O’Brien seeks meeting with Garda Commissioner to discuss crime in Fingal

Local Fianna Fáil TD, Darragh O’Brien has written to the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris this week to seek an urgent meeting regarding crime and policing in North County Dublin.
Deputy O’Brien commented, “There are currently 20% less Gardaí policing our streets in Fingal as there were eight years ago. That’s a substantial cut and one that continues to cause fear and frustration among locals.
“Cllr Eoghan O'Brien and I have held a number of public meetings on crime and policing in our locality over the past number of years and despite calls for measures to be put in place the rise in crime has been allowed continue.
“The thugs that are a threat to communities in the North County are all too well aware that there are barely enough Garda resources to police streets let alone housing estates or more rural roads. There’s just about the capacity to respond to emergency calls and Gardaí are doing their best to deter crime but it’s a virtually impossible task.
“We are no closer to Rush Garda Station being back up and running and the station in Malahide continues to operate on limited hours.  Other sizable towns in the county such as Swords, Portmarnock and Kinsealy are without any Garda resources whatsoever. In this day and age that’s very difficult for residents to accept that given they don’t feel fully protected.
“It’s as though those in Government are unwilling to recognise the facts. So long as it fails to acknowledge the impact of reduced Garda resources, serious assaults, burglaries and attacks on farmers will continue in our region. People have had enough of feeling unsafe or unprotected and that’s something that I will be conveying to the Commissioner.
“In order to restore the public’s confidence in An Garda Síochána, they will need to see some major effort being made to increase the presence of Gardaí. The re-opening of Rush Garda Station is paramount and its closure has gone on too long, “concluded Deputy O’Brien.