Members of the public in the Dunboyne area are being called upon to attend a meeting of the joint Policing Committee on Thursday October 13th next at 7pm in The Venue Theatre, Ratoath to voice their concerns over Garda operations in the area.
The call, from Fianna Fáil Councillor Damien O’ Reilly, comes after it emerged that the public desk at Dunboyne Garda station has closed for the foreseeable future leading to fears that the village and its many housing estates will become vulnerable to thieves from outside the area.
Speaking to Meath Live, Councillor O’Reilly said, “we now have a situation whereby if people living in Dunboyne want to speak to a Garda in person for whatever reason, they will have to travel to Ashbourne.
“If people need forms filled in for passport applications, they will also have to go to Ashbourne. It’s ridiculous for a place like Dunboyne that has a population of around 12,000 people.
“The current situation is totally unacceptable. I’m calling on all concerned householders in the wider Dunboyne area to attend next week’s meeting where they can voice their disapproval of what’s going on.”
The call comes as a growing number of locals in the Dunboyne area have voiced their anger at the downgrading of the station.
On Saturday October 1st last, a Mary Weir wrote on the Dunboyne Notice Board, stating “No Garda resource to man Dunboyne Garda Station public counter.
“No answer to phone call regarding traffic incident but no issue with a Garda car and Garda manning a cycle event this morning and keeping us sitting on the road for over 10 mins on way to Navan.”
According to Cllr. Damien O’Reilly, “there appears to be a staffing issue within An Garda Siochána.
“The Force doesn’t seem to have enough staff so one thing we will be calling on the Minister for Justice and local TD Helen McEntee to do is to look closely at the situation in Dunboyne.
“That is why we need as many people as possible to attend next week’s meeting and make their feelings known.”
Queries to Garda Press and the Department of Justice had not been replied to at time of publication.
