Fewer gardai policing Cork despite our new recruits

CORK is losing gardai, not gaining them, according to Deputy Michael Moynihan.

Despite six new recruits being appointed to the Cork Garda divisions this week, all for Cork West, Deputy Moynihan said regular retirements over the years have seen overall numbers declining.

The new appointments by An Garda Siochana this week were part of 87 announced nationwide, all for the Garda Traffic Corps - which will now be called ‘Roads policing Units’.

‘A key element of the work of the new Roads Policing Unit will be to deny criminals the use of the roads network. In addition to focusing on the lifesaver offenses of speeding, seatbelts, mobile phones and driving under the influence, there will be a significant focus on crime prevention and crime detection,” said a Garda spokesperson.

However, Deput Moynihan said he is concerned that not enough of the Gardaí who have retired over the past number of years in the three Cork Garda divisions are being replaced. This came after he secured information from the Department of Justice showing that 107 Gardaí have retired from stations in the North Cork, Cork City and Cork West Divisions between 2014 and to date in 2018.

“We constantly hear that there has been over 1800 new Gardaí deployed from Templemore since 2014, but what isn’t being put into the public domain is the number of Gardaí that are retiring or even resigning from the force,” said Deputy Moynihan.

“Losing over 100 Gardaí to natural retirement between Cork City and County means that the actual number of ‘new Gardaí’ is far fewer than what the Government claims. We know that nationally over 700 Gardaí have retired since 2014.

“There is, in many places across rural Ireland, a scarcity of Gardaí on the beat; this has a direct effect on the public’s confidence in the ability of An Garda Síochána to protect their communities from crime.

“We need to see more Gardaí in out stations, in our communities and on our streets. It’s the only way to deal with the scourge of rural crime and criminality,” concluded Moynihan.

This week, The Road Safety Authority welcomed the 87 new Garda members being appointed to Roads Policing Units, but with chief executive Moyagh Murdock noting: “the allocation is the first increase in Garda numbers deployed to front line road safety enforcement since 2010”.