Garda Stations and Planning:
The normal planning application process is not used for new Garda Stations.  The Office of Public Works (OPW)  who have responsibility for sourcing sites,  designing,  planning and building new stations go  through a consultation process to which the public can make submissions;  unlike the normal planning process there is no right to appeal. Initially the communications mast was located at the rear of the building but was moved to the side of the building following submissions made  during that process.The size and prominence of the Mast has taken many by surprise.

Continue reading New Leixlip Garda Station & Mast! September 27, 2008 05:23 PM |

• Garda Contact Details
• News, Statements and Dáil Questions
• Links

This section of the site is still under construction and so information will continue to be added in the coming months.  If you have any questions in the meantime please don't hesitate to contact me. c

Contact Details for Your local Garda Station

• Carlow-Kildare Garda Division
• Dublin Metropolitan Area - (Serves Leixlip)
• Louth-Meath Garda Division - (Serve Kilcock & Enfield)
• All Other Garda Divisions

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News, Statements and Dáil Questions

News

31/01/07 Minister Abandons Domestic Violence Agency

22/01/07 Leixlip Garda Station Update

07/11/06 Rapid Population Increase Factored Into Garda Deployment

17/10/06 Kildare Gardai Tackle Twice Workload of Others

18/08/06 Illegal Dumping at Kilcock Canoe Club

13/04/06 Allow Gardai Do The Job They Were Hired For

30/03/06 1 Year On & Missing Persons Helpline Still Missing

27/03/06 Burglaries & Thefts - 2005 Figures

30/01/06 Missing Persons No's Up 250% From 1996 to 2004

17/11/05 Gardai Meant For Drugs Duties Direct Traffic Instead

Dáil Questions

24/10/06 On 24 hour Stations in Leixlip, Celbridge & Maynooth

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 Links

• An Garda Síochána
• Womens Aid - Services for Female victims of violence
• Amen - Services for Male victims of violence
• Rape Crisis Centres
• Barnardos - On Domestic Violence and Childhood
• Childline
• Four in Once

More links will be added in time, however if you know of a particular site that may be relevant to this section please don't hesitate to send it to me so that it can be posted here.

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Press Release, 7th November 2006

Minister for Justice, Mr. Michael McDowell today in the Dáil informed Catherine Murphy, TD that the Garda Commissioner will consider her constituency of North Kildare for the deployment of additional resources due to the significant increase in population experienced in recent years.   The Minister stated “Population growth in the Deputy's constituency has been considerable in recent times and therefore the Commissioner is paying particular attention to such areas.  It is in such areas that the proportion of gardaí to residents has declined most.”   

“It’s vitally important that the Gardaí we have are deployed and employed in the most effective manner possible, I’ve always said that the civilianisation of certain roles within the force would help to return many of our Gardaí to non-desk based duties and increase the effectiveness of the force in general, and so I’d be encouraging the Minister to take this stance on the development of the force so that communities in rapidly growing areas like North Kildare get the level of service they need.” - Murphy

Murphy has welcomed this official acknowledgement from the Minister of significant problems arising in her constituency due to the under resourcing of the Gardaí.  She also indicated that she will continue to pursue the deployment of additional Garda resources to Kildare until they reach acceptable levels.

During the Dáil Debate Murphy highlighted that Gardaí face an uphill battle responding to instances of damage to public property and public order issues so much so that they do not even have the resources to record incidents to which they are called unless arrests are made.  As a result, she indicated that many residents in her constituency are becoming disillusioned with the function of reporting such crimes.

The Minister’s response directly preceded the release of two reports commissioned by the Garda Inspectorate, headed up by former Boston Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole and policing expert Senator Maurice Hayes, in which the increased civilianisation of certain functions within the force is recommended.

