Tipp gardaí said to be 'losing links with local communities' following cutbacks

The merging of the Tipperary/Clare Garda division has come under fire once again at The Association of Garda Superintendents annual conference in Meath this week.

Senior gardaí have said that they are "losing links with local communities" and that the new Operating Policing Model which included the merging of Tipperary and Clare garda divisions is an "idealisitic, rushed or forced-through model without consideration of the impact on the people so tasked to deliver it and more importantly the communities we serve.” 

The new model which came into effect last year saw the number of garda divisions in the country reduced from 28 to 21 and saw the introduction of one Chief Superintendent having overall responsibility for both Tipperary and Clare.

The AGS president Colm Murphy said his members have an “ever increasing burden” on their shoulders and that the current limit of 168 superintendents across the country is "wholly inadequate, unsatisfactory and unacceptable."

General Secretary Michael Comyns followed this up saying he wants the limit on superintendents increased by at least 20 and that the current limit is "purely for financial reasons as part of an economic framework".