Minister understands concern over Garda changes

The Justice Minister says she understands concerns over a reorganisation of policing areas within the Gardaí.

The new operational plan for the organisation was announced by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in late 2019. Under it, the current Cavan-Monaghan Division will merge with Louth. This in turn means the division headquarters and its chief superintendent will move from Monaghan Town to Drogheda.

Local representatives and the Garda Representative Association (GRA) raised concerns about the change, with the new division spanning an area from Blacklion in the west to the Irish Sea. The loss of the chief superintendent to Drogheda was also highlighted.

Monaghan Senator Robbie Gallagher reiterated those concerns in the Seanad recently, where Justice Minister Helen McEntee was addressing members on new legislation governing a number of changes to An Garda Siochána.

“My experience of the centralisation of services has not always been a positive one. I am thinking of the centralisation of health services, in particular. I am concerned about how this will work out on the ground,” said Senator Gallagher.

“Louth has towns like Dundalk and Drogheda, which have problems requiring greater policing than a town like Monaghan or Cavan would have. That is not to say we do not have our own problems, but perhaps resources will be located in Louth as opposed to in Cavan or Monaghan. I cannot be certain that will be the outcome and I sincerely hope that will not be the case.”

He said while every organisation “needs to look at itself from time to time to see how it can improve”, there are a number of changes which he feels could damage the work of gardaí locally.

He also highlighted the need for a “review mechanism”.

“Will there be a review mechanism to see how these things are working out in practice? Will there be an opportunity to have a look at this down the road to see how it is performing?”

A number of other senators raised similar concerns with Minister McEntee too saying her own constituency is facing the same change.

“Many of the concerns that senators raised around the restructuring are to ensure it does not impact on community and local work on the ground. Their headquarters is moving. That is happening in my own county of Meath. We will have the headquarters in County Westmeath.”

However, she said the changes will allow for more local policing and the freeing up of desk-bound gardaí to carry out frontline duties.

“The local police on the ground will have more autonomy to make decisions where those decisions are specific to the area and localised. That is obviously what so many of us want, that it is more specialised.

“It is also about getting people out from behind the desk and out on the ground. When we have so many districts we need a background team. To put it that way creates less work that needs to be done behind the scenes, freeing up more people to be out on the ground.”

Few changes have been made to the organisation of An Garda Siochána locally since the announcement of the operational plan. However, the appointment of Chief Superintendent Alan McGovern to oversee the Cavan-Monaghan Division late last year is likely to mean he is the last holder of the post.