'Concerning' rise in theft in Mayo town
Theft topped the list with 53 incidents reported.
COMMUNITY NOTES: CLAREMORRIS - WESTERN PEOPLE (MAY 13 EDITION)
Claremorris Gardaí recorded a total of 155 offences in the past year, according to newly released crime statistics for the district.
Theft topped the list with 53 incidents reported, followed by 27 public order offences. Gardaí also dealt with 17 assaults or threats, 13 cases of criminal damage, and 13 incidents of fraud.
Ten burglaries were investigated during the year, alongside nine drug-related offences and eight incidents of dangerous driving.
The figures, produced by the Central Statistics Office, show a slight decline year on year. The statistics exclude homicides, sexual offences and most road traffic matters.
Ballindine recorded 29 offences, including seven assaults, five criminal damage, five thefts, two fraud and two drugs offences, while Knock reported 31 incidents. There were six assaults/threats last year, four burglaries, three incidents of criminal damage, four thefts, four fraud, three drug and four public order offences.
Cllr Alma Gallagher, of Fine Gael, described the rise in theft as “particularly concerning”.
“Small businesses in particular are carrying the burden as they lack the resources to absorb these losses,” Cllr Gallagher said. “I will be highlighting this at the May meeting of Mayo County Council when Chief Superintendent Ray McMahon will be in attendance. Retailers need stronger protections, better enforcement and consequences for repeat offenders. Many businesses are forced to rethink how they do business.”
Cllr Deirdre Lawless, of Aontú, said the party was hugely concerned with the issue of crime and crime prevention in the Claremorris area and Mayo in general.
“We have big difficulties in terms of crime and the lack of Gardaí in our stations,” Cllr Lawless told the Western People. “The garda numbers are falling in Mayo. Mayo has received just one new recruit in the past three years. This is having a dramatic impact on the rank and file Gardaí to manage their caseloads and to deal with crime in our community.
“The issues in Ballinrobe recently and the peak in anti-social behaviour caused great difficulty to the Claremorris station. We know the huge geographical area the Claremorris district has to manage, and the acute issues in Ballinrobe have had a significant knock-on ability on the Claremorris station to manage the issues in Ballinrobe and indeed local issues.”
Cllr Lawless said Aontú has huge concerns about the depletion of the regular units in An Garda Síochána.
“We know there are a number of internal competitions for specialist units,” Cllr Lawless said. “These specialist units are taking members from their regular units. And because of the issues around retention and the lack of recruitment, particularly in Mayo, there are no new recruits to replace the members leaving regular units which is having a dramatic impact on policing and law enforcement in our area.”
Cllr Lawless said that Aontú intends to address this issue and promised that the party will be raising it at a local and national level.
“We will continue to fight on the issues within An Garda Síochána,” Cllr Lawless said. “We will also be submitting, through the office of Deputy Paul Lawless, further parliamentary questions in relation to the data in the Claremorris district.
“According to the data, 155 offences were recorded by Claremorris Gardaí last year. This appears to be very low and does not tally with what we are hearing both from constituents and from the Gardaí themselves. We are looking for further clarification from the Garda Commissioner in relation to the stats released.”
