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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 3 Dec 1985

Vol. 362 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Killinarden (Dublin) Post Office.

I thank you for affording me the opportunity to raise this very important matter on the Adjournment. I regret that I was not allowed to raise the issue today by way of Private Notice Question, but we must accept the ruling of the Chair. I thank the Minister for being here at this late hour.

The post office at Killinarden, Tallaght, was opened two or three years ago. Last night two families were held captive throughout the night and this morning the postmistress was instructed to collect the money, take it to a certain place and hand it over. While she has been released she had not returned home up to a very short time ago.

In raising this matter I am not offering any criticism of the Garda in the Tallaght area. They are doing a good job despite very difficult conditions but I wish to make it clear that the residents associations in the Killinarden-Knockmore area, the Killinarden community council and all the other representatives of the area, have been making representations for the past few years regarding this post office and pointing to the dangers in regard to it. In the past I made recommendations to the local superintendent to the effect that there should be more security in the area. In the Killinarden area there is a high rate of crime, of drug abuse and so on. We always felt that post office would be open to this type of abuse. This was not the first raid on that post office. It has been raided four if not five times.

We have recommended that gardaí should be on duty, particularly on the first Tuesday of every month. The amount of money stolen this morning was approximately £70,000. We also recommended that the Army should be on duty. No matter how well I put it, I will not be able to explain the anxiety felt by the law abiding people in the area. I appreciate that this is an area with a high crime rate, but that is not to say that nothing can be done.

For a number of years we have been asking for changes to be made as regards paying large sums into sub-post offices. We were all very pleased when Killinarden got the post office because we felt it would serve the area very well, but now this has happened. I make a special appeal to the Minister on behalf of Killinarden and Tallaght to do something about this. There is no point in the Minister saying there is ample Garda activity in the area. There may be sufficient Garda activity throughout the day in parts of the Tallaght area, but in this area, and particularly on the first Tuesday of the month, greater supervision is needed. I have been a representative for this area for many years and know the area very well. I appeal to the Minister to do something about this.

I hope we will hear tonight that changes will be made, that sufficient gardaí will be on duty on particular days and, if necessary, that the Army will be called in. I want to refer to another post office in the Tallaght area, Glenview post office. This area too requires some protection especially now when Christmas is coming. What I am saying applies not only to the Tallaght area but to the rest of the country as well. Again I appeal to the Minister to do something about these areas.

As I said, the Killinarden post office has been there for only three years but it has been raided four or five times already. Last night two families were held hostage and the postmistress was released this morning and instructed to collect the money and place it in a certain spot. The Minister will have to accept that there is something wrong here and it is up to him to do something about it. I do not want to be too critical of the Minister but, as a public representative for this area, I consider it my duty to speak out about this. For a long time we have been making representations to the superintendent of the Garda in the area but I am sorry to say our representations have gone unheeded. The time has come for something to be done. I am anxious to hear what the Minister has to say and I will appreciate it if he comes to the aid of the people of Killinarden, the people of Tallaght, the people of Dublin and the country generally.

Limerick East): Twice in the past week, the second time as recently as this afternoon, I answered Parliamentary Questions concerning banks and employment exchanges as being places which are susceptible to attack by persons anxious to get their hands on substantial sums of money. What I said about them obviously applies also to post offices, namely, that comprehensive advice is provided by the Garda Síochána both in relation to premises themselves and to procedures relating to the movement of cash. In addition, of course, the gardaí take such protection measures as they judge useful and as their resources permit. All those measures are relevant, directly or indirectly, to the protection of members of the public and of the staff, as well as to the protection of cash and the whole situation is kept under constant review.

I thank the Minister but I am disappointed because I was hoping to hear better news.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.45 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 December 1985.

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