Labour Party T.D. for Kildare South, Jack Wall T.D., has called on the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner to urgently consider the place of Community Gardai in his Constituency of Kildare South as they draw up the guidelines for the new Kildare Garda Division. This follows the further receipt of information from the Minister of Justice that shows, despite the fact that 215 extra Community Gardai have been allocated to Community Policing since previous replies received in February 2007, Kildare South still has no Community Police Officers and in fact the entire county of Kildare has 2 less officers than in the previous reply.
"When you consider that in total, there are 697 Community Gardai in the country, it is a poor reflection on the 4th largest County in Ireland that we have only 4."
Deputy Wall went on to say that “If we are to be serious about tackling Anti Social Behaviour and the growing threat of drugs within our Communities then we need Community Gardai in Kildare South. We need to see Gardai back in our Communities, patrolling our streets and roads, developing relationships with our various Community groups, tackling crime with the help of the Communities that they are based in. The reply states that the most recent report from the Garda Commissioner states that community policing is a fundamental policing philosophy and that there is a strong foundation for it in Ireland, there is no doubt that such a foundation exists and the foundation in Kildare South is now waiting for the Officers to complete the building.”