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JUST OVER TWO weeks after the killing of Garda Tony Golden in Omeath, county Louth, discussions around An Garda Síochána all centre on resources.
In Garda Golden’s district of Dundalk, the commissioner herself acknowledged there was a shortage of officers and moved 27 gardaí from other parts of the country to Louth in response. The Emergency Response Unit was also deployed to the border to carry out checkpoints.
Though garda resourcing is the hot topic of the moment, it is nothing new for the gardaí stationed in border counties. Since the recruitment embargo in 2008, they have been feeling the effects of the severe depletion in their districts.
“It was two-fold when they introduced the embargo because there was also an increase in special units,”explained Robbie Peelo, Louth division representative for the Garda Representative Association (GRA).
“So, when they set up the likes of immigration units, traffic units, beefed up drugs and crime units, they did that by taking gardaí from the pool of regular units.
The numbers we had to answer calls were dwindling all the time. With long term sickness as well, it could end up that you’ve the same five or six people that are burdened with all the work for six days in a row.”
In the last five years alone numbers in the Louth division have dropped from 257 to 221.
It’s just not sustainable. After being out all day and night you then have court files to get done, all that back office stuff. You’re trying to do paperwork at four or five in the morning and if it gets thrown out of court everyone is slating you but under that much pressure you’re going to make mistakes. You’re writing all this up with the radio on in the background in case something happens and you have to run out to it.
Peelo said increasing garda numbers have been shown to have a significant impact on both crime and morale in other divisions. In the Dundalk district, however, real change will also mean transferring gardaí who have been there during the hard times elsewhere.
Psychologically they have to get away from here, they’re just broken. We’ve to factor that in.
“We’re currently meeting with senior garda management in garda headquarters in order to seek adequate resources again,” he said.
Historical issues
Gardaí from other divisions have been moved into Louth temporarily to help address the shortage, but Cavan/Monaghan GRA representative James Morrisroe recently told TheJournal.ie that most have come from his division – the most depleted in the force.
Over the last five years, numbers in Cavan have fallen from 157 to 128. In Monaghan, there are now 48 less gardaí than there were in 2010.
Morrisroe said the gardaí he represents are still dealing with “huge historical issues in relation to South Armagh” as well as the serious fuel laundering problem.
He’s concerned about the decision to move 16 officers from his division to Louth, accusing garda management of “begging off Peter to pay Paul”.
Isolated
In Donegal, members of An Garda Síochana have been left feeling “isolated” as they are operating in such a large area in such low numbers, according to Donegal representative Brendan O’Conor.
“Because of the dip in numbers, members are being pulled from smaller stations to bigger stations to cover the cars. In many cases, those stations are border stations,” he explained.
O’Connor’s division has experienced a significant drop in garda numbers – down more than 60 officers since 2010.
The district in Donegal that is most depleted is Buncrana. In some of the suburbs of the city of Derry the border is not recognised. We’ve got border crime like other areas, but it’s city crime being policed with a rural policing model. Dissident republicans are active in Derry. There have been a number of high profile bombs and mortars intercepted and our members are just a few miles from that, without access to adequate backup.
He said the depletion in numbers, as well as the removal of the Uzi submachine gun left gardaí feeling vulnerable.
“It’s a long barrelled weapon and it was visible at checkpoints – it was a deterrent. We used to have a member trained in the Uzi in every district.”
On top of the typical border crime, gardaí in these areas also deal with a significant amount of public order incidents.
“Lots of people are coming to socialise here because of the currency rate. In places like Bundoran, there’s an influx of people at weekends,” O’Connor said. “We have huge public order issues and have lost six public order vans in Donegal.”
In Louth, large groups of stags and hens also flood towns like Carlingford at the weekends to party it up.
Recruitment
Writing in The Irish Times this morning, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said he wants to see the establishment of a new cross-border taskforce to tackle organised crime.
