A SENIOR garda has told a meeting of Tralee’s joint policing committee that members needed to take note of the impact “massive” retirements from the Garda will have on policing in the town.
There were calls for a public meeting to “teach people to look after themselves” amid the vacuum that will be left in the town’s police force and to assuage fears among concerned citizens of a “free for all”.
Seven gardaí, four sergeants and one Garda inspector are leaving the force in Tralee under the public service retirements “package”, Supt Jim O’Connor told the committee, made up of community leaders, politicians and healthcare representatives.
It has emerged some 42 gardaí in Kerry will have left the force between 2010 and the end of February. These include 12 sergeants, three superintendents and two inspectors. “Ten per cent of staff are going in Tralee. And there is no replacement. It’s a massive reduction,” Supt O’Connor told the meeting. The retirements, along with a 10 per cent cut in budgets, would affect crime prevention and investigation.
Only one Garda superintendent would be left in Kerry, he said, adding community policing would not be affected. The town now also had 15 reserve gardaí, he added.
Yet more gardaí could have taken the package “for want of a better word”, he said, but did not. The existing force would now have to shoulder extra work, he said.