'There simply aren't enough stationed locally': Calls for increased garda presence in Cork town

COUNCILLORS in Crosshaven and Carrigaline have repeated calls for an increased garda presence on the ground amid concerns of rising antisocial behaviour.

The call to action follows an alleged incident in Crosshaven at the weekend — with one councillor describing how she had to dial 999 for assistance when she couldn’t reach local gardaí.

Fianna Fáil’s Audrey Buckley, chair of the Carrigaline area municipal district, had spoken on social media about an alleged incident in Crosshaven on Saturday night.

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said that “Gardaí are investigating an alleged incident that occurred in Crosshaven, Co. Cork, on Saturday, September 9, 2023”.

Speaking to The Echo, Ms Buckley said that due to July and August being record-breaking wet months, Crosshaven had been unseasonably quiet during those months, but the past week or so had seen a very noticeable increase in numbers visiting the area.

That increase in visitors had led to a spike in antisocial behaviour in the area in recent days, she claimed.

Ms Buckley said that a friend of hers had contacted her in a distressed state on Saturday night at the time of the alleged incident in Crosshaven, and had told her she had been unable to get a reply from Togher Garda Station, which has responsibility for policing the Carrigaline and Crosshaven areas.

“I tried to ring the guards in Togher and it just kept ringing, and in the end I had to call 999. I didn’t want to call 999, but — there was nothing else I could do,” she said.

Ms Buckley said she would be raising the issue of community policing at last night’s meeting of the Carrigaline community policing forum.

“We don’t have guards walking the streets like we did when we were younger, and we in Crosshaven, I know, would like to see community policing in the Garda station in Crosshaven.”

Lack of visibility 

Independent councillor Marcia D’Alton said a lack of garda visibility was a serious issue across the municipal district, including in Passage West, where she lives.

“I don’t want to be unfair to the gardaí, because they’re doing their best, but there simply aren’t enough of them stationed locally to have that visibility,” said Ms D’Alton.

“We want to see gardaí on the beat, that’s what we were promised under the community policing model, and it’s not happening.”

Independent councillor Ben Dalton O’Sullivan said one of his first motions upon his election in 2019 had called for the Garda station in Carrigaline to be open and for the area to be adequately policed.

“The Garda station should be open, with full-time hours, that members of the community can call in and raise any concerns they might have with members of An Gardaí,” he said.

'Not acceptable' 

Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath echoed his colleagues’ concerns.

“It is not acceptable in built-up areas such as Carrigaline, Crosshaven, Passage West, Ringaskiddy and others, suburbs of the city effectively, that the cover is so, so stretched on busy weekends,” said Mr McGrath.

He said that he had also planned to raise the matter at last night’s meeting of the Carrigaline community policing forum.

“It’s just all about resources on the ground. I appreciate that there is a recruitment campaign underway, I appreciate that there are challenges with that, but at the same time I think we all have to fight for our own areas and I think that the areas that we represent just don’t see the presence on the ground that they should see.”

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