A top garda says County Leitrim is one of the safest places in Ireland to live, raise a family in, to retire to and grow old in.
Garda Chief Superintendent Michael Clancy made the comments at a meeting of the Leitrim Joint Policing Committee last night in Drumshanbo.
About 25 people attended the public meeting in The Mayflower Ballroom.
Chief Superintendent Clancy, of the Sligo/Leitrim Garda Division, told the meeting that Leitrim did not become such a safe place by accident.
Rather, he said it was the result of hard work by the gardai and local communities working together.
That success was all the more notable, he said, considering there were a number of big towns around Leitrim and it was also close to Northern Ireland.
In particular, he said the text alert system was a huge success in Leitrim, having started in Carrigallen and having gone on to become a blueprint for the rest of the county.
He also said that, contrary to popular belief, the elderly, statistically speaking, were the least at risk group in Leitrim.
However, young people were the greatest ‘at risk’ group because they are so exposed to risk when they are out at night, drinking and driving.
But he said the group that feels most at risk are old people and the people who feel least at risk are the young.
He said that is the kind of thing we need to talk about as a community.
Speaking after the meeting to Ocean FM News, he says a key word is ‘partnership’ between the gardai and the community.
