Shatter brands garda decision over Stepaside a 'political fix'

Four years ago, when the Troika bore down on Ireland, garda numbers fell, recruitment of replacements was banned and garda stations closed down. Alan Shatter, who was then Minister for Justice, lost Stepaside Garda Station in his Dublin South constituency.

The decision was taken by the then Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, who called the shots on operational matters. Even though Shatter had a lot of upset constituents, he swallowed the bad news, saying it would be wrong of him to second guess the judgement of the commissioner.

Cut to June 2017. Mr Shatter and Mr Callinan were gone. Shatter's long-standing constituency rival, Shane Ross, of the Independent Alliance, was now at the Cabinet table. Ross's promise to his constituents and his price for supporting the minority government was the reopening of Stepaside Garda Station. At Enda Kenny's final Cabinet meeting as Taoiseach, Mr Ross got what he wanted.

The ministers were presented with details from an interim garda report on reopening six stations, which had been commissioned under the Programme for Government. They decided to reopen Stepaside immediately. The rest could wait.

Ross spread the news to his constituents that afternoon. The howls of "stroke politics" that greeted his announcement then returned with a vengeance last week when the Public Accounts Committee examined the subject.

The acting Garda Commissioner, Donal O Cualain, defended the decision to recommend the reopening of Stepaside Garda Station, but was unable to release the report on which that decision was based.

Under pressure to do so, and with the backing of the Taoiseach, Charles Flanagan released that report yesterday.

There appeared to be no smoking gun in its 24 pages, instead crammed with details about population trends and crime trends in the areas under consideration.

Intrigue over the date on which the interim report was completed soon dissipated. The date on the report was 6/8/17. Jim O'Callaghan, the Fianna Fail justice spokesman, interpreted this as August 6, 2017 - two months after the June 13 Cabinet meeting at which the decision was taken. A spokesman for the Minister for Justice clarified that actually, the date on the interim report should read June 8, 2017 - five days before the Cabinet meeting.

The report examined 139 closed garda stations and select six to be included for reopening on a pilot basis.

The Minister for Justice set the criteria. Gardai were asked to take into account changes in rural, urban and suburban areas, the views of local communities as well as Garda resources.

The report said that the assistant commissioner for Dublin recommended that Stepaside be the Dublin station that was included for reopening in the pilot project. The decision would "give rise to enhanced public confidence" in the area and that "evidence of significant residential development" in the area is likely to lead to "further population growth".

If a second station was to be chosen from the Dublin area, that should be Rush.

The other stations selected were Donard, Co Wicklow, and Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow - which was "vulnerable to mobile criminals" as a result of its proximity to the motorway.

But in the case of both Donard and Leighlinbridge, the report said the Garda analysis service had been asked to do "additional research" in advance of a decision being reached.

The report does not say that Stepaside should be opened immediately, ahead of all the others. That decision was taken by the Cabinet. But the Garda were clear in their reasons for including it in the pilot project to reopen garda stations.

Did Shane Ross's political demands influence that decision?

Mr Ross has fervently denied "stroke politics" were involved in the decision. He has pointed out how he has campaigned to reverse the closure of all garda stations, not just the station in his own back yard.

His old rival, Mr Shatter, said the decision looked like a "political fix".

Mr Shatter, who read the report yesterday, said: "I think criteria were given to An Garda Siochana which could lead to only one conclusion.

"I think in the report the Gardai have tried to point out that the opening of garda stations in some other locations such as adjacent to Dublin Port, such as Dublin Airport, such as university campuses, might be of greater urgency.

"I think the terms of reference lead to no other conclusion other than a recommendation to open the station."

Mr Shatter believes bricks and mortar don't solve crime, smart policing does. He pointed out that while Stepaside garda station was closed, garda still brought down the local crime rate, tackling mobile criminals zipping in and out of villages off the motorway.

"I think a lot of people will see it as a political quick fix and something of a stroke. I think it is an unfortunate political engagement in circumstances where we have had far too many difficulties in An Garda Siochana," Mr Shatter said.

"The gardai were put in an impossible position in the context of this report being demanded, based on the criteria with which they were furnished.

"There was only one recommendation that could have come from this."