Keeping the streets safe is a priority

WHILE Charlie Flanagan and his Cabinet colleagues were enjoying their weekend gardai were policing Ireland’s streets.

While they enjoyed family time at home those officers were out in communities ravaged by gangland crime protecting the public.

The Government has spoken in shallow platitudes about the work of those gardai but then their real feelings are shown in the Budget they provide.

It would rather balance the books than keep our streets safe.

Gardai operate on a 24-hour basis – despite Government comment there simply is not enough of them.

When serious incidents happen they need extra time on the clock to bring in off duty gardai on overtime to fill in the blanks.

Those blanks are what helps our police force to achieve the results like we saw in Wexford as they shut down gangland movements of money.

Operation Hybrid, the operation targeting the murder cartels, is one such effort where overtime is critical.

The Garda Budget is €30million in the red and as the force is spending €8million per month this needs to be reduced by 20%.

The fault lies at the Cabinet table and its Torystyle strategy of destroying critical services.

We’ve listened to a Fine Gael Taoiseach claiming the recovery is on course but they provide little to no proof they are handing down the benefits.

People deserve to feel safe in their homes and our gardai deserve to be able to protect them with a realistic Budget.