Garda inspector appointed to roscrea
A garda inspector has just been appointed to Roscrea. The move by the garda authorities follows a huge demonstration in the town last July when hundreds of local people took to the streets to show their frustration over what they saw as lack of action over drug problems in the town.
The appointment of Oliver Henry to the role of inspector also follows claims in recent months that the local garda station was being downgraded.
But it seems that the pressure of people power, which culminated in a march by hundreds of locals on the local station last July, has led to bosses in the force creating the new senior position in the town.
The news of the appointment was revealed by local man Derek Russell at the annual general meeting of the Roscrea Community Development Council (RCDC) in the Abbey Hall in the town on Thursday night last.
Mr Russell is the founder of the Roscrea Stands Up group, which was formed last summer to tackle the town's social and economic problems, while campaigning for a better deal for the town.
Speaking at last Thursday night's meeting, Mr Russell recalled a meeting organised by his group in the Abbey Hall on July 28th this year. 'We had set out forty to fifty chairs, but we got about five hundred people. The turnout showed that people had enough of certain activities and we marched to the garda station because the gardaí had not turned up at our meeting,' Mr Russell recalled.
*See full report in The Guardian this week.
Photo shows a march by Roscrea people heading to the local Garda Station to protest last July.