Salthill Gardai lose four of their cars in three months

Date Published: 08-Mar-2013

 COMMUNITY groups in Salthill and Knocknacarra were shocked to discover this week that four Garda patrol cars have been lost to the area since last November.

It has been claimed that this is further evidence of an erosion of policing in the general Salthill area as there is speculation that the station there will be downgraded in the future.

The Salthill station, which covers an area stretching to Carraroe, has been reduced to having just two cars at its disposal.

The resources there are stretched to such an extent that they had to call in assistance from Mill Street Garda Station when a road traffic accident occurred in Salthill last Saturday.

Local councillor Donal Lyons said that he had been informed by Garda authorities that four cars attached to Salthill station had been decommissioned over the past three months because they had exceeded the allowable mileage on the clocks.

He said that it was unacceptable that these vehicles had not been replaced when Salthill Garda Station covered an area with an estimated population of around 30,000 people.

Cllr Lyons said that half of this population lived in Salthill and Knocknacarra – equivalent to the size of Sligo town – and two cars could not cover such an area.

“Last Saturday a car had to be requested from Mill Street to respond to a road traffic accident in Salthill. This is just one example of how the Garda resources in Salthill have been eroded,” he said.

There is intense speculation that the process of downgrading Salthill Garda Station is expected to commence during 2013 which will ultimately result in less Gardaí covering the area.

Sources within the Department of Justice have said that as part of a major rationalisation plan, Salthill Garda Station will be downgraded from a district headquarters and will no longer be open 24 hours a day.

And there is every possibility of the district headquarters at both Salthill and Clifden being merged into one and a possible base in Carraroe being created.

While the Department source said that round the clock cover would be provided in Salthill and Knocknacarra through mobile patrols, the number of Gardaí attached to the station would be dramatically reduced and it would only be open for a set number of hours during the day.

But Cllr Lyons argues that the frequency of mobile patrols will be reduced dramatically because of the loss of the Garda cars.

Back in the mid-Nineties Salthill had a sizeable Garda Station with 28 members attached and then it was upgraded to a district headquarters and now covers sub-districts like Oughterard, Spiddal, Inverin, Carraroe, Lettermore, Rosmuc, Moycullen and Kilronan. The number of Gardaí attached to the station more than doubled at the time.