Garda strike ‘would bring fear to the streets’

A Garda strike would bring fear to the streets and damage public confidence in the force, groups have warned.

Organisations representing businesses and vulnerable groups have joined with the Policing Authority and politicians in calling for urgent talks to avert the action.

Seamus Boland, chief executive of Irish Rural Link, said that rural communities had suffered enough with the loss of Garda stations and local patrols.