GRA president: 'We're down 2.5 thousand Gardaí than there were in 2010'

The Garda Representative Association says an extra €5m in funding for patrol cars and equipment is "wallpapering over the cracks" in terms of Garda resources.

Earlier the Justice Minister said "there is no correlation between the closure of Garda stations and an increase in burglaries".

But GRA president Dermot O'Brien disagrees.

"Why are these cars being bought and extra budgets being given? It's because they're wallpapering over the cracks in relation to the fact that, we're down 2.5 thousand Gardaí than there were in 2010 which is more than 5 million hours of policing.

"Yet this burden of 5 million hours of policing is being carried by the membership that's out there at the moment and their extremely frustrated, disillusioned and angry with it."