Restructuring will move Cork policing resources from suburbs into city, frontline garda supervisors warn

Frontline garda supervisors in Cork city have warned that the biggest ever restructuring of An Garda Siochana since its foundation will remove policing resources away from the outlying areas into the centre.

Cork city is one of four garda divisions that since last January has piloted the new operating model and is among five divisions that will be the first to implement it on a permanent basis.

An internal conference organised by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors heard concerns from a number of delegates at the divisional policing revamp, which was launched by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris last August.

Under the plan, 28 divisions are being reduced to 19, with 18 of those divisions being merged into nine divisions. There will also be an internal restructuring of how all 19 divisions will operate, with superintendents working across divisions, rather than districts.

The AGSI conference held a question and answer session with Assistant Commissioner Mick Finn, the model's main author.

“The Cavan/Monaghan Branch expressed a fear that resources would be sucked into the central Divisional headquarters," said a statement from the AGSI.

“These concerns were confirmed with our Cork City colleagues saying that the pilot proved that resources were stripped from outer areas and it also resulted in valuable talent and experience leaving.”

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, AGSI deputy general secretary Antoinette Cunningham said:

Cork city delegates, having been part of the pilot, said that they are not yet seeing the benefits of the model.

She said that busy city garda stations in Blackrock and Douglas, which have a combined population of around 30,000, only have one uniformed garda sergeant in each station.

Ms Cunningham said delegates in rural divisions, such as Cavan/Monaghan, were fearful of the impact on their areas if resources are sucked into the divisional HQ. Cavan/Monaghan is merging with Louth in the new model and the divisional HQ will be Drogheda.

She said the Cork delegates also pointed out that the CCTV system in the custody suite at Bridewell Station has been broken for the last two years and not repaired.

Ms Cunningham said this was raising broader concerns regarding the resources being made available to implement the model.

She said they asked A/C Finn had specific costings being done and if there was a specific budget and they were told only partial costings had been done and there no was dedicated funding for implementation.

“We are very concerned about that,” she said.

The conference heard that AGSI executives are due to meet Commissioner Harris this morning.

Concern was also expressed at the lack of any discussions between Garda HQ and the AGSI over Brexit's plans, particularly in a No Deal scenario.