Rathangan's Unified Voice: Locals Unanimously Reject Garda District Relocation

Tuesday, 9 April 2024 10:28

By Martin Osborne

A public meeting was held last night.

The message is clear: locals do not want Rathangan to be relocated from the Kildare Garda district to the Leixlip Garda district.

That's according to Kildare South Senator Fiona O'Loughlin following last night's public meeting on the issue.

Almost 200 people attended the meeting.

O'Loughlin said the new Kildare Superintendent Garda Paul Burke will relay the concerns of locals to his superiors.

She said the new operating model, which was not supposed to come into effect until May, will have an impact on response times.

However, under the new model, all calls will go through a central hub and will be transferred to the nearest patrol car.

She said this provides little comfort to residents who took a unanimous view last night that they do not want a relocation of the station's district.

"The optimum would be to have a 24 hour Garda station in Rathangan. We need set hours."

Right now, locals have no idea if a Garda is present at the station.

"We need set hours and more Gardai," O'Loughlin said.

She said she has written to Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

A major concern is around response times.

In a situation where Rathangan Garda station is closed, a Garda call out from Kildare is a 10km journey.

"We are looking at about 45km to Leixlip. The quickest sat nav route is roughly a 45-minute journey time, that is not acceptable," O'Loughlin said.

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