Gardaí have low morale as calls made for Government to change model

Pictured are Gardai on patrol on O'Connell Street . Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

The general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has said that morale in the force is "low" - and has urged the Government to change the model of policing.

Antoinette Cunningham was speaking in the wake of the arrest of a male youth in connection to an incident which saw an American tourist assaulted in Dublin.

The incident took place on Talbot Street, just a few yards aware from Store Street garda station - one of the largest in the capital.

Ms Cunningham said that the force needed "more reactive than proactive policing."

In a series of tweets posted on the AGSI Twitter account, she said that the current model, in place since 2018, has not worked.

She said: "We haven’t achieved our recruitment targets. It’s a totally incorrect statement by Minister Helen McEntee to the Dáil saying there’s no morale issue. I can tell you morale is low given all the aspects of policing reforms our members have had to go through since the pandemic.

"We have a model of policing that doesn’t promote visible policing, it instead chains members to their desks trying to keep up-to-date with administrative burdens placed on them.

"The Government need to look at this model of policing."

Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme, Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central Gary Gannon echoed calls that Gardaí were needed in the inner city.

He said: "We have fallen below 14,000 Gardaí in the state. But we still have to allocate that provision of Gardaí based on where we need the most,

I can’t imagine a place where we need more Garda presence than in the central part of our capital city. 

"At a very minimum people have a right to go into the city center for whatever purpose they may need, and feel safe,”

Mr Gannon said that other European capitals had people in uniforms "creating a presence".