Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan says he is determined to find a solution to the issue of people living in the Meath sections of Drogheda and in the coastal areas of East Meath having to ring Gardaí in Ashbourne to report an incident or access Gardaí for any reason.

He was responding to a question from Deputy Fergus O’Dowd at the Drogheda JPC Public meeting which took place last night.

O’Dowd said that his office occasionally gets calls from people in East Meath who have been unaware that they must ring Ashbourne Garda Station rather than Drogheda when seeking the services of An Garda Síochana.

“I know that the Garda Commissioner did say when he was looking at the review of the Garda Districts that he would take a serious look at  the issue of East Meath and Drogheda and it is also mentioned in the Geiran report” Deputy O’Dowd said.

Chief Superintendent Mangan said the question of boundaries has come up on a number of occasions and he has met with several groups in relation to the issue including a very informative meeting with the Drogheda City Status Group.

“The position is that if it is an urgent call we (Drogheda Gardaí)  will respond if someone rings us but if it is in the Meath District generally it is down to them” he said.

“I have requested that we sit down to work this out because it is very unfair to the public to be dealing with this situation.

“It is my personal opinion that it has to be sorted and it can be sorted to the benefit of the public but I’m waiting for word back to see what will take place.”