No new gardaí to be allocated to Tipperary

No town in Tipperary will be welcoming the arrival of new recruits from Templemore as An Garda Síochána struggles with a recruitment crisis.

Public representatives, who have been clamouring for more resources for their towns and villages throughout Tipperary, were given the bad news at the June meeting of the Tipperary Joint Policing Committee.

The bleak outlook was given to members of the committee by Chief Superintendent Colm O’Sullivan.

He told members that he could see no new recruits being allocated to towns in Tipperary in the foreseeable future.

“84 new gardaí for across the country is not a significant number. I don’t see any new people being allocated to Tipperary , or to Clare, for the foreseeable future,” he said. Chief Superintendent O’Sullivan told the meeting that it was his personal opinion that people were not presenting to join An Garda Siochana because they believed there were better options to pursue.

He told members that there has been a significant fall off in interest shown in the recruitment drives.

Chief Superintendent O’Sullivan said the number of people expressing interest in joining had fallen for a number of the most recent recruitment drives.

He also pointed to the fact that some of the people who do join for training can fail to complete the process.

This, he said, was compounded by the number of people retiring from the force on age age grounds, the number of people leaving after completing their 30 years service and there was another cohort, who after serving for some years, were leaving to take up employment elsewhere or they were emigrating. Chief Superintendent O’Sullivan said it was a societal problem, in that problems were also being encountered in other organisations in trying to secure new nurses, teachers and other professions.

“Long ago people would give their two arms to get into these professions and we are just one of the victims of the way things have gone, “ he said. Deputy Martin Browne said the problem was twofold, recruitment and retention.

He believed Oireachtas members had a role to play in putting pressure on the Government to introduce measures to make these professions more attractive to young people.

“We have to put pressure on the relevant people to make working terms and conditions better,” said Deputy Browne.