Kilkenny community 'in fear' over spate of assaults and intimidation, Louth TD says

A Kilkenny community is living in fear after a spate of robberies and assaults, according to a TD from County Louth.

Fine Gael’s Paula Buttimer was speaking in the Dáil on the topic of rural crime following a recent visit to Kilkenny. She said there was a problem in the community as a result of people being intimidated, and a lack of prosecutions as a result.

Deputy Buttimer welcomed the increased budget for the gardaí but said there were not enough recruits, particularly with regard to rural crime.

“That remains a primary concern of mine. It is not just a concern in County Louth,” she said. “It is a concern I hear from farmers in rural communities across Ireland. I was recently in County Kilkenny where I heard about a person who has been robbed a number of times and has been subjected to a number of assaults.

“As a result there has been a spate of similar incidents in his community. The problem there is that the intimidation, and the inability to be able to gather the appropriate evidence to prosecute, have that community in fear.”
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The Fine Gael TD said garda visibility is a huge deterrent that is ‘equally important on the dark country roads as it is on the brightly lit streets’ of the towns.

“I am concerned that we are not investing enough money,” she said. “We are investing money, but not enough to have the literal boots on the ground. I will start with that.”

Responding, Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan said: "The Government has allocated sufficient funding to recruit 1,000 new gardaí each year so the money is not the issue. As I said to the Chair earlier, the numbers coming into Templemore are increasing noticeably, so I am hopeful that we are getting more numbers coming out. The Government's policy and my policy is to have high-visibility policing in our communities."
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He said the plan was to give a good chunk of the gardaí who come out of Templemore every time new gardaí pass out to a certain area.

"There is a plan in place to ensure all communities will get more gardaí," he said.

"It is obviously more challenging to achieve high-visibility policing in a rural area than it is in a town or a city. That is just obviously the case. However, the way we reflect high-visibility policing in rural areas is by having the Garda station preserved there and having gardaí out on patrol in the main towns and villages. Once we get more numbers in, we will see greater Garda visibility.

"Already, we are seeing increased numbers of gardaí visible on our streets around the country. A lot of people have said that to me in the different communities I go to."