James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of policing resources in my constituency of Kildare North. While this issue is often aired in this House, I believe my constituency to be more poorly served than others and the census figures bear that out. Kildare North currently has the worst policing figures per head of population in the entire State. This is an historical anomaly that predates the recruitment embargo and other recent difficulties. Currently, Kildare North has one garda for every 751 residents. Based on the 2016 census figures, correcting this would require the hiring of more than 250 additional gardaí immediately but the constituency has only been given an extra 25 gardaí or 10% of what is needed. Kildare does not want to retain the title of the worst policed county in the State.

I wish to draw the Minister of State's attention to some of the difficulties in the county. As well as having the lowest number of gardaí per capita, Kildare also has the second lowest number of Garda stations in the State. This began with the closure of Garda stations in Kill and Ballymore Eustace in 2013 and 2014, along with three stations in west Wicklow which bordered Kildare. The response at the time from the then Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter, was that mobile garda units would be deployed and Facebook clinics would employed as an alternative method of community policing. The stations closed but there were no increased patrols, no Facebook clinics and there was an increase in burglaries. Added to that, local residents said that when they rang their new nearest Garda station, they were often asked for directions because the gardaí were simply not familiar with the area.

At the other end of the constituency, Celbridge Garda station is said to be the busiest of the five stations in the Leixlip Garda division. However, it is only a part-time station that opens for three hours per day during the week and not at all on a Sunday. The integrated services report produced in conjunction with Kildare County Council, a State body which is not prone to exaggeration or hyperbole, shows that there was a 12.5% decrease in Garda numbers nationally in the period 2008 to 2016, but Celbridge Garda station lost 54% of its personnel. The level of staffing was cut by more than half. I received an e-mail recently from a local businessman who has been subject to 13 armed robberies. At this stage, some of his staff are too frightened to come into work. This is somebody who is trying to run a business and make a living in the town.

I will turn my attention now to Maynooth, which is a university town. The Minister of State and all Members of the House will be aware that there was an horrific attack on a young female student in the town just over a week ago. My own daughter is a first year student in the same university and my heart goes out to the family of Ms Kym Owens. I wish her a speedy recovery. It was an horrific attack and while it could be argued that additional Garda resources may not have prevented such an act of barbarism, the fact remains that Maynooth is a university town whose population doubles from 12,000 to in excess of 24,000 during term time and yet there are no additional Garda resources. In fact, there is not even a full-time Garda station in the town. My party colleague, Councillor Naoise Ó Cearúil, pointed out in theIrish Independenta number of days ago that Maynooth is the only university town in Ireland that does not have a full-time Garda station.

Regarding Carbury in north-west Kildare, last night we saw Mr. Paul Williams do an exposé on TV3 which showed that certain well-known criminal characters are resident in the north-west Kildare area. However, Carbury Garda station has been decimated. The number of Garda stations across north Kildare has been slashed, as has the number of gardaí. Garda resources are at an historical low and are the worst in the country. It is simply not good enough. Direct intervention is required to increase the resources available and address the anomaly. North Kildare has a large urban and rural population. The area is very close to the national motorway network and is being hit repeatedly by opportunist burglars, armed robbers and by horrific acts of sporadic violence like the recent incident in Maynooth. I call on the Minister for Justice and Equality to intervene and address the situation immediately.

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