THE Community Alert Scheme has worked. It means a lot to people in rural areas, especially in the remoter parts of the State.
There was a time, and it wasn't too long ago, when people living alone - the elderly, the vulnerable - in the quiet lanes and boreens of the countryside, could no longer feel comfortable in their homes.
Marauding gangs were at work, terrorising country folk. Something had to be done. The Garda played a major part in helping to stamp out the problem, but it took Muintir na Tire - a great national institution - to come up with a solution that would be of real relevance to the people who felt so threatened.
It was not an imaginary scare. Muintir na Tire began its Community Alert Scheme in Cork in 1984 in response to attacks that year on some 432 mostly elderly people living in remote areas.
The scheme was designed to give back a sense of confidence to people who felt besieged. A network of friends working together, who could contact one another in times of need, was developed. There were lifelines to the Garda. By 1996, the number of attacks had been reduced to 97. That is still an unacceptable number, but it shows that Muintir na Tire got it right.
The organisation is predominantly rural but not exclusively so.
It has, as a matter of interest, links with St Catherine's Community Association in Dublin's Liberties, and you could hardly get more urban than that.