Garda meeting over Nenagh 'horseplay'

Local traders have met with gardaí over an ongoing problem with boisterous youths on the streets of Nenagh.

Traders have been expressing concern for some time about large groups of young people congregating in the town and intimidating passersby. A meeting was recently held at Nenagh Garda Station, at which local businesspeople were updated on procedures gardaí are putting in place to deal with the problem.

Welcoming the meeting, President of Nenagh Chamber of Commerce Tom McGrath said the problem has been ongoing for the last 12 months and does not seem to be getting any better. He spoke of young people "loitering" on the town's main streets, and added that it appears to be the same group all the time.

"They start this mess-fighting, and people find that intimidating," Mr McGrath said of the situation, which he pointed out is particularly concerning for older people.

"They're congregating and they're throwing rubbish around, and they're mess-fighting and this kind of thing on the street. It's a problem. It might not be a crime but if they're blocking the footpath for people, it's not a pleasant experience."

Cathaoirleach of Nenagh Municipal District Cllr Hughie McGrath raised the issue at a meeting of Tipperary Joint Policing Committee last summer. He also attended the recent meeting with local gardaí.

Cllr McGrath described the youngsters' behaviour as "messing" and "shadow-boxing". Those involved are boys and girls ranging in age from as young as 10 or 11 up to 16 or 17. They might not intend to be intimidating, but people are genuinely fearful of being knocked down by them.

"For someone walking down town, it can look kind of frightening, like it's some sort of row," Cllr McGrath said. "People are crossing the street [to avoid them].

"There can be a cluster of 10 or 12 or 14, and they can kind of control a footpath without them knowing it. It's not that they're going around menacing, it's kind of horseplay."

Chamber President Tom McGrath said the problem is that people have become afraid of going into shops in the town centre. He questioned the role of parents in the matter.

Cllr McGrath agreed that this is an issue and said some of the youths involved have become argumentative with the shopkeepers that confront them. The younger kids are encouraged by their peers, though the older ones seem to lose interest after reaching a certain age.

"I'd call them more of a nuisance than anything," Cllr McGrath said the youths' behaviour. "A lot of it is just low-level intimidation and the youngsters are not aware of what they're doing... they're showing off in front of girls.

"But they're doing it on the footpath. They're using the footpath as their playground and that's the problem."

SURVEY

After raising the issue at JPC level, Cllr McGrath met with Sergeant Declan O'Carroll of Nenagh Garda Station and the former District Superintendent Andrew Lacey. They came up with the idea of a survey, which was circulated to members of Nenagh Chamber of Commerce and traders that are not part of the chamber. It gave respondents the opportunity to propose times and locations that they would like to see gardaí patrolling at.

Cllr McGrath believed the situation has improved since. Gardaí are visible on the streets when they need to be. More ASBOs (antisocial behaviour orders) have been issued and Cllr McGrath and said these are working in that, once a few are issued, the message gets through to the others involved. He thought the problem with the youths appeared to dissipate after the schools went back.

However, Chamber President Tom McGrath said he has not seen an improvement. He spoke of problems persisting and that it would be interesting to see what happens this week with the school mid-term break.

Mr McGrath welcomed the survey, which attracted a lot of responses, and he welcomed the first opportunity in some time for local businesspeople to meet at Nenagh Garda Station. He said the outcome of the meeting was positive; the gardaí are aware of the problem and willing to work with the local business community in dealing with it.

But he also understood that garda resources are limited and made the point that antisocial behaviour issues involving young people can prove difficult to resolve.

"The garda presence is critical, though I know their powers are limited," Mr McGrath. "It's not a simple process even bringing [offenders] to court."

COMMUNITY GARDA

Both he and Cllr McGrath believed that dedicated community policing of this problem would go a long way towards solving it. They said that there are only seven full-time community gardaí in all of County Tipperary and five of them are based in the Clonmel district.

Cllr McGrath said an officer with full-time remit for tackling the situation in Nenagh would be able to help by engaging with young people in the schools and being on the street in the afternoons, getting to know those involved, telling them how their behaviour affects others and working out the best course of action to take with those who do not heed the message.

"There is a need for a full-time community guard," Cllr McGrath said. "That is one thing that came out of the meeting. As far as I'm concerned, if you have a full-time community guard, they are dealing with this issue ongoing; they're not distracted."

He hoped that Nenagh would qualify for a such a position following the next deployment of new recruits from the Garda College in Templemore.

In any event, Cllr McGrath said the situation in Nenagh brings focus back to the question of what can be for young people that are idle and not interested in joining sports or youth clubs.

"What do you do? Where is the drop-in centre? This is what I ask myself. Where do I tell them to go?

"You can't say 'go up there to the hurling field' or 'go up there to the soccer field'. They may not be sports-orientated. Not everyone is and not everyone wants to be part of a club."

He pointed to the great facilities in Nenagh and great amount of voluntary work being done with young people in the town. Organisations like Foróige are doing a lot of good. There might be an issue in that a lot of club activities are not available until evening time but, ultimately, there will still be young people causing trouble and saying they are not interested in any of the outlets that are available.

"What can you do?" Cllr McGrath asked of this situation. "If they want don't want to go there, they don't want to go there."