Garda recruitment: We need a force to reckon with

THE Government has approved the recruitment of 250 gardaí over the next six months.

That is being touted as good news but the reality is that it will barely cover the numbers of those leaving the force and will make little headway towards bringing the Garda Siochána back to a proper level in terms of numbers.

Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan can be in no doubt at the concerns of middle-ranking gardaí at this state of affairs. According to John Redmond, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, the strength of the force has fallen by 1,700 to 12,800 in five years and approximately 30 members of all ranks are leaving every month.

“We just can’t cope,” Mr Redmond told the association’s annual delegate conference. Let us hope that Commissioner O’Sullivan is listening because an undermanned and under-resourced police force puts the public in danger.

Most worrying of all is the revelation that gardaí are turning down six in every 10 requests by the prison service for armed escorts for dangerous criminals.

The only reasonable explanation for this is that the Garda Siochána’s resources are stretched beyond endurance.

Commissioner O’Sullivan assumed her role promising to bring about real and lasting changes to the force.

It is now time for her to put those words into action.

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