Calls for action in rural Carlow communities amid anti-social behaviour concerns

Calls for action have been made in rural communities in Co Carlow amid concerns over anti-social behaviour.

The issue was raised by Carlow-Kilkenny Fine Gael TD Catherine Callaghan during a recent meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.

Deputy Callaghan was addressing the new Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, who was in attendance at the meeting.

Deputy Callaghan said: “Also discussed at that meeting in Myshall was that every local or rural community would love to have a community garda in the Garda station all the time.

“An alternative to that to ensure that people feel connected to their garda, even if they never need to call An Garda Síochána, would be to know that if they need to call An Garda Síochána, An Garda Síochána will be there for them.”

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She continued by calling for the roll out of the ‘See Something, Say Something’ initiative, both in Carlow and nationwide.

“The programme for Government contains a commitment to roll out the ‘See Something, Say Something’ initiative.

“When I spoke to the community in Myshall, it was something they were very heartened to hear.

“It is something we would definitely love to see rolled out across Carlow because it would keep that connection there.”

Deputy Callaghan went on to outline why she believes the initiative would make a difference in the county.

She continued: “An Garda Síochána in Carlow is very good at coming to people's aid, but its numbers are stretched. It can only cover what it can cover.

“That kind of initiative would be useful, particularly for the confidential reporting of antisocial behaviour.

“People living on their own in a rural community do not really want to be putting their hands up or speaking out.

“Having that confidential pathway to be able to record antisocial behaviour in the community would be wonderful because everybody knows everybody in a rural community.”

In response to Deputy Callaghan, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said that rural crime is something he will look to pay particular attention to.

Commissioner Kelly stated: “The deputy raised an issue with community gardaí and she identified the problem with it for us, which is the competing demands for numbers.

“Our problem is that everybody wants gardaí, so it is for us to manage those competing demands.”

He went on to highlight the gardaí’s policy of “high visibility policing”, which has been particularly prominent in urban centres.

“In regard to the high visibility policing that was mentioned by the previous deputy, we intend to roll that out all across the country.

“This is something we will see in all the urban centres. For example, in the deputy's area of Carlow, that will be coming there as well.

“The way I would see this over the coming months and years is that all of those town centres, urban centres and cities will have full-time uniform people.

“We will see yellow jackets there on Friday and Saturday night and during the high peaks. That is what has worked really well for us here in Dublin and it has gone down really well.”

Commissioner Kelly asked for the Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Shawna Coxton, to address the roll-out of the ‘See Something, Say Something’ initiative.

Dr. Coxton said: “I know it is contained in the Programme for Government and that it comes from a rural area, so it is locally designed and we are looking at how to roll it out.

“I do not have a timeline for the deputy. I am happy to get more feedback and send it back to the deputy but it is fairly straightforward.

“I know how it works, and the deputy has described it a bit, that it is an opportunity to anonymously provide information and have local gardaí deal with it.

“It is something we are working towards. It is very successful and has won awards where it began, so the deputy should stay tuned for that.

“If she wants more information, I am happy to provide it,” she concluded.

The ‘See Something, Say Something’ initiative is a free, anonymous text-messaging system run by An Garda Síochána that allows the public to report suspicious activity or anti-social behavior in their local area.

It was first piloted in Tralee and has since been rolled out in other areas like Swords and parts of Co Kerry.

To report an incident, members of the public can text a brief description of the activity and its location to a specific short code number, which is then received and acted upon by the local Garda station.