Frustra ted ga rda í are forced to speak out on Border

TWO frontline gardaí have taken the unusual decision to speak out about their fears ahead of Brexit.

As members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), James Morrisroe from Cavan and Brendan O’Connor from Donegal speak for rank-and-file officers in the Border region.

The concerns they raise in an article for today’s Irish Independent will make for stark reading for the Irish Government and indeed the politicians of Northern Ireland, who remain incapable of getting power-sharing back on course.

In particular, the officers say the threat posed by dissident republicans, armed vigilantes and criminal gangs will be worsened if a physical Border is re-established.

Low-level traffic offenders are now prepared to “risk lives” along the Border, knowing that they are unlikely to be caught due to a lack of gardaí.

“We are at breaking point and at times are struggling to respond to some incidents,” the officers write.

“A hard-Border Brexit outcome, one imagines, would certainly place an intolerable strain on the already depleted resources. It would simply be unsustainable at current levels.”

Warning that community policing has been dismantled due to cuts, the officers claim that their colleagues are often left isolated when responding to suspected crimes.