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A NEW SURVEY commissioned by An Garda Síochána has found the level of trust the Irish public has in the organisation has fallen since the start of this year and almost two-thirds of the country believe the organisation is not well managed.
The Garda Public Attitudes Survey for Q2 2017, which is conducted by Amarach Research, found 88% of people have a mid to high level of trust in gardaí. This is down 4% from the first quarter of the year.
There was also a decline between the first and second quarters of this year in terms of the organisation being friendly or helpful (-2%), community focused (-2%), modern or progressive (-2%), providing a world-class police service (-5%). There was no change in the number of people who believe gardaí are effective in tackling crime.
The largest reduction was in the number of people who think the organisation is well managed, down 6% to 37% in the second quarter of the year.
These latest figures come as the Garda Commission Nóirín O’Sullivan is under fire over the inflation of breath test figures.
An internal investigation found more than 1.4 million false tests were logged on the Pulse system. It was also revealed yesterday that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has decided to delay the publication of crime statistics because of a review into 89 homicides that were not counted over a 14-year period.
There have been calls for the Commissioner to step down over recent controversies, including the breath test scandal and financial irregularities in the Garda College in Templemore, but Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has maintained that he has full confidence in O’Sullivan.
According to the organisation’s own survey today, there was a 3% drop in the number of respondents who said they were either very satisfied or satisfied with the service provided to local communities. Almost one fifth of respondents said they were quite dissatisfied and 4% reported being very dissatisfied.
Victims of crime
One positive statistic from the survey is the drop in the number of people who said they were victims of crime – down 6.9% from the first quarter of this year and a yearly reduction of 5.7%.
There was a year-on-year increase in the number of people who reported their most recent crime and satisfaction among victims who reported a crime to gardaí is now at 61%. Almost half of those surveyed said they do not worry about becoming a victim of crime.
When it comes to visibility in communities, just 36% of people were aware of garda patrols in their local area and less than half considered garda presence in their area to be at the right level.
Commenting on the results of the survey, Deputy Commissioner John Twomey said it was welcome that fewer people were saying they had been victims of crime and that fear of crime was reducing.
“It is vital that we continue our strong focus on preventing crime from happening in the first instance, but, when it does happen, investigating those crimes and helping the victims,” he said.
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I think there’s going to have to be a clearer definition of whats criminal in this case, while I don’t drink or smoke I sure as Hell feel my own government robbing me at every chance they get.
Yes Brian Walsh.
My sentiments too.
In the political history of man, the past and the future will never change.
Governments screw up.
Who is the one to bail them out?
The taxpayer.
Makes you ask/wonder as to who is committing a crime here ?!
All I can say is 6 months for rape and the disgrace that is Priory Hall. The government needs to sort themselves out and protect its people and stop constantly focusing on ways to get more money
Who got six months for a rape
He didn’t rape her
Fine, if you want to be pedantic….. He sexually assaulted her. Definition: sexual assault – a statutory offense that provides that it is a crime to knowingly cause another person to engage in an unwanted sexual act by force or threat.
Excuse me for using the old fashioned term “rape”.
Ah yeah, only concerned when the taxman is the one being left out of pocket. Paul Begley got 6 years for telling the taxman that garlic was apples, 6 years without a previous conviction to his name and after having paid back half the owed tax and a payment plan for the rest. However, every day we’re seeing dangerous criminals with huge amounts of previous convictions get off scot free, back out onto the streets to commit yet another crime.
A lot of shapes thrown over those behind Anglo and not a single person has been punished yet. More shapes thrown over Quinn and the man remains free, his nephew giving the country the finger standing on the border.
Here’s a suggestion: Start punishing those who actively harm our society and then, once they’re all taken care of, look to those who leave the taxman short a few quid.
Of course Ned,Anthony Lyons gets a 6 month sentence for sexual assault and Paul Begley gets 6 years over tax.So in the eyes of the law in Ireland tax evasion/avoidance is a far more serious crime than rape.
It boggles the mind!!!
Would anyone believe ANY figure from the Department of Finance???
yep seems crossing gov and revenue is the worst crime possible . robbers dont like being robbed.
Walk down Henry Street Dublin, and there is counterfeit goods everyday of the week. This has been happening for decades and nothing has changed.
what this collins guy say criminals should feel the long arm of the law that should just about rap up FF for good thought i would never hear turkeys voting for xmass
Zero tolerance, now where have I heard that before?
If there is a tax on plastic bags which appears to be manageable is there anything in looking at the possibility of penalties of some sort for the state of our footpaths etc from butts even though establishments provide bins. Attitudes need to change drastically and the sooner the better!
Yes, + if public parks like Eamonn Ceant, Sundrive rd cannot be policed, what chance have they of policing black marketeers. People are afraid to walk their dogs there, between drug pushers + teens throwing beer bottles at people.
A guy gets 6months for sexual assualt but Niall Collins feels we should be tackling counterfeit goods? I’ve read a few of his comments over the last few years and I never seem to be able to grasp whats going through that clowns mind. The only people ripping off the taxpayers are the goverment!
If tougher penalties would solve anything Ireland would be the most law abiding country in Europe by now.!
Joey, can I just say, WHAT.
he is at it again last year it was to people trotting horses if he ad nothing good to say he should shut up or look at hid own party
Dis is stupid Like???? how we meant to earn livings with out Dis like?? come on like.. we deserve to work for the money like, yous are just all all educacateed and can work the normal money jobs but den uders like us can’t?????? i pay my taxes on stuff like food and stuff like so why not like??? Da bags me and da missus sell are graan d like sure competition is the good idea.
Politicians in tackling everything that’s wrong with the country except the actual things that are wrong with the country shocker.
Thank goodness we have other vested interests ready to challenge spurious data in press releases.
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