Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, for taking this Topical Issue. Obviously, I would much prefer if the Minister for Justice was taking it but she has cover as I have seen her interviewed in Brussels. I spoke to her previously about the new operating model where the Louth Garda division will be combined with the Cavan-Monaghan division in December. It will be one of the few three-county models that will be in operation. This throws up significant issues.

Ardee, Dundalk and Drogheda joint policing committees met and there were discussions and no element of happiness. Alongside issues with the Garda roster, which I will deal with later, there was a determination that they would write to the Commissioner and the Minister to ask that this be stalled, reviewed and overturned. Deputy Munster and I wrote to the Commissioner about this. I will quote the reply I received:

Following a recent comprehensive review conducted by An Garda Síochána into the composition of Divisions with three counties under the Operating Model structure the Garda Senior Leadership Team has made the decision that Louth and Cavan/Monaghan will be amalgamated into one Division. The operating model is already implemented in seven divisions: Limerick, Kerry, Cork city, Galway, DMR South Central, Mayo-Roscommon-Longford and Clare-Tipperary.

Mayo-Roscommon-Longford is the only three-county model. There were plans to amalgamate Donegal and Sligo-Leitrim but that was reviewed and overturned and, therefore, it is on that basis that it makes sense to reconsider. I call on the Minister to engage with the Commissioner and his team to review this.

I do not have to tell anybody about the particular issues An Garda Síochána faces and the very important work it does. In my home town of Dundalk, three gardaí were injured, one of them more seriously than the others, and I wish them well. They were rammed by a stolen car close to Pearse Park. That is the reality of what they must deal with and the work they must do when they leave their homes in the morning.

We all saw the important work An Garda Síochána was involved in as part of that task force that led to the seizure of €157 million worth of cocaine. I commend An Garda Síochána, the task force, the Navy and the Army rangers and call for more of those operations as quickly as possible because the only way that cartels and all those involved in heinous drug crime will learn from this is when it hurts them in their pockets.

There were significant issues in Drogheda. No Deputy is unaware of the feud there and the significant operation it took through Operation STRATUS to deal with some of those criminal gangs. That is not to say all those issues have been dealt with.

As much as some streamlining is being offered in the new model, it does not make sense to me that Louth with its towns of Dundalk and Drogheda with their significant crime rates would be put in with Cavan and Monaghan and that there would be a single superintendent with responsibility for intelligence-led operations and serious crime, including murder investigations, across that area.

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