Press Release, 31st January 2007

Catherine Murphy, TD has today during the first Dáil session of 2007 question the commitment of Minister for Justice, Mr Michael McDowell to ensuring justice for the vulnerable and will call for a full Dáil debate on what she terms “appalling failures” on the part of the Minister.  Murphy’s comments relate to funding problems highlighted by the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency who may have to withdraw its services due to a lack of commitment to ongoing funding by the Minister.  She requested the adjournment of the Dáil to discuss:

“The questionable commitment of the Minister for Justice to justice for vulnerable members of Irish society in light of today’s near withdrawal of services by the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency. Minister McDowell set the precedent of abandoning vital services when funding for the Missing Persons Helpline was withdrawn in 2005 and he is repeating this injustice with his failure to commit to long term funding for the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency. A full debate regarding the current Minister’s ability to deliver justice to the vulnerable must take place in light of these appalling failures.”

Murphy, in highlighting the apparent unwillingness of Minister McDowell to fund vital services for victims and their families, has stated “The Missing Persons Helpline and the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency provided similar services to the vulnerable in that they offered confidential and non-partisan support for those in crisis and both are desperately needed by those who so often are forced to suffer in silence.  The fact that this keeps happening highlights a problem in the way we fund victim support services, why should one Minister with an apparent grudge against the vulnerable have the power to undermine vital services so readily?  We must put a framework in place so that the funding of victim support services is transparent, consistent and reasonable.”

Information Update, 22nd January 2007

I spoke with the Office of Public works today to seek an update on the construction of the Leixlip Garda Station and the position as of today is as follows: 

The contract has been awarded to a Cork based construction company called Sarasons.    They are currently making arrangements to take over the site and arranging their programme of work and are expected on site at the end of January.  

The time-frame for completion of the project is 18 months so if construction does commence as scheduled at the end of January 2007 we can expect the see the work completed in July of 2008.

Watch this space for further updates.

17th October 2006, Press Release

The Garda Division of Carlow / Kildare contains only 5 24 hour Garda Stations catering to the needs of just over 236,000 people, an average 47,309 people per station. However Cavan / Monaghan and Sligo / Leitrim Divisions combined, also with a total of 10 24 hour stations, cater to a total of just over 209,000 people, or an average of approximately 20,900 people. Catherine Murphy, TD (Ind) has today strongly criticized the failure of the Department of Justice to ensure an even distribution of Garda Resources among Garda Divisions as "unorganized, unequal, and unstructured".

Continue reading Carlow / Kildare Gardai Deal With Twice The Workload of Other Divisions October 17, 2006 02:49 PM |

28th August 2006, Press Release

Catherine Murphy, TD has today revealed a letter received from Kildare County Council citing that "the Council share the communities annoyance" at the ongoing illegal dumping that has been occurring at the Kilcock Canoe and Polo Club. Murphy, who has received several complaints regarding this issue, stated that there has been a significant increase in the number of people using the canal-side site as "an ad-hoc pub" leaving behind them a trail of empty drinks containers and other rubbish. "This behavior is wholly unacceptable and although the Council has taken some measures to tackle the problem the most important thing is for bye laws to be enacted to prohibit it, which would hopefully deter the continuance of such activities" – Murphy.

Continue reading Illegal Dumping & Littering At Canoe Club Causing “Annoyance” To Council & Community Alike August 28, 2006 02:34 PM |

13th April 2006, Press Release

Deputy Catherine Murphy (Ind) has demanded that Minister Michael McDowell stop constraining the Gardai and allow them to do the job they were hired for. Her comments came in relation to the proposed Garda reserve which many fear will become a hindrance to the Gardai on the street; the introduction of ASBO’s which it is thought will significantly increase the administrative workload of Gardai, and the low level commitment by Government to increase the number of civilian positions in order to free up members of the Gardai for policing duties. "It’s outrageous that on one hand the Minister talks about clamping down on crime and on the other strong-arms the introduction of measures that actively remove Gardai from the street to desks" – Murphy

Continue reading McDowell Forcing Gardai To Become Paper Pushing Baby-Sitters, Says TD April 13, 2006 02:44 PM |

30th March 2006, Press Release

Deputy Catherine Murphy speaking on the anniversary of the withdrawal of the Missing Persons Helpline has criticised the Minister for Justice Equality & Law Reform for being selective about the evaluation of its use. Stating that there were just 100 calls to the Missing Persons Helpline for the year 2002-2003 he failed to provide the justification for its continued use contained in the same report and the reasons for the number of calls. This had the effect of giving the impression that the Helpline was of limited value. He has himself in the recent past been critical of selective use of statistics yet he is guilty of the same charge himself.