Involvement in violence and intimidation, large-scale smuggling operations, fuel-laundering, drug-dealing and extortion are destroying lives on both sides of the Border. This cannot be tolerated in a democratic society.
This year, 99 new gardaí graduated from Templemore, with ten being sent to border counties.
As part of this year’s Budget, the government promised an additional 600 recruits would be taken into the training college next year. However, even if recruitment continues at these levels, it could be another five years before the force is back to its pre-recession strength.
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There’s more than just paramilitaries causing trouble in the boarder areas. I live in Dundalk and have had constant trouble with a group of young teenagers who last night decided to wait for me to open my door so they could stab a screwdriver at my face. Luckily I got out of the way but considering there’s only one squad car operating for the whole Dundalk-Blackrock-Dromiskin-Carlongford area how am I meant to feel safe in my home?
You want the Gardai to murder people?
Run along there like a good lad. You’ll miss the school bus.
Thomas get a 1way ticket to Israel, you’ll be right at home there.
There was at least twenty separate check points in Dundalk last night. But they aren’t there to stop victims of crime like yourself, they are there for show and as a revenue collector for this useless government.
The exaggeration on here is mental, you have two extremes here on one thread. One fella claims only one squad car last night from mid louth to the border including Dundalk ( a town of well over 30,000)and another claims there were over 20 seperate checkpoints in Dundalk alone last night.
Unbelievable…………………no really, no messing hi, it is unbelievable :)
Have you considered the fact that the checkpoints could have been taking away from the Garda presence in the station, thus meaning there was only one squad car to deal with issues? And the fact that we were told that there was only one squad car by the Gardai themselves, unless they were lying to us, which is highly possible.
@ tom Kenny. You will go far in f.g your not very bright but you think you are smarter than everbody else. The checkpoints would be planned operations targeting vehicles for tax etc. so when you ring to report and assault theft etc. there are no vehicles or gardai available, if you are still struggling with this let us know.
So is it a “fact” Katie that there were 20 checkpoints in Dundalk last night ?
Was there really only one squad car from Dromiskin to Carlingford ? really ?
Anyone who questions your bull gerry is in FG, typical of your likes, try to smear the person instead of dealing with what is being said.
Some people here are good at manipulating the truth, pushing their own agenda etc etc, you gerry have the touch of an elephant.
Sending new recruits to the border area seems like a bad plan to me ‘ surely you would need canny older guards with a bit of mileage behind them for these areas ? Sending in kids WELL
Raising the retirement age to 65 would be a good idea Retiring at 50 on full pension seems too young I thing most guards would prefer later retirement
Local gardai should cut off all contact with the Cooley Community Alert Group who spoke out about garda numbers last week and who also happen to have IRA garda murderer Tommy Eccles as treasurer.
Community alert groups with volunteers that were volunteers in the IRA are by far the most effective, the gardai will tell you that.
I don’t agree Nira for the simple reason that Garda Golden decided to work with this man for the betterment of the area. It can’t have been an easy thing for him to do considering Eccles past and I think it just shows the commitment he had to his job and his area.
Community groups in the south do fine without the like of him in it. They should not become (as they are in the north) full of people with a vested interest.
Are positions on community alert groups not filled by election to those post by that community?
I watched a video before about h the SAS dealt with evil terrorists, one very good example was in Gibraltar , we should have a lot more of that kind of engagement o rid us of the terrorist vermin
Yes, just watch those 65 year olds clear 2 metre high fencing as they chase (?) those criminals….
On a related issue, am I the only one who thinks that the height restriction needs to be restored for those wishing to join the gardai? Many of the young gardai you see (male and female) are puny and would not be employed most security firms.
A friend of mine has joined the gardai, i told him to tell them he was gender fluid- he would make super within a week
@Journal:- How much longer is the editorial staff going to allow one individual who has been banned many, many time pollute each and every thread with his childish trolling? He has multiple accounts on the go and even talks to himself in threads. It really is bringing the level of debate down to his puerile level.
