Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of Garda rostering with the Minister. Right now we have a shortage of gardaí and yet in spite of this, the Commissioner, Mr. Drew Harris, is hell bent on overhauling the national Garda roster. This overhaul would seriously dilute our Garda force and see many rural stations becoming unmanned and many specialised units being stood down so that rosters in larger towns and stations can be backfilled. Commissioner Harris's roster overhaul would see the entire removal of community policing in many Garda divisions.

In a letter to the Garda Representative Association, GRA, last November, Commissioner Harris was quoted as saying that resourcing a fifth unit is no longer operationally feasible and would result in a significant reduction in service delivery in many areas such as domestic abuse investigation, and that divisional drug units would be depleted and this would lead to a reduction in numbers in the national bureaus. These were his words. Nothing has changed since November 2022 apart from the fact that the force is now 300 personnel less. I know the answer will probably say the Minister cannot intervene in Garda operational matters. I do not believe that is the case because in July we saw the Minister positively intervene in terms of the overtime roster for the Dublin Garda division. The Minister must again step in here. The reality is that if we do not intervene and if the Government does not step up and give some guidance on what it sees fit for policing, rural policing and domestic violence units, we will see a depleted Garda force and the public will be the loser. I ask the Government please to step in with the GRA and the Commissioner and give some guidance, common sense and steerage on this.

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