WHILE Kilrush town councillor Tom Prendeville accepts that are grave issues to be faced up to in Kilrush, he has told The Clare Champion that local people must take some responsibility and speak out. While keen to meet with senior Garda representatives to address current issues in the town, Councillor Prendeville said a public Joint Policing

Committee meeting held in July 2011 attracted no member of the local community.
“It was an open forum and you could come in and say what you wanted to. But not one member of the public attended that meeting. How do you interpret that? Is there indifference to what’s going on within the community?” he queried.
Councillor Prendeville doesn’t fully accept Kilrush people may be afraid to pass knowledge they may have on crime or drug-related issues, to local gardaí.
“I’m not so sure about that. Maybe there is an element of that but I would honestly say that if we are to sustain ourselves as a community, we need to be open and we need to express concerns. Whether you express those concerns at a public forum or whether you express them to your local public representative, that’s up to people’s own discretion,” he said.
“A lot of good work is carried out by the Joint Policing Committee and we have to say there has been a very positive communication train set in place, certainly between the elected members and the gardaí. We find that they were a great success but we did express concern at that meeting (July 2011) that there seemed to be an indifference to what was going on in the Joint Policing Committee from the broader community,” Councillor Prendeville added.
He stressed that if gardaí are to do their job properly, they must be helped by local people letting them know what is happening in the town.
“Without somebody coming forward and offering evidence, there are constraints placed upon the work of the gardaí. Communication is a two-way thing. If the gardaí don’t have the information that they look for, then unfortunately we won’t find a resolution to these issues. We meet people on the street every day and we bring those issues to the table.
“At that stage, it is up to the gardaí to go out and investigate whatever is happening and hopefully find a satisfactory resolution. We’ve had a lot of tragedies in recent months and I don’t think any fair-minded community activist can turn a blind eye to it and say it’s not an issue. It is and there’s a number of issues that need to be addressed,” Councillor Prendeville said.
In conclusion, Councillor Prendeville said town councillors and Garda representatives had to face up to pressing local concerns.
“A number of issues have been highlighted in recent months. They are not peculiar to Kilrush but at the same time we need to address the local issues. The only way we can address that is by a frank exchange of views between ourselves and the gardaí,” he vowed.
Meanwhile, Councillor Ian Lynch wants Kilrush people to contact him with their concerns prior to next week’s meeting with Chief Superintendent John Kerin in Kilrush.
“It is imperative the council, the community and the guards work together to find a solution to the concerns expressed by residents. We have already commenced a tender process for the erection of CCTV in the town. I encourage members of the community to contact me prior to the meeting with their concerns but also with solutions so I can present them at the meeting,” Councillor Lynch said.

Garda chief to meet town councillors

CLARE Garda Chief Superintendent John Kerin is to meet with Kilrush Town Councillors next week following concerns expressed at last week’s town council meeting relating to crime issues in the town.
At last Thursday’s meeting, Councillor Tom Prendeville said he would get up early in order to meet with the local Garda Superintendent Gerry Wall or whatever Garda representative the council could meet.
“I’ll come at 5am because we might be there until 10am,” Councillor Prendeville said.
Councillor Liam Williams suggested meeting Chief Superintendent Kerin, which Mayor Mairéad O’Brien concurred with.
“It’s gone beyond meeting their deputies,” she said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Chief Superintendent Kerin confirmed he would attend a meeting in Kilrush next week.
“I had contact this morning with one of the town councillors and I am to arrange a meeting next week with the Kilrush Town Clerk and representatives of the town council. In relation to crime-related issues in Kilrush, I am satisfied that about 95% of the individuals that are involved in crime back there are presently before the courts,” he asserted.
Pressed on money-lending claims, which have been made in recent weeks, Chief Superintendent Kerin said that nobody has reported any such instances to the gardaí.
“In relation to that, we’ve had no complaints. The reality is that if I find someone with your children’s allowance book and I know the other person has got it because they have given you money, which you have to pay back, you have to make a complaint. I can’t do anything. We’ve got to be real about these situations. We can only act within the remit of the law,” he stated.
On a broader note, while Chief Superintendent Kerin acknowledged that several experienced Kilrush based gardaí have retired over the last couple of years, he expressed confidence in their replacements.
“I accept that quite a lot of experienced people have left the area but I can tell you, I’m very satisfied with the quality of young gardaí I’ve got back there. While it may take them a number of years to build up the same level of local knowledge, I can tell you their rates for the detection of crime far exceeds the rest of the gardaí divisions in Clare,” he revealed, adding that Garda numbers in Kilrush have not decreased.
“Kilrush District hasn’t had any decrease in manpower in the last couple of years. Every other Garda district in the division has had significant decreases in manpower.
“I’ve been fortunate enough in the last two to three years; I’ve been able to place people in Kilrush that are living in the locality.
“I think that’s bearing fruit in terms of detection rates, with the fact that so many people are before the courts. It’s not our fault that the cases aren’t proceeding as quickly as we would like,” Chief Superintendent Kerin added.