Councillors call on Drew Harris to address falling garda numbers in Cork
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Cork county councillors want Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to address them in person about falling garda numbers in the region and the particularly the drop in visibility on the beat.
Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath got unanimous cross-party support from colleagues when he called for the commissioner to meet them claiming “many of our suburbs and towns are not served properly” by the force.
Recent figures released in the Dáil show there are 132 less gardaí serving in Cork city and county compared to the 1,382 at the end of 2020.
Mr McGrath said many stations are not being opened to the public for sufficient hours which is also “unacceptable.”
He said it was also unacceptable that out of the 108 batch of trainees to graduate from Temple-more last month just 10 were sent to cover the entire southern region — Cork, Clare, Tipperary, Limerick and Kerry.
“Garda numbers in Ireland are below the European average and far below the nations with the highest police-to-population ratios. Ireland has 291 gardaí for every 100,000 inhabitants, compared to an average of 328 police for every 100,000 people across 35 European countries,” Social Democrats councillor Ann Bambury said.
She added that the government must look to our European counterparts like Portugal, “who exemplify great policing with adequate numbers on the beat.”
Ms Bambury said to copy the Portuguese model, garda numbers would need to reach 18,076 by 2029 and 22,584 by 2037.
Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry said garda numbers in no way reflect increasing populations. He said in his hometown of Carrigtwohill there were three full-time gardaí based there 20 years ago to police a then population of 2,000.
“There are supposed to be four (garda) members attached to the station now. It is closed nearly all the time and we now have a population of around 8,000,” he said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Mulcahy said the new operating model is tying up gardaí in specialist units and there are not enough on the frontline visible on the beat.
Independent councillor Mary Linehan-Foley said too many are “being tied up with office duties and paperwork instead of being out on the street” and acting as a visible deterrent to crime.
Independent councillor Danny Collins said stations had been closed in West Cork and other have been downgraded in terms of opening hours because of depleted numbers.
Fine Gael councillor Marie O’Sullivan said extra gardaí are deployed when the Kinsale rugby 7s tournament is on and their visibility on the streets is a definite deterrent to crime.
“When we were young gardaí were everywhere and we knew them. There was huge visibility back then, but not now,” Fianna Fáil councillor Deirdre O’Brien said.