asked the Minister for Justice the number of Gardaí in Chapelizod Garda station, Dublin; and the reasons for closing this station.
41.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Chapelizod (Dublin) Garda Station.
40.
asked the Minister for Justice if, in view of increased vandal ism in the Chapelizod area, Dublin, he will retain the present Garda station in Chapelizod so that the people of the area will have immediate local protection.
With your permission. a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 40 and 41 together.
The gardaí stationed at Chapelizod were transferred to the new district headquarters at Ballyfermot on 24th May. At the date of transfer the strength of the station was 65.
The commissioner informs me that it is not necessary to maintain a Garda station at Chapelizod, following the occupation of the new station at Ballyfermot, which is within 1¼ miles of the old station. The new arrangement is designed to provide a more efficient police service for the entire Garda district, and I can assure the Deputy that there will be no loss of police efficiency in the Chapelizod area.
The Commissioner also informs me that the incidence of vandalism is no greater than that in other residential surburban areas which have a high proportion of children or juveniles.
Surely the Minister is aware of recent reports of a very high degree of vandalism in the Chapelizod area, an area in which a large proportion of the community consists of elderly people. The Minister has taken the only protection they had, the local Garda force, out of the area and put it away across the river in another area completely separate from Chapelizod. Surely the Minister must be aware of the reports not only of vandalism but of juvenile drinking and drug-taking in the Chapelizod area.
The new station is only one and a quarter miles from Chapelizod.
It might as well be ten miles. It was centrally situated in the district, in the most heavily populated part of the district, an area in which, according to the gardaí, the need for it was greatest.
A high incidence of vandalism of the worst type, juvenile drinking and drug-taking, is prevalent in the Chapelizod area, the area from which the Minister has taken away the gardaí.
The incidence is no higher than it is in other areas.
But the other areas are all bad, too. Does the Minister think 65 gardaí sufficient to police the area? The population is aproximately 70,000 to 80.000 people. It takes 75 gardaí in Galway for a population of something like half that. The Minister was forced by the residents to put extra gardaí into Galway.
The population of the Ballyfermot Garda sub-district according to the 1966 census was some 28,000.
What area does that barracks cover?
The old area roughly.
Is the Minister aware that for an electorate of 43,000 in Dublin North-West there is only one police station in the whole constituency?
Yes, but there is a very large number of gardaí.
How many gardaí? How many times have we had to bring up here the problem of people being molested?
(Interruptions.)
Order. Question No. 42.