Gardaí hit back at Leo
GRA says too few staff to move to other areas
GARDAÍ have hit back at Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s claims that the Government will allocate more officers and healthcare workers to areas that are most ‘under pressure’ as a result of the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees.
Mr Varadkar and the Cabinet are currently putting together a multimillion euro package for the 10 districts in the country that have taken in the most refugees. It is expected a plan will be ready for review by the Cabinet next month.
But the pledge to bring in more gardaí and health workers has baffled the Garda Representative Association, which said there are no extra resources to move.
Any reallocation of personnel would have a knock-on effect in other areas, its president Brendan O’Connor said.
He also pointed out that gardaí are in an ‘incredibly serious’ recruitment and retention crisis as the force saw record resignations last year.
‘The use of the word extra and additional is always very interesting for us,’ he said.
‘There aren’t enough gardaí to do the job that needs to be done – we’re 1,000 members short. What we’re saying is, as usual, they’re asking more of the same finite pool of people. So it is an acknowledgement that resources are insufficient, but where the solution lies, we don’t know.’
‘We’re struggling with units covering massive areas,’ he added.
‘Many small stations are very much understaffed as resources are sucked into what were called district headquarters and a lot of them are now earmarked for downgrading,’ he told Newstalk.
‘So really, we don’t know where these additional or extra gardaí would come from.’
Health care workers and teachers are also dealing with staffing and recruitment crises.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has long been urging the Government to implement measures to help stop the exodus of nurses to other countries.
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha previously said: ‘Since December 2019, we have seen an insufficient amount of additional whole-time equivalent staff nurses recruited each year.
‘Currently, we have over 400 vacancies in emergency departments alone. We have seen an exodus of midwives from the public health service and there is a recruitment crisis in public health nursing,’ she added.
Meanwhile, in relation to the arson attacks on buildings earmarked for refugees, the Taoiseach said he has been informed by gardaí that arrests are coming.
‘There are a number of garda investigations under way and there have been people questioned and searches have been carried out,’ Mr Varadkar said.
‘The gardaí have told me that they anticipate there will be arrests in relation to arson attacks around the country and I have to remind people that this is a serious crime that carries a sentence of up to 10 years.’
Elsewhere, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said she trusts gardaí to police the anti-immigration protests of recent weeks.
‘There will be arrests for arson’