Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for selecting this Topical Issue matter for debate. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, for coming in to respond to it this evening.

This is an important issue for the Milford, Fanad and Rossguill peninsular areas in the Milford Garda district. It became clear in recent days and this morning that there are plans by the superintendent in the Milford area to pull a number of gardaí who are in stations around the area into the headquarters in Milford. That means the service provided in the stations in Rathmullan, Kerrykeel and Kilmacrennan will not remain as it is, in that no garda will now be based directly in those three stations. That follows on from the situation in recent years whereby no garda is now based in Ramelton station. In addition, Churchill Garda station was also closed by the Government in recent years.

I refer to the Fanad and Rossguill peninsulas, coming across into Kilmacrennan and Churchill. In 2010 Ramelton Garda station had four gardaí added, but now it does not have anyone stationed there permanently. Until a couple of weeks ago Rathmullan had a garda but it does not have one today. Likewise, Kilmacrennan will not have a garda permanently stationed there and neither will Kerrykeel, which had a garda until now, and had several gardaí a number of years ago. Of all the stations in Rathmullan, Ramelton, Kerrykeel, Carrigart, Kilmacrennan and Churchill, only Carrigart will have a full-time garda based in the station. Due to a lack of resources, the superintendent is now pulling all gardaí into the Milford headquarters from where an outlying service will be given in terms of office opening to those other stations. As Councillor Liam Blayney outlined very clearly this morning on local radio, the principle of community policing is that gardaí live and work in an area in which they know the people but that is being pulled back because of the lack of resources. Another local councillor, Michael McBride, mentioned this morning that when his father was a sergeant based in Kilmacrennan in the late 1970s and 1980s three or four additional gardaí were also stationed there, but according to the plans unveiled in recent days there will not be any garda permanently based in Kilmacrennan.

This goes back to the under-resourcing of the Garda force in County Donegal, especially in the Milford district. Despite the fact that recruitment to Templemore recommenced in 2015, the Milford Garda district has not had any new recruits in the intervening period. The impact of that is we are now seeing a superintendent left with little choice but to pull gardaí into the central station when that should not, and cannot, be the case. We need additional resources in the county and in the Milford area, in particular, so that the stations I mentioned can have permanent personnel located in them serving the local community. I hope the Minister of State will address the issue. The situation the Government has overseen is that the Garda force and resources in the county have been depleted to such an extent that the number of Garda personnel has reduced from 466 in 2010 to 404 today. That is simply not enough to do the job of properly policing such a large county. We deserve better.

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