SENIOR POLITICIANS INCLUDING at least one Government minister met with garda management in Cork to raise concerns about policing levels in southside suburbs. 

The Journal has learned that Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath spoke to senior garda officers about the problems of policing resources in the area. 

On Saturday we revealed significant problems in the wider Togher Garda District, which covers a massive swathe of communities including Douglas, Carrigaline and the broader Cork Harbour area. 

Two weeks ago, a meeting was held between gardaí and a number of public representatives on the issue of garda resourcing. It was not the only meeting between individual public representatives and garda management, and there has also been a public meeting to discuss ongoing issues in Carrigaline in the past few weeks. 

Following that public meeting it was announced that two extra community gardaí and a patrol car would be sent to the Carrigaline area. 

As we reported on Saturday, multiple sources revealed that such are the difficulties with garda manpower that Douglas station has been struggling to respond to calls from the public as Douglas gardaí have been providing protection at the home of Taoiseach Micheál Martin. 

In March, a garda from Passage was stabbed as he responded alone to a domestic incident in Douglas.

At least one garda must be posted outside the Taoiseach’s house 24 hours a day. Until recently, this security was provided to Martin using Garda overtime. Up to March, Garda overtime was also being used to fill the shortfall in patrol gardaí in Douglas, some of whom were instead spending time outside the Taoiseach’s house. 

But after that date, the overtime allocation to pay for an extra guard to work on a shift was cancelled. It meant that gardaí from the regular policing unit, who normally respond to calls from the community, have been tasked with covering the static protection post near the Taoiseach’s home.

But sources said today that garda management is set to remove the responsibility for the protection post from Douglas and it could be taken on by regular units from Cork garda headquarters in Anglesea Street.   

Councillor Seamus McGrath, a Fianna Fáil party local representative in Carrigaline, said there needs to be a major rethink in policing in the area.

“I think we need a better service. I think the guards on the ground do their level best, but they are stretched.

“They obviously provide a minimum service but we need better than that, and I think one of the key parts of policing for me is proactive policing: it’s visibility, it’s deterring incidents happening, deterring crime, preventing it. So the long answer to your question is we need to improve the service locally.

“The obvious way to do that is through additional resources. I would always compliment the guard scheduler’s level best, but they are also frustrated with lack of resources,” he said. 

McGrath and his colleague Simon Coveney had posted social media comments on April 11 welcoming the additional gardaí to Carrigaline. Coveney said that two community gardaí and four gardaí would be taking up posts there in the coming months.

Sources have told The Journal that the two community gardaí would be replacing two gardaí coming close to retirement. 

One key issue causing the resourcing problems is that a large number of gardaí have been moved off general response duties to man new specialist units. 

McGrath said that he and his colleagues have had multiple meetings with garda management – he said such was the movement in garda resources that it was hard to get exact numbers.

“It’s an ongoing issue and I’ve had contact from guards myself in relation to this,” he said.