23/10/2024
An Garda Síochána
Deputy Alan Kelly: There was a recent meeting of councillors from the Nenagh municipal district with the new Garda superintendent. The cross-party group of councillors came out of the meeting pretty shocked because he more or less admitted that he did not have the resources in the Tipperary-Clare division to meet the requirements of the area. He was pretty matter-of- fact about it. He has to be admired for how blunt he was with the councillors. A member of the Labour Party, councillor Fiona Bonfield, was completely shocked. We have known about the issues regarding Garda presence across north Tipperary for some time. It comes up in our office every week. The bluntness with which the new superintendent admitted to not having the resources was fairly frank. There are huge recruitment and retention issues across the country for An Garda Síochána. I know of two local people who wanted to join the force and went to their local sergeant for advice. By the time they left, they were no longer interested in joining. I know of a situation in the southeast where a number of gardaí just left their jobs and went to Australia. Recently, a member of the force left to join Irish Rail, for better pay and conditions, as I understand it. This issue is ongoing. If the Government does not face up to this we are in serious trouble. The issue is not just in Tipperary and Clare.
Pay and conditions and the work culture are massive issues in the force.
As a division, why Tipperary-Clare was set up is bizarre because it is a logistical nightmare. Many of the gardaí are burnt out. Let us look at a scenario in Roscrea, where there were not enough gardaí. A garda went from Newport on secondment for six months to cover Roscrea. Newport to Roscrea is not a short distance but he had to go for six months. That leaves Newport short a garda. There is no marked police car in Newport. Roscrea has a 2012 Ford Focus, a community policing car. Killaloe Garda station, which is part of the same Nenagh-Killaloe area, has no marked car. We have the Garda Training College in Templemore. There is currently a position there in the actual Garda room in the college. Hundreds of gardaí have applied for the position, to get away from front-line policing. They do not want to continue given what they have to put up with. Members in the division on long-term sick leave are not being replaced because there is no one to replace them. Gardaí are being put into areas where they have no local knowledge, so there is a deficit in actual response times. Bureaucracy on small issues is taking up a lot of time. We are taking gardaí from smaller towns and bringing them to bigger towns. Community policing units and crime task-force units are great in theory but when gardaí are being taken for these from front-line policing in stations and the stations are being left vacant, what is the point? We are robbing Peter to pay Paul.
We have very few foot patrols due to the lack of police on the ground. This is a serious issue in Nenagh, Thurles, Roscrea, Newport, Templemore and everywhere else. We have a situation where, on some days of the week, there are six gardaí, two in Newport-Killaloe, two in Nenagh on outside duty and one or two in the Roscrea area. That is not sufficient. When are we all going to wake up? This is just referring to the division in my own area. Unless pay and conditions are improved and the job becomes a vocation that people want to get into, we are not going to have the police force we require.
Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Deputy Joe O’Brien): I thank the Deputy for raising this matter in the House. I convey the apologies of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, who regrets she can- not be here for this matter due to another commitment.
As the Deputy will be aware, by law, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of Garda members and resources between the various Garda stations and divisions. I can assure the Deputy that the Garda Commissioner and his management team keep the distribution of Garda members and resources under constant review. This is done in light of operational needs and in close consultation with local Garda management in each division.
I can further assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities and strengthening An Garda Síochána is at the core of that. Budget 2025 provided the highest ever allocation to An Garda Síochána, with more than €2.48 billion, which is a 27% increase since 2020. This funding allows for the continued recruitment of Garda members and staff, which will in turn allow the Garda Commissioner to ensure that an effective policing service can be delivered
To assist with recruitment, the Government increased the training allowance and increased the age of entry from 35 to 50. The Minister has also secured a significant increase in the training allowance which now means that trainees are paid €354 per week. The Government is determined that An Garda Síochána grows to 15,000 members and beyond.
We are seeing growing momentum in recruitment and more and more gardaí are coming through the Garda Training College and onto our streets. Last month the Minister was delighted to witness 108 new Garda members attesting. This is the third graduation ceremony of the year, with 165 members attested in March and a further 157 in June. A new group of 135 recruits entered the college last month for their first phase of training and I wish them well.
I can inform the Deputy, as of June 2024, there are 656 gardaí assigned to the Clare-Tipperary division which is an increase of ten since 2015. As of the same date, 164 probationer gardaí have been assigned to stations within the Clare-Tipperary division since 2020. There are also 129 Garda vehicles in use in the division. The Deputy will also be aware that enabling works have begun on a new Garda Station in Clonmel. The Department of Justice is also funding refurbishment works in Cashel and Bansha stations as well as the Garda College in Templemore. This is to ensure that all Garda personnel and communities have the fit-for-purpose facilities they deserve both now and into the future.
Deputy Alan Kelly: I thank the Minister for reading the script. It does not really address my concerns. I appreciate he is not the direct Minister but 15,000 gardaí - when are we going to get realistic? There was a report on Dublin city centre recently where they want 1,000 more gardaí. It is laughable. There are gardaí looking to retire all the time. I know of gardaí who are now looking at having a cost-neutral retirement and will sacrifice a certain percentage of their gratuity and pension to get the hell out of their job because they want to go at 50. They will not stay on any longer. It will cost them money but will probably help them in the long term from a life perspective. That is where we are at. Gardaí are leaving the force all the time. Trainee gardaí are leaving before they qualify. We had a situation last year - I saw it at the commit- tee - where the number of gardaí coming into Templemore was manufactured because the last batch were put in just before the new year to register them for this year. This is not being taken seriously - the pay and conditions, working conditions and resources. Do the Commissioner and senior management have the backs of gardaí? I look at what is going on in Limerick and the mid-west with gardaí and I wonder why would you join. Then, I look at why so many are leaving and I see why. They are leaving because this is no longer a vocation as it was in the past. There are easier ways to make a living. The volume of hassle and the concern your family members have for you now as a garda are so deep people are not choosing it and the people with experience are leaving. The brain drain is huge and the Government is not addressing it.
Deputy Joe O’Brien: I thank the Deputy again on behalf of the Minister for raising this important matter. When I take a Topical Issue, I look at the question and try to understand what is behind the issue
Deputy Alan Kelly: I appreciate that
Deputy Joe O’Brien: The question was fairly broad in that related to Tipperary and Clare, which is a big area. I will take back the specific issues the Deputy mentioned around Nenagh, Roscrea and Newport and long-term sick leave. The issue around leaving stations vacant comes up in my area as well. Sometimes, the senior garda in the area says they are between a rock and a hard place. People want to see gardaí on the beat but they also want someone in the station. There is a balance needed.
On local community safety partnerships, I am sure the Deputy will agree community safety is about people being safe and, importantly, feeling safe in their communities. At the heart of this policy is the principle that every community has the right to be and feel safe in order to thrive and flourish. Our approach to community safety is a whole-of-government one. We want to bring the relevant social service providers including the Garda together with the community in a collaborative manner by focusing on the concerns identified by the local community. Local community safety partnerships are provided for in Part 3 of the Policing, Security and Com- munity Safety Act 2024 signed into law by the President in February. Each newly established local community safety partnership will be required to develop and implement its own tailored community safety plan and will take a strategic approach to its work so that issues arising can be dealt with in a co-ordinated manner and addressed collectively by relevant providers in partnership with the community. The Minister recently announced the appointment of chairpersons to the first seven local community safety partnerships being established. The Minister is hopeful many communities will start to see local community safety partnership established in their areas over the coming weeks.
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