This article is from page 12 of the 2006-05-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
RESIDENTS in Miltown Malbay have pledged to step up their to fight for the allocation of extra gardaí in the town.
A local petition calling for more gardaí is being circulated and will be sent to Justice Minister, Michael McDowell. To date, more than 150 people have signed their names to the document. One of those behind the drive, Joe Ryan, said the campaign would not end until some progress was made.
“We will wait and see what developments happen and see how we go from there,” he told The Clare People .
A meeting on the issue earlier this month secured cross-party support for the deployment of extra Garda resources for the town.
Meanwhile, independent TD James Breen said the issue must be addressed, as a matter of urgency.
He said the influx of people visiting the town for the Willie Clancy Summer School must prompt immediate action.
“There is an obligation to have the festival properly policed,” he said.
Minister McDowell told the Dáil last week the deployment of gardaí was a matter for Garda management, under the current law.
He was responding to a question from Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen, who said it was incumbent on the Minister to allocate extra resources to rural areas.
Deputy Breen said he was far from happy with the response.
“It doesn’t answer the question. Having two gardaí in Miltown in this day and age is ridiculous. People are living in fear,” he said.
He said that there was a need for an adequate traffic control system for Miltown Malbay.
“The Minister has to get real to what is happening out there,” said the Fine Gael deputy.