Louth TD says proposed amalgamation of three counties’ policing ‘throws up significant issues'

The proposed new Garda operating model, which would see Louth joined with the Cavan-Monaghan district was raised in Leinster House again last week by Dundalk TD Ruairí Ó Murchú who had a Topical Issue selected on the matter.

With Justice Minister Helen McEntee in Brussels on government business, it fell to Minister of State Martin Heydon to tell the Sinn Féin TD that the operating model was entirely up to Garda management and not politicians.

Deputy Ó Murchú said the proposed amalgamation of three counties’ policing "throws up significant issues". He told Minister Heydon how the Dundalk, Ardee and Drogheda Joint Policing Committees had discussed the new operational model, alongside opposition to the new roster, and had decided to request from Commissioner Drew Harris and from Minister McEntee that the plan be ‘stalled, reviewed and overturned’.

Deputy Ó Murchú and his party colleague, Deputy Imelda Munster, had written to Commissioner Harris and had received the following response to their pleas:

"Following a recent comprehensive review conducted by An Garda Síochána into the composition of Divisions with three counties under the Operating Model structure the Garda Senior Leadership Team has made the decision that Louth and Cavan/Monaghan will be amalgamated into one Division. 

"The operating model is already implemented in seven divisions: Limerick, Kerry, Cork city, Galway, DMR South Central, Mayo-Roscommon-Longford and Clare-Tipperary."

He said there were plans to amalgamate Donegal and Sligo-Leitrim but that was reviewed and overturned and, therefore, ‘it is on that basis that it makes sense to reconsider’, asking the Minister to engage with the Commissioner and his team to review it.

Deputy Ó Murchú said: "I do not have to tell anybody about the particular issues An Garda Síochána faces and the very important work it does. 

"In my home town of Dundalk, three gardaí were injured, one of them more seriously than the others, and I wish them well. They were rammed by a stolen car close to Pearse Park. That is the reality of what they must deal with and the work they must do when they leave their homes in the morning.

"There were significant issues in Drogheda. No deputy is unaware of the feud there and the significant operation it took through Operation STRATUS to deal with some of those criminal gangs. That is not to say all those issues have been dealt with.

"As much as some streamlining is being offered in the new model, it does not make sense to me that Louth with its towns of Dundalk and Drogheda with their significant crime rates would be put in with Cavan and Monaghan and that there would be a single superintendent with responsibility for intelligence-led operations and serious crime, including murder investigations, across that area."

In response, Minister Heydon acknowledged that people have concerns, but said: "This structure is about trusting the Commissioner and the senior management team in An Garda Síochána to make those correct decisions, deploy the resources in the best possible way using the new operating model, which I know the Commission feels very strongly is much more appropriate to the level of policing that is needed in Ireland in this modern era, and face those challenges down."