Many of you signed this petition because you want a safer, better-served Donabate. Thank you for adding your voice — the messages and support coming in show just how much people here care about the future of our town.

I want to share an important update about the direction of the campaign.

When this petition began, the focus was on securing a permanent Garda station for Donabate. But as more residents, parents and local groups have reached out, it has become clear that policing is only one part of a much bigger and more urgent picture. Donabate has outgrown several essential services at the same time.

The more we looked at schools, healthcare, transport, emergency access and population growth, the more obvious it became that these issues are all connected.

They come from the same underlying problem: our town has expanded rapidly, but the infrastructure meant to support us simply hasn’t kept pace.

To reflect the reality residents are experiencing every day, we are broadening this petition rather than running separate campaigns. Here’s the situation as it stands:

• No Garda station or local policing base
• No Primary Care Centre after the tender collapse
• No new schools planned despite huge growth
• A single access point with serious emergency concerns
• Transport stretched to breaking point — overcrowded trains and unreliable buses
• Major housing development without matching investment in services

These are not isolated problems. They are symptoms of a system that is still planning for Donabate as if it were a village, not the town it has become.

By expanding the campaign, we can push for something far more effective:

A Cross-Departmental Infrastructure & Services Review involving Gardaí, the HSE, the Department of Education, transport agencies and Fingal County Council — a plan that finally treats Donabate’s needs as a whole.

Your support has already moved this conversation forward. Strengthening the petition doesn’t dilute our original goal — it reinforces it.

A permanent Garda presence is still essential, and it becomes far more achievable when linked to a coordinated plan for policing, healthcare, schooling and transport.

Numbers matter. Your voice matters. And together, we can make a case that cannot be ignored.

Please share this update so more residents understand why this campaign is expanding.

💚 Let’s keep pushing for the Donabate our community deserves.