Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 15 Nov 1990

Vol. 402 No. 7

Adjournment Debate. - Lifford (Donegal) Garda Deployment.

Mr. Harte

I believe the Government are slightly blind to the need for a permanent Garda-military checkpoint at Lifford Bridge. I am a native of Lifford and I know what happens there. It is as easy as taking a lollipop from a child for any group of people, whether IRA super-Republicans or hooligans, to hijack a vehicle in Lifford which they leave on the bridge. It can be done any day of the week at any hour of the day, particularly when the bush telegraph relates where the Garda patrol car is. One remembers what happened further down the river at Cushquin between Derry and Buncrana last weekend and the same thing can happen at Lifford any day. A car can be hijacked and left at the military checkpoint at Strabane and kill human beings, whether they are wearing British Army uniforms or not. It does not really matter.

There used to be an Army-Garda checkpoint at Lifford Bridge but during the February election of 1982 Deputy Blaney, for reasons better known to himself, made it a condition in that campaign that if the Fianna Fáil Party got into power and needed his vote then the checkpoint would have to be shifted. There was no secret about that. It was said from every platform on which Deputy Blaney spoke. When the Taoiseach formed the Government in 1982 he needed that support and the checkpoint was shifted, the argument being put forward was that a roving patrol car would be just as effective. This has proved not to be the case. Three miles up the river there is a constant Garda checkpoint at Clady Bridge, but the amount of traffic crossing there is infinitesimal compared with that crossing the bridge at Lifford.

I am speaking with the unanimous voice of the people of Lifford, people of all parties and all shades of opinion, when I say to the Minister that he must put a Garda checkpoint at Lifford Bridge to stop the kind of carry on which can be repeated any day of the week. I am asking the Minister to forget other considerations and to put a permanent Garda checkpoint there with a back-up military presence. It does not have to be a fortress like that on the other side of the bridge. It just means that there is someone there to stop hoodlums from leaving a vehicle on the bridge, putting it across the bridge to the other side, or putting it into the military checkpoint at the Camel's Hump in Strabane. It is as easy as kissing one's hand for people to do that, to walk undisturbed without giving any account of what they are doing and go back into the Republic across the bridge.

There is no argument whatsoever to be advanced by the Minister for not doing what I am requesting. There are no politics in this. This is the voice of the people of Lifford saying to me: "Would you please put pressure on the Government; please argue strongly; please ask the Minister for Justice to concede to our request; we have lost count of the number of times vehicles have been hijacked in Lifford and left on Lifford Bridge." It causes so much inconvenience to ordinary people, people who live on one side of the Border and work on the other, who have to make a detour over Clady, down over the Craigavaon Bridge in Derry or, alternatively, not go to work at all. It prevents pedestrians from using the bridge. Above all, I might say that within 100 yards of the bridge, across a garden there is a district hospital which now caters for the elderly more than the sick and infirm. The elderly are being catered for in Lifford Hospital. When this type of occurrence happens — whether it be a real bomb or a decoy — attention focuses on the nursing and domestic staff and, above all, on the patients. To say the least it is criminal to allow this continue.

I am pleading with the Minister to do as I request. I know that were I in Government and had the authority he has I would not hesitate for one moment to have a constant Garda checkpoint at Lifford Bridge backed up by a military presence which is the only way the nonsense going on there at present can be stopped.

Minister for Justice (Mr. Burke)

I have listened with interest to what the Deputy has said and appreciate the reasons for his concern. However, I must emphasise that the deployment of Garda resources in any given situation is not a matter for me, as Minister for Justice, but one for the Garda authorities acting on the basis of their professional judgment and expertise and depending on the particular circumstances of any given situation. I agree with the Deputy there are no politics in it. It is a matter for the professional judgment of the Garda.

The Deputy is quite entitled, if he so wishes, to convey his views to the Garda Commissioner and make representations along the lines he has outlined here today. I invite him to do so. Having said that, I would like to inform him that he is more than likely to receive the same response I received when I consulted the Garda authorities generally about the use of permanent checkpoints, that is that the Garda have long been of the view that there is a better way of using scarce Garda resources.

The Garda viewpoint — based on their professional judgment and expertise in this area — is that permanent vehicle checkpoints make heavy demands on Garda resources and reduce overall mobility and flexibility, From a policing perspective, a system of intensive patrolling with snap checkpoints, for example, is considered to be a more effective and efficient method of using the same resources. This is generally the accepted professional view on an international level. Snap checkpoints and patrols present subversives with an unknown factor and are more likely to inhibit their plans and movements.

A permanent vehicle checkpoint requires a considerable manpower allocation and therefore is extremely demanding. It also has the major disadvantage of signposting the location of Garda and Army personnel at any given time and provides subversives with the knowledge of when and where they can by-pass security checks. Experience has shown that, where permanent checkpoints have existed in the past, subversives have simply travelled another route or used the information concerning the location of the checkpoint to carry out their deeds in some other nearby location.

In addition, a permanent checkpoint exposes those manning the checkpoint to a certain amount of risk. Recent tragic incidents on the northern side serve only too well to remind us of that. Therefore, the reality is that, in general, such checkpoints are a disadvantage in policing terms as well as being perceived by the local populace as introducing a type of policing that is not standard and which is not generally experienced in a normal society. I should also say that where such permanent checkpoints have existed in the past they have tended to result in complaints from the local population who find themselves inconvenienced due to delays and checks being made by the personnel manning such checkpoints. This can lead to a circumstances in which hostility can be generated in those who see such checkpoints as a nuisance. As the Deputy will appreciate, such a development can be counter-productive in local policing terms.

I accept that in some instances there can be very particular circumstances that permanent checkpoints may be considered necessary to deal with specific situations, but I am advised by the Garda that such circumstances do not exist with regard to Lifford Bridge.

The Government are committed to ensuring that the Garda have the necessary resources to enable them prevent the type of occurrence which took place on Lifford Bridge in October where possible and, where such incidents do occur, we are committed to ensuring that as much co-operation as possible will be afforded to their counterparts north of the Border to enable the devices to be tackled.

I know that the House will join me in condemning those who engage in these activities and in giving our full support to the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces in dealing with them. In conclusion, I might say to the Deputy that it is strictly a matter of the best police professional advice in relation to the use of resources to their maximum for the protection and benefit of the community to which we resort.

Mr. Harte

May I ask two questions? First, does the Minister expect me to believe that nonsense? Second, will he carry the can if there is retaliation in Lifford by a Loyalist group?

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I am afraid there are no supplementary questions allowed on the Adjournment.

I call now on Deputy De Rossa. As he is an experienced Deputy I do not have to remind him that, not unrelated to the subject matter of his question, there are some court cases pending.