asked the Minister for Justice the reason for the closure of the Garda Station at Kilmoganny, County Kilkenny and if he will rescind the order.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Kilkenny Garda Station Closure.
4.
The Garda authorities have informed me that Kilmoganny station has not been closed and there is no proposal to close the station.
Due to accommodation problems in the station premises, the two gardaí who resided in the station up to 2 April were transferred to Thomastown on that date and the opening hours of the station were reduced. However, a decision was taken in mid-April to continue to operate a station from Kilmoganny, having the same opening hours as heretofore. I am informed that the station is now open to the public on the same basis as obtained prior to April this year, but that, pending settlement of the accommodation problems, the gardaí will continue to operate from Thomastown.
It is intended to erect a new station at Kilmoganny and, pending the erection of this station, the Office of Public Works are at present arranging to have a temporary prefabricated unit for use as a station at the centre. It is hoped that this unit will be provided in about 3 months' time.
On a point of order——
(Interruptions.)
I called the Deputy, but he wishes to choose his own time. The Chair has had enough of this. He is the sole judge of the number of supplementaries to be allowed.
I did not wish to choose my own time.
Deputy Barry Desmond got no supplementary on Question No. 3.
I asked him, and he said he was waiting for the Minister's reply to the previous question. In other words, he was selecting his own time.
I did not do that.
(Cavan-Monaghan): I distinctly heard Deputy Barry Desmond ask the Minister to repeat the reply because he had not heard it.
This is disgraceful.
(Interruptions.)
I did wish to ask a supplementary question, but I indicated to the Chair that I did not hear the reply. I do not wish to participate in this bear garden this afternoon. I should like, if at all possible, on a point of order, to hear the reply to Question No. 3 for which I have patiently waited, and then I shall ask only one supplementary, if I can hear the reply. With due deference——
When the Deputy has approached the matter in an orderly manner, I can ask the Minister to deal with it.
Be thankful for small mercies.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
I repeat the answer to Question No. 3:
Members of the Garda Síochána are authorised under article 4 of the Road Traffic (Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1971 to remove and store vehicles which have been illegally parked. The regulations do not specify the method to be employed for such removal. On occasions when unlawfully parked vehicles have been found with keys in the ignition, they have been driven to the pound by members of the force. It is not garda policy, however, to issue sets of keys to gardaí to enable locked unlawfully parked vehicles to be opened and driven to the pound.
May I ask the Minister if he is aware that senior Garda officers responsible for traffic control are very strongly of the view that, where locked vehicles are causing total obstruction and require immediate removal, they should be given permission—as they already have entitlement under the statute so to do—to enter such vehicles and drive them to the pound? The current system of sending for a pick-up truck is a total farce, causing even further traffic obstruction.
The present regulation does not prescribe the exclusion of the method of which the Deputy speaks. In my reply, I stated that the gardaí have, on occasions, driven cars to the pound. This is totally a matter for the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and it is not the policy of the Garda to issue bunches of keys for this specific purpose.
Would the Minister not sympathetically consider having discussions with the traffic superintendents, particularly in the Dublin area, where such illegally parked and locked cars and lorries cause massive traffic obstruction and have to be, and should be, removed immediately. The Garda are quite willing to do this, but, apparently, they are not issued with any set of keys. The Minister would earn the eternal gratitude of the travelling public if he would so do.
I have already said that it is Garda policy that keys are not issued in the manner suggested by the Deputy. However, I shall have the matter taken up with the Garda Commissioner.
On that particular item, would there not be a breach of privacy in a person entering another person's property in such a manner?
There certainly would be risks. Members of the Gardaí could be exposed unnecessarily to risk in the use of that practice. To repeat the answer to Question No. 4:
The Garda authorities have informed me that Kilmoganny station has not been closed and there is no proposal to close the station.
Due to accommodation problems in the station premises, the two gardaí who resided in the station up to 2 April were transferred to Thomastown on that date and the opening hours of the station were reduced. However, a decision was taken in mid-April to continue to operate a station from Kilmoganny, having the same opening hours as heretofore. I am informed that the station is now open to the public on the same basis as obtained prior to April this year, but that, pending settlement of the accommodation problems, the gardaí will continue to operate from Thomastown.
It is intended to erect a new station at Kilmoganny and, pending the erection of this station, the Office of Public Works are at present arranging to have a temporary prefabricated unit for use as a station at the centre. It is hoped that this unit will be provided in about three months' time.