It is a sign of the times when a rural area of County Galway are celebrating the fact that they have been allocated a Garda car . . . albeit a small one.

Recently the Garda patrol car was removed from the Headford area because it had clocked up so many miles that it was not allowed on the roads anymore.

It resulted in uproar because such a large rural area was left without a Garda patrol car prompting fears that it would result in a spate of crime.

By law, cars that have clocked 300,000 kilometres must be taken out of service and several Garda cars in Galway have reached this figure and there are others that are close.

It has resulted in Garda cars having been removed from both the Headford and Corofin areas while one of the traffic corps cars in Tuam is within a few thousand kilometres of being ‘put to rest’.

However, there was good news in Headford when a replacement patrol car was allocated to the area – even if it was a Ford Fiesta.
It is understood by The Connacht Tribune that the car was taken from Gort where up until now there were two vehicles available.

Cllr. Mary Hoade from Headford said that any car was better than having no car and described the withdrawal of Garda vehicles from rural areas as unacceptable.

Earlier this year the Department of Justice confirmed that a total of 13 Garda cars would be taken out of use across the city and county by the end of the year while only one new vehicle will be provided in their place.

See full story in this week's Connacht Tribune.