Reopening of Stepaside Garda Station is welcome but vital proper resources are made available – Richmond

Fine Gael Senator for Dublin Rathdown, Neale Richmond, has welcomed the announcement that Stepaside Garda Station is to reopen but has warned that proper resources need to be made available to ensure the station serves the local community.

“I spoke to the Tánaiste this morning after the Cabinet meeting and she informed me that Stepaside Garda Station is to reopen.

“This is an extremely welcome measure that will be greeted with relief by many in the local community.

“However, simply reopening the station building is not enough. I have stressed to the Tánaiste that proper resources need to be made available in light of this welcome news to reopen Stepaside Garda Station.

“The Station needs to be properly resourced with Garda personnel, Garda cars, other vehicles and equipment.

“Garda numbers in surrounding stations are still too low and the reopening must not further stretch the resources of stations such as Dundrum, Rathfarnham or Blackrock.

“I commend the Tánaiste for the investment put into the Gardaí in recent years. 800 new Gardaí are to be hired and trained in 2017 and a total of 3,200 new Gardaí will be recruited over the next four years.

“Since the launch of Operation Thor, burglary crimes have decreased significantly and there have been approximately 4,000 arrests connected to a range of offences.

“A sew round of community CCTV schemes are designed to combat rural crime and we are further investing in the Seniors Alert Scheme ich provides support for older people living alone.
We will also continue to support the Neighbourhood Watch and Text Alert Schemes to support and prioritise community crime prevention.

“We are investing €330 million, including €205 million under the capital plan, in Garda ICT infrastructure between 2016 and 2021.

“I will continue working to ensure Stepaside and surrounding areas benefit from this investment and in that regard it is extremely welcome that the Garda Station is to reopen.”