Justice Minister's response to plea for more gardaí for Carrick-on-Suir is labelled a 'joke'

Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s response to a plea from a group of councillors for more gardaí to be assigned to under resourced Carrick-on-Suir has been described as a “joke” and she has been accused of being “out of touch” and having her “head in the sand”.

The stinging criticism was levelled by Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District Cathaoirleach Cllr Kieran Bourke at the district’s monthly meeting in response to letters the district received from the Justice Minister’s office and An Garda Síochána.

The letters were sent in response to a motion Carrick MD councillors unanimously passed last November calling for more Gardaí to be assigned to Carrick-on-Suir due to the dramatic drop in the number of officers based in the town. It was forwarded to Minister McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

Carrick MD’s November meeting heard the number of gardaí stationed at Carrick-on-Suir Garda Station a few years ago was 14 officers along with two sergeants and a detective. This 17 strong force was now reduced to four gardaí and two sergeants, and at the time, one of the four officers was on sick leave.

A furious Cllr Bourke was scathing of the response of the Justice Minister's office and An Garda Síochana to the motion.

“I have to say as the author of this motion, I am gobbled up with the responses that are after coming through,” he declared.

Cllr Bourke complained about the motion being passed from pillar to post referring to where the Minister’s letter points out that the Garda Commissioner is “responsible for the management and controlling the administration and business of An Garda Síochána” and how the Minister has “no direct role in these matters”.

The letters from An Garda Síochána, meanwhile, were merely acknowledgements of receipt of the motion and informing Carrick MD that they had been forwarded to the office of the Assistant Commisioner for the Southern Region and then to the Chief Supt of Clare & Tipperary Division. who was assigning an officer to liaise with the council. Contact details for the Chief Superintendent of the Clare & Tipperary Garda Division Office in Ennis were given.

Cllr Bourke pointed out that the council was still awaiting a response from An Garda Síochána.

The letter from the Justice Minister’s office, meanwhile, outlined that while the Garda Commissioner was responsible for all operational policing matters, the Minister is “committed to providing An Garda Síochana with the resources they need.

This commitment was reflected in the allocation of €2.1bn to the force in the 2024 Budget for the provision of the equipment, technology, facilities , fleet and personnel it needs to carry out vital policing work. This represented a 23% increase since 2020.

The letter also advised Carrick MD councillors that as of November 30, 2023, there are 75 gardaí assigned to Clonmel District, which represented an increase of over 8% since the end of December 2015. Eleven of these officers are assigned to Carrick Garda Station.

The Minister’s private secretary added that, in addition to this, “gardaí in the Clare/Tipperary Garda Division are supported by 123 garda staff who play a number of vital roles and increase the availability of gardaí to concentrate on frontline policing duties”.

Cllr Bourke described the response the Minister’s response as a “complete joke” and declared that she was “completely out of touch” and had “no clue what is going on”.

He pointed out that they were not looking for extra gardaí just the restoration of the number of officers formerly based at Carrick Garda Station.

The Fianna Fáil councillor said there were times when there were no gardaí in Carrick-on-Suir and the town was policed from Clonmel. This was a town with a population of nearly 6,000 people.

“If there is an incident in Carrick, you are depending on the gardaí coming from Clonmel. The Minister for Justice is not living with reality. Her head is in the sand,” he declared.