The ongoing debate about Police station closures has led to animated comment, not least from mainly Protestant areas which lie cheek by jowl with the Border, Kesh being a case in point. If the decision to close Kesh station goes ahead and, with it Belleek and Belcoo, it will mean a huge tract of rural north Fermanagh without a permanent PSNI presence.

For most Protestants, to whom permanent structures were a reassuring presence during the Troubles, being stripped of Police stations they see as a form of abandonment. By contrast, in those mainly Nationalist west and south Fermanagh, the Police stations were seen as an intrusion.

However, it would be a shame, given the distance we have travelled, that the absence of Police stations should be seen as a victory or defeat. There will always be a need for a Police presence. Growing crime, particularly of the mobile variety, will justify that, and people do need reassurance against it.

Where the debate should turn on is some form of physical structure that locals and strangers will readily identify as a Police station, be it an office in a larger building. It need not be manned 24/7, but it does represent a base, and it will complement the mobile Police Station service that does seem to be working.