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

I will use the example of Donegal and Sligo-Leitrim. They said it was done on a geographic basis. I accept that Louth is the smallest county but it has two huge towns. If we are going to talk about crime statistics, unfortunately, Louth can hold its own with the best.

That is something we would prefer was not the case but that is the reality when you are dealing with big urban centres. We know the particular issues we have dealt with. There is one piece I really cannot get my head around. I understand the idea of streamlining. I really get it and also any civilianisation that can be done. The idea of community engagement which the superintendent puts forward makes complete sense. However, the fact is that we cannot deal with a situation where we have a single superintendent who is dealing with serious crime, murder, intelligence-led operations, and they are operating across all those three counties. I accept it is up the Garda leadership team to make the decision but in the end of the day the reviews that seem to occur seem to be highlighted by even the likes of my own colleague in Donegal, who is chair of the Donegal joint policing committee, JPC, by writing to the Commissioner and inviting him in. It is then reviews seem to occur. We know the whole issue with the rosters. The other issue my local JPCs have is the fear that we are going to lose community gardaí and members of the drug squad. As much as things did not go exactly well with the negotiations, it looks positive that the Commissioner has said he will meet with all the organisations individually, that there are no preconditions and that we may come to a solution. That is absolutely necessary. There have been some promises that people will not be leaving community policing but unfortunately I am hearing this is still happening in the town of Dundalk and I need to make sure it is not.

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