Cllr slates Garda funeral priest’s comments

By TONY GALVIN THE Dundalk-based priest who stated in his homily for slain Detective Garda Adrian Donohue that two local men had their â€Å“heads bashed inâ€Â and that Williamstown had neither a Garda or a barracks, was wrong on all three counts and his comments were labelled irresponsible by a local area councillor. Cllr Tiernan Walsh said Fr Michael Cusack was both wrong and mistaken in his homily and it was a pity when he was going to speak on such a sensitive issue that he had not checked the facts first. He said he was as appalled as anyone by the attack on the two brothers and by a similar serious incident in Glenamaddy recently, but sensationalising what is happening and letting the media run with it was to his mind a misguided approach to an issue that needs to be dealt with calmly and with commonsense. The issue was raised at Mondayâ€â„¢s meeting of Galway Co Council, when Cllr Joe Cooke pointed out that he had been severely criticised for â€Å“politicisingâ€Â the tributes paid to the murdered Garda by calling for a halt to Government policing cutbacks and station closures. Homily He quoted from Fr Michael Cusackâ€â„¢s homily at the funeral of slain Detective Garda Adrian Donohue in Dundalk. â€Å“My parents are now living in a rural community in Galway that has no police service. It only ever had one guard but that one guard brought great security. Since he moved, two men in their 80s have had their heads bashed in, one left without hearing or taste for the rest of his life.â€Â However, Cllr Tiernan Walsh stated bluntly that Fr Cusack was wrong on all these issues. He added that he regretted that people making statements that they knew would be of media interest would not take the trouble to get their facts right and to consider the impact their words might have on other people. In regard to the two brothers in Williamstown, he knew them well and also the Garda barracks referred to. â€Å“To say they had their heads bashed in was wild exaggeration, and to say the local Garda barracks was closed is simply not true and itâ€â„¢s a pity when Fr Cusack was speaking out, that he didnâ€â„¢t bother to find out the situation on the ground first.â€Â He added: â€Å“Iâ€â„¢m not for a moment saying what happened those two men wasnâ€â„¢t appalling, but for some people bad canâ€â„¢t be bad enough. It annoys me to hear people exaggerating a situation that has no need of it. To do so is as close to irresponsibility as I can think of.â€Â He also quoted former Assistant Commissioner Martin Donnellan, a native of Ballymoe, who wrote in the Sunday Independent and referred to the two Williamstown brothers: â€Å“The Government has closed stations at a stroke and it is a disgrace what is going on ... I would appeal to Mr Shatter to set aside the lazy words and the weasel words and give An Garda Síochána the resources to do their job of keeping the peace.â€Â This sentiment received mixed support in the chamber. Cllr Pete Roche, who chairs the Galway Joint Policing Committee, said that the issue of station closures was brought up again and again, but he was satisfied by the assurances of senior Gardai such as Insp Mick Oâ€â„¢Dwyer of Tuam and Supt Marie Skehill, Galway, that the modern policing methods being introduced would ensure that the closure of stations would have no impact whatsoever on the policing of rural areas. Some of the station closures being complained of involved stations only open for an hour or two a week and it is preferable to have Garda bases in modern well-equipped centres from which effective policing could be organised. However, Cllr Tomas Mannion said talk of intelligence-led policing was all very well but he reminded this meeting that criminals have the same technology as the Gardai and can monitor patrols with simple texts. He said the road network in rural Ireland had to be taken into account and the time it took to get from one of these modern, well-equipped centres to where a Garda is needed. The meeting agreed to put the issue of rural policing and the closure of Garda stations on the agenda for their March meeting.