No new gardaí for Mayo

NOT one of the graduates who were sworn in as new members of An Garda Síochána last Friday will be allocated to a Garda station in Co Mayo.

Eighty-seven Garda trainees were sworn in as members of An Garda Síochána in a ceremony at the Garda Training College in Templemore, but of those 87 just one has been allocated in the Mayo/Roscommon/Longford Garda Division – and that recruit will be stationed in Longford.

Sixty-two of the new gardaí will be stationed in Dublin, while ten will be allocated to stations in the East, seven in the South and eight in the Northwest region.

Independent councillor Christy Hyland, a member of the Mayo Joint Policing Committee, criticised the lack of new recruits being deployed to rural stations.

“There is nothing coming to Mayo, and it is an absolute disgrace and typical of how rural Ireland is being forgotten about policing-wise,” he told The Mayo News.

“Over the years rural counties have always got new recruits straight out of Templemore, but it’s sad to say this allocation of recruits has not happened [for Mayo]. Management will say there was a guard allocated to the new division of Mayo/Roscommon/Longford, which is absolutely ridiculous.”

Recruitment problems

A spate of burglaries took place in south Mayo during the week, and Cllr Hyland stated that this highlights how career criminals target areas with few Garda resources.

“Career criminals are smart, it is their life and what they do, and they will watch every opportunity. When Garda personnel numbers are not in an area they will target that area, and this is what is happening.”

Garda Ronan O’Grady, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) representative in Mayo, said it was disappointing that no new recruits were coming to the county but added it was not surprising.

“We are disappointed, but they haven’t met the recruitment requirements. It is understandable we were not going to get anyone when only 87 came out. Mayo needs more guards there is no doubt about it, but they are not being recruited. We were hoping to get additions, but with only 87 recruits we knew we wouldn’t get five or six – we were hoping for one or two but it’s not to be,” he told The Mayo News.

As part of the Garda recruitment campaign, the Government hopes to recruit up to 1,000 gardaí this year. The intake of 175 Garda recruits from the 2022 recruitment campaign entered the Garda College yesterday (Monday).

Garda O’Grady, who is stationed in Newport, said the target figure of 1,000 for 2023 is unlikely to be met, as a career in the guards is not as attractive as it once was.

“There is more oversight, resources are more stretched and work in the guards is getting harder all the time. It is not easy, and young people are seeing that and they are not queuing up to join like they used to. That is the bottom line,” he said.

None of the 87 Gardaí who graduated from Templemore last Friday have been allocated to a station in Mayo

‘Bad management system’

Cllr Hyland, who is a former member of An Garda Síochána, said he met with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee on her visit to Mayo last week and told her to scrap the New Policing Model, which he feels is not working.

“They have to admit they made a mistake with the Garda Policing Model and scrap it. How can you expect to have efficient policing when you have a garda car in Westport having to travel to an incident in Ballyhaunis on a busy weekend? It does not make sense. I told her that, and hopefully she will listen,” he said.

Cllr Hyland added that the fact that gardaí stationed in Mayo were asked to police the All-Ireland Quarter Finals in Croke Park and concerts in Dublin showed that there is poor management in place in An Garda Siochana.

“Never in the history of An Garda Síochána have gardaí had to go from Mayo to Croke Park to police a football match. Yes, during the Troubles guards were sent to the border, but there was still a good service provided in the county. Never ever have guards been taken out of Mayo to police Croke Park or deal with concerts in Dublin,” he said.

“It seems to me that it will be a regular occurrence due to the bad management system in place with this policing model.”