Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak at this committee and welcome the Commissioner and his colleagues. I listened to the presentations in my office. I am a Tipperary Deputy with significant concerns about what is happening. Over the past couple of years, I have asked a number of parliamentary questions about resources provided to County Tipperary. It is clear that we have not received our fair share of resources be they personnel on the ground or the car fleet. The drugs unit in our county is completely under-resourced. We feel that this reorganisation will put us at further disadvantage. We have serious black spots as regards personnel in the county in places like Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir and Roscrea. Templemore Garda station, which is a 24-hour Garda station, cannot be kept open because of lack of personnel. They are all issues about which people in the county have serious concerns.

With this reorganisation, we see Tipperary being amalgamated with Clare. Tipperary is a county with an area of 4,305 sq. km with a population of 160,000. It is 150 km in length from top to bottom. I heard my colleague from Clare talk earlier about the bridge in Killaloe. It is the only land connection between Tipperary and Clare. Last Saturday, there was a 6 km tailback on that bridge. Thankfully, it is a tourist destination and is extremely busy during the summer but it is the only land connection between the two counties. When I was in my office, I heard it said that there was extensive consultation about these divisional boundaries. As a Deputy, I can say that there was no consultation with Deputies in the county and my colleagues have said the same to me. I spoke to members of the Garda Representative Association, GRA, who told me that there was no consultation with them and I spoke with senior members of the force who feel there was very little consultation.

Like Deputy Naughten, I am concerned. Thurles is the divisional headquarters for Tipperary at the moment. I heard the case being made this morning for Ennis to be made the site of headquarters of this new area. Geographically, that makes no sense. It would be a completely lopsided decision. Thurles is in the centre of Tipperary. This proposed division is a monstrosity in terms of size. It is 200 km from the west coast of Clare to Carrick-on-Suir. I have met nobody operating in An Garda Síochána in my county who thinks it logical to have this territory in the one division.

We also have the most kilometres of motorways of any county in Ireland. We have two motorways going through our county. For whatever reason, one of them seems to have a serious number of crashes. There seems to be a serious number of crashes on the stretch of motorway in the Moneygall area. As a Tipperary Deputy and a Thurles man, I am extremely concerned about this merger. We have been getting the short straw as regards resources. This reorganisation will make Tipperary's position worse. I stress that if this proposed merger of Tipperary and Clare, which is illogical, goes ahead, Thurles must be retained as the headquarters in that division due to its location. While we would still not be happy, it would give us some confidence that Tipperary would be adequately policed. The lack of resources in our county is of significant concern to us. Clonmel Garda station is another issue. We have been promised a new station there for a long time. The conditions in which gardaí in that station have to work are unacceptable and are not up to modern standards. Due to pressure on time, I will conclude.