The best people to speak out and help Gardai fight crime are people that murdered Gardai?
what planet are you on? What Garda wants to work with someone like that?
Thats an assumption that Garda Golden was aware of the mans past or that he had a choice in the matter.
No Garda, I repeat no Garda would deal with a cop killer given the choice. Seriously, would anyone work with someone who murdered a colleague and would have willingly killed them as well?
The announcement of 600 new Gardai in the budget was just another lie by the government trying to trick Irish voters into thinking that they’re serious about addressing the crimewave across the country and the serious lack of manpower and resources in our police force coming up to election time – 500 of those “extra” Gardai were announced already earlier in 2015 but that’s just par for the course for this governments. Theres a new announcement then today of a big operation aimed at tackling the gangs roaming the country burgling houses – but any resources being thrown at that are just being taken from regular units and other day to day services. Its just moving the deckchairs again – one of FG/Labour’s favourite tactics. Will people ever call them on this sort of $hit?
Its about time the gardai were allowed get tough with the terrorists that are making border area a nightmare
More Gardai in the community are needed. Unfortunately the government cut the numbers by 20%.
more gardai … or less terrorist would do also. They should be allowed take on the terrorist skum by any means possible. No decent person would have a problem with that
Thomas Mac Donagh, false name, false profile, just a FG troll.
My name and profile are real. Back that statement up with yours. Otherwise you have no credibility here.
You’ll have to wait while dane/tc et al confer
you are a shinnerbot, do u really want talk about edibility :D
‘Edibility’?!
If we wish to have a modern functioning democratic society we must be prepared to invest in our police force. Pay them a good wage to reflect the risks they take on our behalf, give them the resources they require to do their job properly and hold them accountable. At the minute the Garda have loads of accountability but poor pay and no resources. A poorly paid or demoralised police force is open to corruption & disinterest.
Mad Hatter…that’s the comment.
what is their pay mad hatter so we can judge for ourselves if they are badly paid or not.
Check it out yourself Gerry. It’s freely available online. We all know what the gross is. I’d like to hear Gardai post their salary after all the deductions. I’d say it’s very average for a not so average job.
The fact is the government took the decision to close rural Garda stations, all to save a paltry 500,000 euro. BS. The government made the decision to Criminalise the ordinary people’s protest movement. The stations were closed to supply the numbers of Gardai needed to do the policing. Towns, cities, and housing estates all over are seeing droves of Gardai in numbers never seen before. But they are not there to protect the people from rampaging criminals.
This FG/Lab government took the decision to allow criminal gangs to rob and plunder the rural areas of Ireland by withdrawing Gardai to police ordinary people, who are in no way criminal at all.
Now we are seeing figures and statisics being produced to try and deflect away from the real reason rural areas are becoming lawless. People would want to open their eyes.
Dave..it’s called “smart policing”.
Plenty siting around in stations twiddling their thumbs .
They do have back office and other investigations that’s required when they arrest someone, they also must attend court if they arrest someone which is ridiculous. They should bring in civies for office work and keeps Garda on the streets. Using them for building security is a farcical waste of money too.
The problem in border areas is that back in the day when the IRA was still active, they were the only effective police force. Often when people went to the gardai to report crimes and anti social behaviour, the gardai subtely pointed them in the direction of the IRA. In a lot of areas it would be a waste of time contacting the gardai you would just go straight to the IRA to get stolen items retrieved etc.
since the IRA ceasefire the usual schum that exist everywhere have taken control and as in every other part of the country the gardai and courts are unable or unwilling to deal with them appropriately
is this the ‘decent’ community policing by the IRA that hauled Maria Cahill before a kangaroo court?
as opposed to the court were she didn’t show up or the ones were the judges give rapist suspended sentences
you mean the same lovely fellas that dealt with Paul Quinn a few years back, the heroes who beat young men to death with iron bars to settle personal grievances. There is & has been a legal process, it may be flawed but it’s better than the cowards that you are talking about.
