Angry councillors demand extra gardaí
Mayor of County Cork, Cllr Michael Creed, yesterday said: “People are living in fear of their lives in rural areas.”
He made his comments after a number of other councillors raised manpower deficiency issues in their areas and highlighted recent reports in the Irish Examiner which showed a major need for more uniformed gardaí in the county.
Garda management had requested 26 further gardaí be brought into the Cork North Division. Their request was turned down, even though one young garda was, on occasion, solely responsible for patrolling an area with a population of 35,000.
The Garda Representative Association has called for an extra 50 gardaí in West Cork just to keep pace with the present workload.
Cllr Gerry Kelly (FG), referring to the plight of the young garda who is based in Glanmire, said that if a health-and-safety audit was carried out on the gardaí, Mr McDowell would have a lot to answer.
“To have one garda on his own on some occasions is very worrying. The population in Glanmire has grown tenfold.
“There are incidences of anti-social behaviour, it is a volatile situation ... and people are getting hurt,” he said.
Cllr Kelly claimed that in recent days extra gardaí had been drafted into the area on overtime.
“I’m worried this is a short-term knee-jerk reaction. I want to ensure there are enough gardaí in Glanmire in six months or a year’s time,” he said.
“It’s a joke talking about ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) if you’re asking one garda to round up all these guys.”
Cllr John Gilroy (Lab), who also lives in Glanmire, pointed out that garda numbers were falling in the satellite town, even though its population was increasing.
But he said it was a much wider problem than just Glanmire and several areas were suffering from a lack of gardaí.
“Public order is a matter of great concern for most populations. I’m calling on each individual member of the council to write to the minister highlighting problems in their own area.”
Cllr Derry Canty (FG) said promises to increase the garda force nationally had been made and not delivered on.
“He promised civilians would be brought into do desk jobs to release gardaí onto the street,” he said.
“Each of us are living in communities expanding and not getting gardaí we need. Every second garda coming out of Templemore is going to Dublin.”
Mr Creed warned against stripping gardaí from rural areas to police urban centres, and he added there is a very good case to be made for bringing in civilians to do desk jobs.
It was agreed by all councillors to write to Minister McDowell expressing their concerns.
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