Concern over assaults in Castlebar

Castlebar town councillors say they are gravely concerned about violent assaults on the streets of the Co Mayo town.

Castlebar town councillors say they are gravely concerned about violent assaults on the streets of the Co Mayo town.

At the monthly meeting of the authority on Thursday night the members suspended standing orders to discuss the situation.

The chairman of the town council, Fianna Fáil councillor Mr Pat King, said because of recent events, including the attack on a young man in Mountain View last Sunday night, people were losing confidence in the Garda.

The young man was seriously assaulted on the Main Street of the town in the early hours of last Sunday morning and has undergone surgery for his injuries. He is still in hospital.

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Fine Gael Senator Paddy Burke claimed that a weekend night does not go by without windows being broken in the town centre and cars being vandalised.

He called on the Garda Chief Superintendent for the county, Mr Johny Carey, to say if he has not been allocated sufficient resources to keep gardaí on the streets of Castlebar on weekend nights.

The Chief Superintendent said "I'm disappointed that the first response for public representatives is to attack the gardaí.

"I am aware of violent incidents in Castlebar recently. These are being rigorously investigated and I'm confident that the people responsible will appear before the courts."