Fears that Longford Garda resources will be significantly stretched

There are concerns that a spate of promotions, retirements and Garda transfers from ordinary units to specialised units in Longford will see rank-and-file members 'decimated'.

A senior Garda source said the current tally of Garda members on regular units in the county has remained relatively stable during the past year.

However, there are fears that resources will be significantly stretched in October and November when a minimum of 12 rank-and-file-members will be lost from regular units.
There are currently 129 Gardaí of all ranks in county Longford with an estimated tally of just over 100 on regular units.
This reduction in Garda personnel comes at a time when significant concerns over rising rural crime rates and burglaries have been expressed.

Gardaí from Roscommon assisted by officers from Longford, Cavan, Meath, Kildare and the Dublin Metropolitan Region, arrested two men, aged in their 40s and one juvenile who were part of a suspected burglary gang on Friday.
The arrests were part of ongoing investigations into recent burglaries at residential and commercial premises in counties Longford and Roscommon.

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Meanwhile, a protest took place in Castlerea over the weekend in relation to rising rural crime rates and several burglary gangs who targeted premises in county Roscommon also carried out raids in Longford.

The Garda source said he has policing concerns over the coming months.

"Longford is alright at the moment. There are about six on the regular units in Longford and that is down but in the next few weeks we are going to be decimated," the source said. "There are a pile of retirements coming up and appointments to specialised units and they are all coming up in the next two weeks and even that alone is enough to decimate the county."

It is understood a minimum of eight Gardaí are being moved from the regular units to specialised units such as traffic and the Divisional Protective Services Units (DPSUs) while at least four retirements are due to take place.

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"The traffic core is on its knees really and appointments are being made for five or six people to go into that," the source said. "The armed support unit are waiting for appointments for three or four Gardaí (from the regular units), there are four or five retirements coming up, there are retirements the whole time and 99% of the time those people, who do 99% of the work, are coming off the regular, core units."

Longford-Westmeath Fine Gael Minister Peter Burke, who was speaking generally, stated there is a major focus on recruitment and he would like to see additional Gardaí allocated to Longford.

"I think absolutely, if we look at the figures again there has been a 25% increase in the Garda budget in that department since 2020," he said. "There has been an increase in the training allowance of (€305 per week to €354) and I think that is very important to attract more recruits into Templemore. And every 22 weeks now we have Gardaí being attested because the college is going at full capacity so we are very much focused on continued support."

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Minister Burke said the Garda entry level age has been increased from 35 to 50 years of age and the retirement age was increased recently up to 62.

"Hopefully you will see that being supported through the Budget and Minister McEntee is currently negotiating her Department of Justice fund so I would expect she will have good news for communities on that front," he said. "I think if we are very honest it is an issue and that is why we have to increase resources to protect people in their communities. I think the community policing programmes now are pretty strong but they can obviously attract more resources and hopefully in the context of this Budget."