Oireachtas committee to arrange meetings with Garda organisations about morale and retention

The Oireachtas Justice committee is to arrange as a priority meetings with Garda representative organisations about morale and retention, amid political pressure over policing following a spate of high-profile attacks over the summer.

Committee chair James Lawless told The Irish Times that there was already agreement in principle, struck before the summer recess, to bring in policing organisations in the new term to talk about morale and recruitment.

“I think it would be very timely to do that now,” he said, adding: “I’ll be prioritising this issue when we return.” The Kildare North TD said he supported moves to deploy additional armed gardaí in Dublin city centre, which will see significantly increased visibility in the centre of the capital.

“I think we need a more significant garda presence on the streets of Dublin and I’ve been calling for it for some time,” he said, adding: “It’s been increasingly obvious since Covid, a different menace [is] hanging in the air.”

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While there has been sustained political pressure following high profile violent attacks in Dublin, crime data shows attacks have fallen marginally relative to recent years. Garda figures show there have been 2,353 assaults in public places in Dublin to date this year, compared with 2,429 in the same period last year and 2,535 in 2019.

However, Mr Lawless said he believed some criminal acts either weren’t being reported by people or weren’t followed up by the Garda. He also suggested that it may be necessary to revisit parts of the Children’s Act focused on keeping under-18s out of detention, even if it was a good overriding policy goal. “Some of these guys are on their 100th chances, and show no interest in taking them,” he said.

The divergence within and among TDs and senators from Government parties, along with pressure from the opposition benches, looks set to be a feature of the political landscape when the Dáil resumes sitting in September.

Regina Doherty, a former cabinet minister and now Fine Gael senator, said it was difficult for her to understand how the Garda and the Department of Justice were now focusing extra resources on the city centre when the message following the first attacks was that “the city is as safe as houses”.

“I feel the response is more for optics as opposed to the reality of what we need, which is having gardaí walking around the street.”

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Patrick Costello, the Green Party spokesman on justice and a committee member, yesterday called the response “disproportionate and draconian”. Minister for Justice Helen McEntee moved on Wednesday to clarify that the plan would not lead to armed gardaí “standing on the corner of our streets”, despite the involvement of the Armed Response Unit alongside the public order units, dog units and mounted units in the city centre.

It is understood that previous efforts to get criminal justice and public order issues on to the agenda of the Justice committee have met opposition from both Government and opposition members, but now the Garda Representative Association, the Association of Garda Sergeants Inspectors and others will be invited in. While sessions will in the first instance focus on recruiting and morale, it is expected they will encompass how resourcing interacts with on-the-ground policing.

Gary Gannon, the Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central, said the response – funded by a €10 million allocation was short-termist in nature. “The minister gets a bounce and the Government gets to look like it’s doing something, but in a short time that money runs out,” Mr Gannon said.

“When I think of the Garda dogs coming in, all I think is the dogs in the street know this is a PR reaction.”