Renewed calls for more garda resources for Sligo

DEMANDS to have more gardaí located in the Sligo-Leitrim Garda Division continues next week when members of Sligo County Council will be asked to call on the Minister for Justice to review garda numbers in the Division.

The latest effort to highlight concerns about those numbers comes from Sligo councillor Thomas Walsh who says that in the “interest of the safety of our community and frontline Garda members a review of garda numbers in the Sligo-Leitrim Division is urgently needed. Cllr Healy, who has tabled a motion to that effect to be considered at Monday’s meeting of the Council, has pointed out that the Division suffered a net reduction of 5.8% in Garda personnel last year “which means the division now has fewer gardaí than in 2015”.

He has asked that his motion, if supported by fellow councillors, is relayed to the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice, and the Assistant Commissioner for the NorthWest Division.

This motion follows concerns expressed earlier this month by Brendan O’Connor, president of the Garda Representative Association, who agreed that Sligo Garda Station is one of the most overstretched stations in the north-west.

Following garda concerns expressed earlier this year at the increase in knife and gun crime in Sligo, the Garda Representative Association yet again highlighted their concerns in early August at the inadequate numbers of “regular” gardaí available in Sligo town.

Local garda sources have described the shortage of gardaí in Sligo town as “chronic”. Mr O’Connor told the Sligo Weekender in an interview published on August 4 that it is wellknown and established that there is a “shortfall of gardaí, particularly what we would call the ‘regular’ uniformed presence who are out on patrol and answer calls from the public.” He said: “There is a drop in numbers in Sligo,” adding that while it was accepted that Covid has impacted on training, the problem has pre-dated Covid.

He said recruitment announcements have not materialised and we see a drop in the numbers going through [the training college] in Templemore.

He accepted garda management were competing for a finite resource.

“Our people are spread too thinly, we simply do not have enough resources to meet the demands being put on them,” he said.

The comments from Brendan O’Connor echo calls last spring from Sligo GRA representatives who said a Garda Armed Response Unit in Sligo town is badly such is the level of gun and knife crime in the town.

GRA representatives, speaking at their conference in Westport, said that apart from the increase in the frequency of stabbing incidents in Sligo-Leitrim garda division, the number of firearm incidents has become “more prevalent”.

Conference delegates were told that garda management have “consistently ignored” calls from the GRA to address the issues.