Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 November 2004
81 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of gardaí attached to Pettigo Garda station, County Donegal; and if there are plans to increase the number of gardaí attached to this station. [27084/04]
View answerI have been informed by the Garda authorities, who are responsible for the detailed allocation of resources including personnel, that the personnel strength of Pettigo Garda station as at 2 November 2004 is three, all ranks. Resources are augmented from within the district-division as required. Currently local Garda management has no plans to increase the number of personnel at Pettigo Garda station. Garda management will continue to appraise the policing and administrative strategy employed in Pettigo with a view to ensuring that an effective Garda service is maintained. The situation will be kept under review by Garda management and when additional personnel next becomes available the needs of Pettigo will be fully considered within the overall context of the needs of Garda stations throughout the country.
In this context, I am pleased to inform the House that the Government has approved my proposal to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 members on a phased basis, in line with the commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government. This is a key commitment in the programme for Government and its implementation will significantly strengthen the operational capacity of the force. The commissioner will now draw up plans on how best to distribute and manage these resources. Clearly, however, the additional resources will be targeted at the areas of greatest need, as is envisaged in the programme for Government. The programme identifies, in particular, areas with a significant drugs problem and a large number of public order offences, but it will be possible to address other priorities as well, such as the need to significantly increase the number of gardaí allocated to traffic duties. I have promised that the additional gardaí will not be assigned to administrative duties. They will be put directly into front line, operational, high-visibility policing where they will have a real impact.
I do not know if the Minister's reply will be regarded as having much joy for the people of Pettigo. I wonder whether the Minister is familiar with Pettigo and its location and whether he has ever been there. Will he agree it is a unique village? It is situated on the Border, almost straddling the Border. One is in the South when one is on one side of the street in Pettigo and in the North when one is on the other side. This means the village is vulnerable and open to constant intrusions from across the Border.
Is the Minister aware there has been a spate of acts of criminality in Pettigo in recent months? Ten or 12 robberies have taken place in which houses were entered and goods stolen which were never recovered. The local credit union has been broken into twice. The safe was taken away on one occasion and the contents have never been recovered. Is the Minister aware that as recently as last July or August, the Garda patrol car was burned to a cinder outside the Garda station in Pettigo and, to my knowledge, no one has been apprehended for that crime? The Garda station was almost burned down and the guttering was burned to a cinder. These are all very serious incidents. Is the Minister happy with the level of Garda activity in Pettigo in view of the litany I have outlined? Is he aware that there is constant toing and froing between Pettigo and Northern Ireland? Kesh in Northern Ireland is four miles from Pettigo and the PSNI station there is open one hour a day. Will the Minister agree that something must be done to prevent these acts of vandalism, which resulted in a mass meeting in Pettigo about a fortnight ago? If we cannot have more gardaí in Pettigo, there should at least be more co-operation between them and the people on the other side to stop these continual acts of vandalism that will result in Pettigo becoming the El Paso of the north west.
I am grateful to the Deputy for bringing these incidents to my attention. If the Deputy had outlined them in the context of putting down his question I would have been in a position to respond to them. The Deputy can rest assured that I will bring everything he has said on the record of the House to the attention of the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána for his decision.
I thank the Minister for that. I regret he did not know about these activities before I brought them to his attention today. I cast no reflection on the three members stationed in Pettigo. They cannot be there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That would be impossible. I listened to the Minister on the monitor in my office talk earlier about what happened in years gone by and what we did and did not do. When we were in power, there were many gardaí in Pettigo. The number is down to the bare minimum now. The Minister has promised 2,000 gardaí. I want to hear that Donegal and Pettigo will get their fair share of what becomes available, and the sooner the better.
