Call for 24 hour opening and additional resources at Laois Garda Station
“It is a really limited service and the local gardai are trying to do their best”
A community group says people are having to travel to Portlaoise to have documents signed because there are so few gardaí covering Portarlington.
Portarlington Community Development Association is calling for additional gardaí and a 24 hour station in Portarlington.
Portarlington Garda Station opens for two hours in the morning and another two hours in the evening. However, when gardaí need to attend an incident, they have to close the station and lock it up.
Independent Cllr Aidan Mullins said there might be two gardaí in the station but they have to close it if there is an emergency or a call out. He said gardaí based at the station cover not just the town but a large area out to Mountmellick and Rosenallis so gardaí are busy and the station rarely opens.
“It is rarely available. It is pot luck when you go to the station,” explained Cllr Mullins.
“I don’t know when I last saw a gardaí walking the streets of Portarlington. You see them an odd time at a checkpoint,” he remarked.
Portarlington Community Development Association is seeking a meeting with the local garda Superintendent in order to discuss the lack of garda presence in the town.. They also want to see the reinstatement of Laois’s Joint Policing Committees which used to meet every three months but has not had a meeting in about a year.
Chair of Portarlington Community Development Association, Aidan Mullally, said gardai in Portarlington are doing their best with limited resources.
“The local gardaí, their hands are tied. It is the upper echelons that need to act,” he said.
Mr Mullally pointed out the fact that Portarlington was the second largest town in Laois and yet the station is part time.
“It is a really limited service and the local gardai are trying to do their best,” he said.
He wants to discuss the matter with the local garda management.
“It is widely known that they are stretched for resources with the garda station,” he said. Mr Mullally said gardaí in Portarlington occasionally have to respond to calls from as far away as Clonaslee.
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The Leinster Express/Laois Live contacted gardaí for a comment in relation to the matter last week. They have yet to respond.