Ten garda recruits for New Ross

NEW ROSS gardaí have been boosted by an injection of new blood with ten new gardaí joining the ranks since September.

Four probationary gardaí started their careers in New Ross Garda Station on Friday. They follow the arrival of six new gardaí to the station in September.

This newspaper highlighted earlier in the year how morale was very low among gardaí in the district with only a few members available to police the district at weekends. Chief Superintendent John Roche said policing in the area suffered due to the the unexpected retirements of a number of gardaí since 2010.

The district lost two sergeants and six guards. At the time the Garda Representative Association (GRA) called for emergency measures to be put in place to ensure garda numbers in the New

Ross district would be increased over the coming months.

Within three weeks six gardaí had arrived.

Chief Superintendent John Roche, pictured right, said: ‘ There are 47 probationers coming on stream and eight are coming to this county, with four going to

New Ross. These probationers – along with the six which arrived in September – will significantly improve the situation. We have numbers now across the five units in New Ross.’

Supt Roche said: ‘Once recruitment restarted we made sure New Ross was designated as a training station where these guards will be permanently stationed. Now there are six or seven available to be on duty at weekends. It’s up to local management that there is adequate cover,’ he said.