Spate of burglaries in minister’s backyard
McEntee under f ire as unsolved constituency break-ins mount
JUSTICE Minister Helen McEntee has come under fire over a spate of unsolved break-ins in her political heartland. It comes as newly released figures reveal the Minister’s Meath base has the lowest number of gardaí per capita in the country, with just one officer for every 668 people.
Despite the Coalition’s boast about record levels of investment in the force, the country only has two extra gardaí per 100,000 people since the number of officers fell to record lows during the post-austerity period in 2016.
The figures were confirmed by Ms McEntee in response to parliamentary queries from her constituency neighbour, Aontú leader and Meath East TD Peadar Tóibín.
Commenting on the figures, Mr Tóibín said he also
‘People live in violent, lawless communities’
received ‘incredible’ statistics from the Meath Joint Policing Committee, of which he is member, relating to unsolved burglaries in the county.
He said the figures reveal that in Ms McEntee’s political stronghold of Kells, not one of 50 break-ins reported in the area this year has been solved.
Mr Tóibín told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘In one division in Meath, so far this year there were 50 burglaries. Yet gardaí have not been able to detect the criminals behind any of these burglaries.’
In the neighbouring district of Trim, just two of 45 burglary incidents resulted in a detection.
The Aontú leader said detection rates in Ms McEntee’s constituency stronghold are far lower than in other parts of the county.
‘There were 281 burglaries committed so far this year and detections were recorded in only 22 of these. Remember, detections are not convictions they are simply arrests,’ he said.
According to the latest Garda numbers, there are 280 officers per 100,000 people across the country. Mr Tóibín said the figures highlight ‘a low number of gardaí and a major inequality in how they are distributed in the State’.
He told the MoS: ‘It reveals the level of change from the Eurostat report in 2016, which showed Ireland had one of the smallest per capita police forces in the EU at 278 gardaí for every 100,000 – 40 police officers less than the EU average – has been minimal.’
In 2016, An Garda Síochána employed 14,500 officers and civilian employees. At the time, the government declared its target was to increase the force to 21,000 by 2021, consisting of 15,000 gardaí, 4,000 civilians and 2,000 reserves.
But Mr Tóibín said the latest data provided by the minister show ‘that in six years that figure has hardly increased at all’. He said: ‘Today... there are only 14,283 Garda members across the State. With a population of 5.1 million, that means there are only 280 gardaí for every 100,000 people in the State. It is important to remember that the 2016 figure was a result of significant cuts in Garda numbers due to the austerity years.
‘Yet today, when the Government is squirrelling away billions into a National Reserve Fund, we have still one of the lowest numbers of police in Europe,’ he said.
‘Many people live in fear, many people live in violent and lawless communities. Our public transport has become more dangerous. Many Garda stations are closed, and others are only part time.’
Underlining the need for greater numbers in the force, Mr Tóibín said gardaí today face ‘increasingly violent situations on their own’.
And he warned some parts of the country – most notably the minister’s political backyard – are suffering the adverse effects of a shortage of officers.
Mr Tóibín said the distribution of gardaí is also of major concern. ‘The Minister for Justice’s county of Meath has the lowest number of gardaí per capita in the State, at one garda for 668 people. This is nearly half the number of gardaí per capita as the rest of the State.’
He compared this to the number of serving officers in Dublin, which has a ratio of one garda to 371 and the counties with the highest number of gardaí per capita, Leitrim and Waterford – both 334.
In response, Ms McEntee said: ‘The Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána. This includes responsibility for the deployment of Garda members throughout the State. As minister, I have no role in such matters.’