James Heffernan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for attending the Chamber and facilitating this debate. Tomorrow, the Garda station in Kilfinane, my home town, will close its doors for the last time. I wish to put on record the community's praise for and thanks to Niall McInerney, our local garda, for his service for the past number of years. Along with Kilfinane, the stations in Galbally, Castletown, Kilmeady and Tournafulla will close their doors for the last time.

I am disappointed by this decision and the way it was announced. The Minister for Justice and Equality tried to sweep it under a difficult budget and hoped that it would go unnoticed. It was a sneaky move.

I do not understand the reasoning behind the decision. For example, ¤75,000 was recently spent on renovating Galbally Garda station. In my home town, a site had recently been acquired for a new state-of-the-art station. I do not have an iota of a clue as to what has changed since then. The Minister of State has spent time with communities.

Therefore, she has been being involved with them. She knows that decision will be a confidence blow to rural communities whose members are struggling in the current climate. If one walks up the main street of any small town, one will note that businesses are under pressure, some have closed down and buildings have been left unoccupied. This move will make the elderly and those who live in isolated areas feel much more vulnerable. It is a blow to the morale of the members of the Garda, whose morale is already at a pretty low ebb. The only winners in all of this are the likes of the two shysters that I followed from Kilfinane to Ballyorgan the other day after getting a tip-off from a neighbour that these men were on their way under the guise of cleaning garden paths for a good price and clearing gutters. I never saw people come to clear gutters without a ladder and they did not have one. I got the number that was given and like any good citizen I telephoned my local Garda station and gave the garda on duty the number. When I travelled back the road and called into my neighbours, a number of whom live alone, to see if they were okay, one old woman in particular who lives a few houses up from me, was terrified when I knocked on her door because she thought these men had come back again.

If I was to telephone my local garda in Kilfinane and say "Niall, these guys are on the beat, can you come and sort it out", he would have been there in a matter of moments but now he has been moved somewhere else down the road and I have to call a central station and they will send out a patrol car. The Minister of State may know the area stretching from Bruff to the borders of County Cork in Kildorrery and now by the time it will take a garda to come out to my area, those men will be gone to the hills, never to be seen again.

I am told by some people and by members of the Garda Síochána that it cost approximately ¤2,000 a year to run these stations and cover the cost of heating and lighting. If one takes into account the five stations in County Limerick, it would cost ¤10,000 a year to run them. That is the price of a secondhand car and such provision would give local people confidence and a sense of safety in their homes.

I do not know what is the contingency plan and what is going to be left. We will have imposing buildings in small towns that will be vacated and become a haven for rats, for anti-social behaviour. I do not understand what consultation was carried out. Was there consultation in the Department with the senior Minister? I was assured last year when this move was first mooted that a number of these stations would not be closed but now they being closed.