearing stories about robberies or attempted robberies in rural communities. This brings to the fore the issue of further rural isolation, especially for the elderly. A highly respected member of the community I come from, who had given years of service to his community as a successful footballer in his prime and who went on to become a carpenter for many years, was subjected to a robbery between Christmas and the New Year. He was 91 years of age. This brings home the vulnerability of these people. The entire community gathered together to support him.

When criminals come in from large urban areas to rural communities it highlights the issue of the closure of Garda stations. One station in Meelin is closing this week. This adds further to the isolation. Despite all the statistics on policing and so on, the most important part of policing, already referred to in the debate this evening, is intelligence gathering and the belief among rural communities that An Garda Síochána is in touch with what is happening.

It is proposed that in the coming months there will be an alteration of the Garda district in Kanturk, some of which will be taken into Mallow and some into Macroom.

It leaves the entire Duhallow region without a 24-hour Garda station. It is a rural barony and a huge part of County Cork. The gardaí who have served the area through the generations have developed a great deal of expertise working from the barracks in Kanturk. It is not acceptable to the people of Duhallow in particular and the Cork region in general.

We have had Topical Issues and Private Members' debates on these matters which have shown that the savings which have been generated from cutting service hours in community Garda stations or closing or streamlining them are minuscule. The closure of Garda stations represents an attack on small, rural communities which feel more and more isolated as time goes by. There must be an acceptance by Government and Garda management that people feel vulnerable. We have seen the statistics on crime in rural communities. People are living in fear in their own communities which is deplorable.

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