Tom you speak of ‘legal process’ while attempting to link the Quinn killing to the IRA, without a shred of evidence to back that up. If anything the attack on the Mc Cabe Family show these people to be opposed to role being taken by pro peace pact republicans.
M Bowe I am willing to accept his families word, Can’t see how that goes outside “legal process” I haven’t named any individual .
How come your not challenging the guy that believes going to the ira was better than going to the Gardai and “legal process” ?
Because I have experience of friends being sent to PIRA by Garda in past as well. A for the Quinn case those alleged responsible are also alleged responsible for the Mc Cabe attack and have been widely condemned by republican movement.
Funny the same people on here who complain about travellers, criminals, rapists, terrorists etc. saying they should be shot, beat to death etc. seem then to have a problem if it happens, wish they would make up their minds.
Gerry you won’t find one comment form me anywhere advocating anyone being beat or shot.
Stop with your lies and making it up as you go along, you are pathetic.
I’m gonna stick with the old saying, ” Don’t argue with an ar*seho*le, they’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience
M Bowe, the republican movement condemned the murder of Robert McCartney in public and for the cameras, while prominent SF people were walking around west belfast daily with the people widely believed responsible, to send a very different message (according to his sisters)
It gives them no bother to talk out of the two sides of their mouth at the same time.
That’s the problem here. ” widely believed” constitutes nothing to factual based evidence. But these threads continually throw up these beliefs as fact. Like your linking Quinn killing to PIRA when events in that area contradict those beliefs. Actions usually do speak louder.
@tom Kenny “you are willing to accept the families word”. presumably then in the case of persons who have died while in garda custody or who were killed by the gardai. you would take the side of their families when they say that they were innocent and that their killing was criminal and unlawful. come on tom don’t be shy.
Tom you are wrong about the whole ar*she*le thing. It would clearly be a step up for you, probably one out of your reach, mentally, intellectually and personality wise.
I guard told me recently that the Garda numbers being quoted in the media by gov & Garda management is a lie, they qoute 12,000 over there protecting us, but the guard told me that when you take away specialist unit, few hundred garda in Pheonix Park and other in administration duties, then super, chiefs, sergeants and inspectors, the real figure policing our streets and country roads is only 4,000.
Then divide than by 5 units and its less than 1,000 gardas patrolling at one time. THAT IS A DISGRACE.
I suppose if you look a it, we are probably the only country in the world where we have no other aids to law enforcement. eg in England they have MI5, MI6. Terrorist units. Transport Police, Immigriation Police etc. In Italy they have Financial Polizia, the Carabinari, Polizia Municipal etc.
In Ireland the Gardaí do everything, so any country in the world they compare Garda no with is not a far comparison.
THIS IS A DISGRACE. GOV NEED TO STEP UP & INVEST SERIOUSLY ON POLICING.
PEOPLE ARE NOW WISE TO THE POLITICAL FUDGING GOING ON
More Prisons Please
The legal lobby don’t want more prisons as their customers are repeat offenders. Somebody with numerous convictions can potentially make solicitors, Junior council and Senior Council a huge amount of money. They also make money from the damage caused in insurance claims. Of course the judges and their families are all involved in the business so the status quo is maintained. It’s a huge business and if offenders were imprisoned it would seriously effect their business. People’ lives are put in danger to allow criminals continue to prosper and the legal profession to thrive. The moral in the Gardai is shot to pieces with repeat offenders constantly getting off cries. Shame on our government.
Border areas have been over policed/militarized for too long it’s only natural to deplete now the war is over and get into office’s to investigate over 20 loyalists bombs in Cavan Monaghan alone from the seventies to nineties and Garda Collusion with the Ruc who operated the bomb planters
Should be” A guard told me recently”
still doesn’t explain bringing an assault victim back to a house where the suspect is known to traffic guns
Balls
Correct management of resources these numbers are more than sufficient for the population we should look at other police services. Poor management
GRA representative Robbie Peelo?? Sure this isn’t a wind up?
have your say