Concerns in Offaly over gardaí shortages amid number of recent break-ins

There are concerns in County Offaly over the lack of gardaí being deployed to the county's towns and villages, the Dáil has heard.

Offaly Fianna Fáil TD Tony McCormack raised the issue during a recent ‘Questions on Policy or Legislation’ session.

Deputy McCormack said: “I have concerns regarding the deployment of Garda resources in rural towns in County Offaly, including Banagher and many other smaller towns.

“It is not the remit of the Minister for Justice to say where gardaí are deployed. That is the responsibility of the Garda Commissioner.

“Following approximately 10 recent break-ins in Banagher and the surrounding areas, we know that the slow response time is due to gardaí having to be dispatched from Birr.”

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He continued by asking Taoiseach Micheál Martin if he acknowledged the concerns of Offaly locals.

“While operational police decisions, as I said, are down to the Garda Commissioner, does the Taoiseach acknowledge the concern locally that Offaly received no members of An Garda Síochána in the past two Templemore allocation tranches?

“Will the Taoiseach ask that resourcing and deployment arrangements for the area be examined to help ensure timely responses and maintain community confidence in policing across rural Offaly?”

In response to Deputy McCormack, the Taoiseach said he would engage with the relevant parties on the issue.

He stated: “I accept the issues that have been raised by the Deputy. Ten recent break-ins seems to be a fairly high number.

“I will engage with the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and the Garda Commissioner in respect of maybe specific actions to stem the tide there and to get to the bottom of what is going on in terms of that level of that particular type of crime. We will also make representations in terms of the allocation of gardaí.”

Deputy Martin continued by outlining the Garda Commissioner’s priorities and insisted that Offaly would be serviced with additional gardaí eventually.

“As I said earlier, the Commissioner prioritised city centres in Dublin in particular, Cork, Limerick and Waterford and while it is no consolation to the Deputy, the impact has been quite significant in terms of public perception of safety and security.

“Clearly, we want to get around the entire country and I hear what the Deputy is saying. If Offaly has received nothing, its turn must come.
“I will talk to the Commissioner about that because, as I said earlier, record numbers are coming through Templemore - the highest number in a long time this year alone.”

He concluded by expressing hope that high numbers of gardaí would continue to graduate from the college in Templemore in the months ahead.