Protest over lack of garda presence to take place in Ballivor

Burglaries in two Ballivor businesses and another break-in at a cafe in nearby Kildalkey have prompted calls for increased garda presence in the area.

A protest will take place outside Ballivor Garda Station on Saturday at 3pm calling for increased garda presence in the village in the wake of the burglaries which occured in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The previous weekend, five cars were also broken into in local estates.

Ribeiro's butchers and Franco's takeaway in Ballivor were broken into around 5am on Tuesday morning. CCTV captured four people getting out of a car and smashing the glass in the door of the butchers with a hammer. Two of the culprits entered the premises and took the till box, which contained around €80 in coins, while the other two broke into the takeaway next door and again made off with coins from the till, amounting to around €150.

Also in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Bacus cafe in the nearby village of Kildalkey was broken into.

Ballivor resident Claire O'Mara, a member of the local community council, said a number of people had come together to organise the protest and that rather than sitting around giving out on Facebook, they had decided to do something about it.

She pointed out that recent burglaries in Ballivor, Kildalkey, Killucan and Rathwire all targeted areas where there was either no garda station or the garda station is not actively manned and she believes this is why these rural areas are being hit.

"When the village was a lot smaller, we had a sergeant and two Gardai, now we don't have any gardai, it baffles me.

"The very, very odd time you would see a patrol car knocking around but nine times out of ten they are there because somebody called them for a reason."

Claire said all the local councillors and elected representatives have been invited to attend the protest.