GRA urges Govt to reveal plans for manning 208 border crossings in no-deal Brexit

Frontline gardaí say plans need to be urgently published on how the organisation is going to police the border and staff checkpoints in a crash-out Brexit.

The Garda Representative Association said this blueprint must set out the personnel, accommodation, vehicle and equipment requirements in a no-deal scenario.

GRA Vice President Frank Thornton also said that staffing problems, identified by the Policing Authority, in specialist squads, including armed support units along the border, were part of a wider staffing problem.

“In Ballybofey [Donegal], a station of up to 30 gardaí, there is no patrol car, so how are we going to get patrol cars for the 208 border crossings?” he asked.

His comments come as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said checks on goods and live animals from the North were likely to be required “near the border”.

The Taoiseach said while he feared a no-deal he said he was “prepared for it”.

The erection of physical border infrastructure has been identified by police, north and south, as posing a security threat from dissident republicans and that the posts would require a policing presence or patrols.

Mr Thornton said the Taoiseach's remarks posed all sorts of hard questions: “The Taoiseach said he has fears of a no-deal, but is he prepared, but is State security prepared?

“We have not seen any briefing document regarding no-deal, no strategy or plans. What is proposed?”

“And the Taoiseach said there would be border checks – they are going to have to be manned. We are already threadbare in terms of numbers.”

Mr Thornton asked was the policing response going to be like that to the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001.

“We have 208 border crossings. Can we sustain the policing we had back then? Absolutely not and local people will suffer.”

He called for Garda HQ to detail its plans: “We need to open consultation immediately. Our members are primarily affected. There needs to be plans setting out the requirements in vehicles, accommodation, resources, personnel, equipment and where they are going to come from.”

Mr Thornton said the issue of personnel was also reflected in a report of the Policing Authority, published on Thursday.

It said staffing problems were hitting key garda specialist units, including regional armed support units, the national fraud squad, divisional units tasked with investigating sexual and domestic violence and regional cybercrime units.

The report said the Armed Support Unit for the Northern Region was “facing pressures” because it was needed in Louth, due to the Drogheda feud.

It said this meant the ASU for the Western Region was also having to cover Donegal and other parts of the Northern Region.

A new ASU for Cavan was not yet come on stream with widespread uncertainty as to when it will be operational.

Mr Thornton said: “The issues raised in the Policing Authority report is part of a wider issue of staffing - it's all connected. With all the recruitment, which is welcome, we are still not at the staffing level of 2010, before the embargo.”

He said it was positive that gardaí were getting promotional opportunities and lateral movement into specialist units, but said the regular frontline units “need to be back-filled”.