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

I raised with the Aire previously the proposed changes to the new Garda operating model in County Louth, whereby the Louth division would be amalgamated with Cavan and Monaghan, with the addition of part of east Meath. I am fairly sure at this stage that the Minister has been spoken to and written to by joint policing committees across Louth, Cavan and Monaghan. I think Cavan and Monaghan would make the argument that they would see an awful lot of the resources being used in County Louth on the basis of the size of Dundalk and Drogheda, the large urban communities and, to be clear, the particular need there is in regard to the level of crime. We also have the Border and the M1. We have a number of issues that do not necessarily exist in an awful lot of other places. It does not make sense that the Commissioner has not reviewed this proposal. I have written to him myself, along with Deputy Munster. I cannot say that the reply we got was exactly what I was looking for.

Kerry is to remain a stand-alone division. Donegal, which was to go in with Sligo and Leitrim is to remain a stand-alone division. It does not make any sense in regard to County Louth.

We know the particular issues we have had in County Louth. We talk about the loss of Garda Tony Golden and Garda Adrian Donohoe. We know the huge work that had to be done on the Drogheda feud and Operation Stratus. Three gardaí were seriously injured recently in Dundalk, one more seriously than the others, when they were rammed by a stolen car. These are the sort of issues that are being dealt with.

The Minister will come back and say something to the effect that she is not going to direct the Commissioner, but there needs to be a review of what is going on. What is happening with Garda divisions does not make sense to anybody outside of Garda leadership at this point in time. The changes are due to happen in December and we know 6 November is an important date. I do not think there is anybody in the State who does not realise the issue with rosters.

Gardaí face a huge number of issues in respect of morale and that is why recruitment and retention need to be addressed. Whatever arguments can be made by gardaí regarding work-life balance, I am sure the Commissioner, like everybody else, realises that the only way we can fill units at the minute is by taking people from other units, namely, specialist units. We have heard that we may lose a community garda in Dundalk. At times we are being told that such units are being protected but that relates to those that are appointed.

A huge amount of work has been done by the Minister and others on domestic violence, which I am very glad about. I have been told that protective services is not something that will be impacted in County Louth. However, there will be new rosters. We need a solution to that and something that works. There is a chief superintendent dealing with Louth, Cavan and Monaghan who has responsibility for crime, including intelligence-led operations and major crime, such as murder investigations. The person will be based in Bailieborough and deal with the three counties. I do not think that is workable in any way, shape or form.

We know the issues we have with drugs across the board. We are in a different world. There are mental health issues. We know the supports that gardaí do not have. We have to deal with the issues that we can deal with as soon as possible.

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