A Lavey man says the Garda Text Alert scheme is not fit for purpose.
The text alert scheme functions by Gardaí sending a text to a nominated 'principal texter'. The principal texter then sends out the alert to all locals who are listed on a data base. Eugene Smith from Lavey says the last text alert he received from Gardaí was in April 2021.
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show this morning, Eugene, who is also the chairman of a local community alert scheme, believes initiatives such as community WhatsApp groups are far more effective in sending information to locals.
"It's just not on the radar of whoever is taking the calls. We hear on Northern Sound that the Gardaí are looking for information for such a thing. Now, we had our community centre broken into here. There were digital locks on every door in the community centre. They broke every digital lock in it and broke in every door. They stole money. We got no text alert for that. It's just not working. I feel now, at the moment, I took this 5 euro registration fee off these people on the database under false pretenses".
