There have been calls for extra gardaí to be allocated to Maynooth following a serious assault on a young woman in the town on Sunday.
The 18 year-old victim, who is originally from Monaghan, was believed to have been walking to her student accommodation in the Moyglare Abbey Estate on the outskirts of the town when she was attacked on Sunday evening.
She is said to have sustained severe injuries including at least one fractured eye socket and a dislocated jaw.
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It is thought that she was on her own at the time of the assault, and was later brought to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown for treatment.
Gardaí in Leixlip have put out a call for anyone who was in the Maynooth Village/Moyglare Abbey Estate area between 7.30pm and 9.15pm on Sunday evening to contact them, and there have been no arrests as yet.
The motive for the attack remains unclear.
The incident occurred directly outside the family home of Fianna Fáil Cllr Naoise Ó Cearúil, who said the area is normally very quiet.
“The estate that it occurred in would predominantly be a family estate with very few student houses or digs. It is a good bit out of the town centre as well so there wouldn’t really be any type of violence or anti-social behaviour happening up around Moyglare,” he said.
Unacceptable
Despite having a university with more than 12,000 students the Garda station in Maynooth is not manned full time. And local representatives say this has created a critical gap in services.
“We’re the only town in Ireland with a university yet we don’t have a full-time operational station . . . per head of capita we have the lowest level of gardaí in the country which just isn’t acceptable for a town like ourselves with a university,” added Mr Ó Cearúil.
The councillor did, however, admit that extra resources may not have made any difference in this instance.
“This incident couldn’t have been stopped even if there were more gardaí, to be brutally honest.
“It’s strange, it’s hard to comprehend or understand, and naturally our thoughts are with the lady in question and her friends and family,” he said.
Calls for greater Garda resources have been echoed by his Kildare County Council colleague Réada Cronin.
“We do need a 24-hour Garda station open in Maynooth. We do absorb the number of students very, very well into the town and they’re very welcome, but when you have that amount of young people you do need extra resources,” said the Sinn Féin representative, who is also from Moyglare Abbey.