The report "Evaluation of the National Missing Persons’ Helpline Oct 02-Oct 03" written by Kevin Lalor, PhD & Kalis Pope MSc, Dept Social Sciences, DIT (Dec03) made 12 recommendations:

The aspect of this report focused on by the Minister was the level of calls made clearly not only is the Helpline seen as valuable but the recommendations also seek to increase it use and expand the range and quality of services to families that find themselves in this appalling situation. The Minister must without any further delay restore this essential service.

ENDS

Several people had contacted me late last year following a spate of burglaries, I tabled a parliamentary question, the reply I got was the information was not readily available but when it was the Minister would forward it to me.

While the table of figures are important to see the rate of such crimes in the area clearly don’t and cannot show the level of upset that is caused by those crimes. The loss of a sense of safety and the invasion into a persons home has long term consequences for many. It is important therefore that policing is done in a proactive rather than a reactive way i.e. crime prevention rather than detection wins every time and that requires Gardai on the ground.

The 26% increase in Garda Numbers between 1997 and 2006 as highlighted in the Ministers Reply is likely to be lagging behind the population increase. (The population of County Kildare grew by 21% between 1996 and 2002 with most of the North Kildare towns growing substantially above that figure). While the increase is welcome it is in reality about standing still. "Given the growth for example in Kilcock the number of Gardai are clearly not sufficient."

With a new census of population due to be taken at the end of April I fully expect the preliminary figures which will be published in the Summer to show a substantial increase in the population of Kildare. I will be seeking further increases in Garda strength to reflect that change.

Continue reading Burglaries & Theft Figures 2005 March 27, 2006 02:52 PM |

30th January 2006, Press Release


The number of people reported missing to Gardai grew from 1444 in 1996 to 5050 in 2004, which equates to an increase of 250%. Referring to the statistics provided to her by the Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform as “shocking” and “graphic”, Deputy Catherine Murphy (Ind) has highlighted the urgent need for a 24hr Missing Person’s Helpline to be established in replacement of the one whose funding was withdrawn by Minister McDowell in March 2005. “Its extremely worrying that such a huge rise in the numbers of missing persons has occurred but instead of tackling this escalating problem the Government is withdrawing funds from services designed to assist missing people and their families.” – Murphy.

The number of people who remained untraced out of the 1848 reported missing in 1997 was 3, however this figure is starkly contrasted with the 72 who remained untraced at the end of 2005, 4319 had initially been reported missing during this year. During the period in which the Missing Person’s Helpline had been in operation, 2002 - March 2005, the amount of people left untraced, relative to the total number of persons reported missing, at the end of each year show a reducing trend, the years between the establishment of the Missing Person’s Helpline in 2002 the percentage of people initially reported missing who remained untraced at the end of each year reduced from 2.4% in 2002, to 1.5% in 2003, and again down in 2004 to 0.85%, this was the lowest figure since 1999 (0.83%). Worryingly, this trend in the reduction of the numbers who remained untraced at the end of each year was broken last year coinciding with the closing of the Missing Person’s Helpline on 31st March 2005.


"The facts speak for themselves” stated Murphy, “there’s a significant increase in the numbers of people being reported missing and instead of tackling this issue the Government is withdrawing what little support it gives to organisations such as victim support. This is unacceptable." ENDS


(Source: Minister for Justice, Equality, & Law Reform – Written Answer 132 & 133, 26th January 2006)

17th November 2005, Press Release

Deputy Catherine Murphy has criticised the governments approach to the setting up of the now one-year old Garda Traffic Corps. Although fully supportive of the establishment of the Corps due to what she has termed the “ongoing and consistently tragic” instances of road traffic accidents on Irish Roads, Murphy has criticised Minister Michael McDowell’s inclusion of the Corps within the overall planned increase of 2000 Gardaí in the coming years.

Continue reading Gardaí Intended to Tackle Drugs Problem Allocated To Traffic Duties Instead November 17, 2005 05:16 PM |