Minister hears the concerns of Navan traders over crime
The creation of a fifth patrol unit in Navan Garda station was proposed at a special meeting involving the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee and local traders last Friday.
The meeting, which was held in response to ongoing anti-social behaviour in the centre of Navan, brought together local traders who have been at the coalface of the problems along with local gardai, Oireachtas members, councillors and Chamber of Commerce representatives.
Smashed windows, assaults on staff, rise in drug use, intimidation by youths and the scourge of graffiti were all topics of discussion put to the Minister for Justice by the traders.
Lasting over 90 minutes the meeting, held at the Ardboyne Hotel, focused on measures being taken to counteract the rise in crime such as the deployment of the Public Order Unit which has been in action in Navan at weekends for the past six weeks.
However, a proposal to create an additional unit was made by local Senator Shane Cassells on the basis that radical action was needed to boost numbers patrolling the town.
It was in response to details laid out at the meeting by Inspector Ronan Farrelly who told those present that Navan is currently manned with four active units and each one is made up of seven uniformed gardai and two plain clothes officers.
In addition there are members attached to drugs and traffic corps units.
One unit is only in operation at any one time and Senator Cassells made the call for the creation of an additional unit on the basis that Navan and Meath had some of the lowest Garda numbers in the entire country.
“The Gardai in Navan do a fine job but there is no doubt that they are struggling to cover a town the size of Navan and all the policing challenges it presents,” he remarked.
“We have a force that is deeply committed to ensuring Navan is safe but they need the resources to allow them to do it. They don’t have that at the moment.
“It was significant that the Minister for Justice heard that message for herself from local traders and that we had agreement between politicians and traders that we want an additional Garda unit for Navan.
“When we have a situation where two masked men can pull up in broad daylight and with impunity smash the windows of a premises on our main street we know we have a problem.
“There was very much a feeling of a need to take back our streets from these thugs expressed at the meeting and that’s why I have called for the creation of an additional Garda unit.”
In addition to the issues surrounding physical presence there was an update on the provision of new CCTV cameras for Navan provided by Meath Co Council engineer, Shane Durcan.
A total of 69 new CCTV cameras are due to go live in the town this October and they will be erected at various locations on the approach roads to the town to supplement the town centre cameras.