Call on Taoiseach to tackle crime in Mayo ahead of visit to county

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has been called on to increase garda numbers and tackle crime in Mayo ahead of his visit to the county later this week.

Paul Lawless, Peace Commissioner for the Claremorris area and Aontú representative for Mayo, said the Claremorris garda district is massively overstretched, covering a region from Cong to Claremorris.

“The Claremorris station is the only full time garda station in east and south Mayo. This is a huge geographical area and we have left it exposed with just one full-time garda station,” he explained in calling for the Taoiseach to deliver action on crime.

“Minister for Justice Helen McEntee recently announced more resources and gardai for Dublin in response to the recent attacks on the streets of the capital and the US Embassy warnings to its citizens visiting Dublin. However, this is not just a Dublin problem, it is also a problem here in Mayo.

“Assaults, burglaries, thefts, public order offences, sexual assaults and drug crime have grown to worrying levels in Mayo in recent times. It is good to see an increase in gardai in Dublin, but what does it take to increase the numbers in Mayo?”

Mr. Lawless continued: “Drug crime and drug intimidation is on a sharp rise and it is shameful that the government is not giving more resources to the garda drug unit in Co. Mayo. We need a radical rethink in how we approach crime in the county and this country and we must start by giving the gardaí the numbers and resources they need to do their job they are skilled at doing to the best of their ability.

“Successive governments are happy to overwhelm gardai, just as they do with medical staff in the health sector, and the time to shout stop has long passed.

“I spoke with a garda in south Mayo recently who told me that they don't have the resources to deal with the lesser problems in the area. They don't have time to go after lower level drug activity in the area due to resourcing.”

Said Mr. Lawless: “I am calling on Leo Varadkar to provide Co. Mayo with the garda numbers we need. We need more garda districts brought back in Co. Mayo and that means more gardaí, more fulltime garda stations and indeed more stations.

“We cannot afford to neglect public safety and protection. We cannot afford to wait for the next large-scale tragedy for the government to perform the next knee jerk response.

“We need action now. The public cannot wait and the gardai cannot cannot wait either.”