Building Gated Communities

I am writing in response to the article by Leo McMahon in the Southern Star last week regarding the proposal by Dr. Anthony Calnan to erect gates at either end of Ballymodan lane in Bandon to prevent anti-social behaviour at night.
 
For those that are not aware Ballymodan Lane is located less than 200metres from the main Garda station in Bandon, a station that is the regional headquarters of the Garda Síochána and one that is manned 24hrs a day. It is also a public access to the local shopping centre and is used regularly by walkers at night.
 
To suggest that permanent gates be erected at a location in the centre of the town on a public laneway to prevent anti social behaviour is certainly not an answer to the problem in my humble opinion. Might I suggest that Garda on the beat at night might be a more appropriate response to anti-social behaviour.
 
Blocking access to a public right of way removes rights to the public and if erected at this location why not at any other? I am aware of many locations in Bandon where youths gather at night, where noise nuisance is a problem and where the disposal of beer cans and rubbish is a common sight. There are many estates with pedestrian walkways where rubbish is dumped nightly there are many main towns in Ireland where at weekend drunken youths cause public nuisance, driving at speed through urban areas, causing noise nuisance and putting in danger pedestrians and other motorists on public roads.  Is the answer to build gated access to the towns thereby preventing automobiles entering the town at night?
 
The problems with public nuisance is however multi generational. As an example, dog owners are generally of an age much older than those that congregate in lanes consuming alcohol. However they do use public laneways and gardens to walk their dogs and cause a public nuisance by allowing them to defecate on public areas or private gardens without any thought for the property owners or public health as all faeces contain bacteria. Many dog owners deliberately bring their dogs to foul public areas, pavements, parks, playgrounds and even beaches resulting in a serious health risk to the public. Is the answer to ban dogs?
 
In the past twenty years there has been a major cultural and behavioural shift in the general publics attitude to nuisance. We have allowed public nuisance to develop to the state where people are now afraid to leave their homes at night. This is what is unacceptable. The answer is not to build gates and move the problem on elsewhere but to deal with the problem as with any disease. Diagnose the problem, treat the cause.
 
If Dr. Calnan’s recommendation of a gate to be erected at Ballymodan lane is seen as an acceptable solution to anti-social behaviour perhaps the same might apply to any such location in Bandon, Skibbereen or other towns in West Cork. If this is seen as an acceptable solution one might as well return to the days of walled towns and lock down the population after dark to prevent youths from congregating or causing a nuisance.
 
The solution to anti social behaviour is not removing the rights and privileges of every citizen to free movement rather to adequately police the area and use the mechanism of the law to prevent nuisance in the first place. One might consider that adequate policing would be the first means of addressing the problem, or education on the problems of alcohol consumption or restricting the sale of alcohol to youths might be more appropriate, why not earlier closing times for nightclubs or raising the minimum age for purchasing alcohol. While I sympathise with anyone who has to deal with nuisance (myself included) what is needed is some mechanism to promote behavioural change and educate those causing the problems on social responsibility.
 
Preventing access to public thoroughfares in not an answer. It is the equivalent of amputating an arm to cure a sore finger.

Declan Waugh