Gangs will rule as garda stations shut
WE've all seen them, usually in the West of Ireland.
The small country garda station, crumbling, with the intercom outside for the hours when there's no one there. Maybe with an old patrol car out front in the day, more a monument than a policing tool, and an old sergeant eating a Kit-Kat -- like the ad.
These stations haven't changed much since the days that writer John McGahern lived in one in Roscommon -- which he later used as the basis for the quiet, rural station in his novel The Barracks.
Many of these country stations are among 31 now set for closure. Some of them are so remote that you'll hardly notice when they go.
But whatever about these remote outposts, it is incredible that a number of stations in Dublin are to be closed or have their hours limited.
Large population centres like Santry, Donnybrook, Cabra and Terenure will shut down at night.
A building close to my own heart, my former station at Sundrive Road, will close from 10pm to 8am.
If that's the case they may as well hand over the keys to local thug 'Fat' Freddie Thompson, below. Because rest assured Mr Thompson's minions in the area will have a field day if the local station is shut at night.
The Garda Representative Association has pointed out that a number of the stations facing closure or reduced hours managed to survive Civil War attacks, 1950s austerity and The Troubles. A stroke of Alan Shatter's pen represents a greater foe than those adversaries, it appears.
The Minister for Justice needs to listen to the voice of reason on this. He cannot close down stations in busy urban areas -- a move that the Garda Commissioner should oppose tooth and nail.
Do so and you will pay a price.
But the price won't not be paid by the well-protected Minister, of course.
You and I will suffer.
