Garda patrols - Policy must be scrapped

With crime on the increase, it is disturbing to learn that Garda morale is at a new low. Because of Government cutbacks, according to the GRA, a body with 11,200 frontline members of the force, the gardaí are no longer able to protect swathes of rural Ireland.

That scenario will send shivers through remote areas where people feel increasingly under threat of violence and robbery. The effects of financial cutbacks are to be seen, the gardaí claim, in a worrying policy designed to protect an ageing fleet of patrol cars.

It is reprehensible to think that lives could be put in danger in order to prolong the life of vehicles by reducing rural patrols, effectively postponing the 300,000km deadline when they are taken off the road. This policy is unacceptable and should be scrapped.