Alan Kelly raises concerns about no new Garda recruited for North Tipperary

For the second consecutive year, the Templemore, North Tipperary, graduation ceremony has not received any new gardaí. Tipperary TD Alan Kelly stated that the county as a whole is only receiving one new garda. Deputy Kelly further noted, “The same thing happened in November at the last attestation ceremony. Of the 194 graduates then, 87 went to Dublin. This time, out of 167, 104 went to Dublin. North Tipperary got none.”

“It is hard to believe this is happening, especially after so many retirements. It is clear there are not enough gardaí in North Tipperary.

“Gardaí are telling us of lack of capacity to police their areas. They are having to cover areas a long distance from them, and specialist positions are left vacant. At times, towns are left with a patrol car, and I’m being told most policing now is reactive rather than proactive because of manpower and resource issues. We have known for a long time that the current policing model needs to be changed, as it doesn’t make sense.

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“It seems quite obvious to me that there is a policy now being adopted of discriminating against rural areas, when in the last two graduations, 191 of 361, or 53% graduates have been allocated to Dublin alone.

“The bottom line now is it is very easy to find a garda if you are walking the streets of Dublin. I see it myself every week.

“However, it is very difficult to find one if you are walking the streets of any town in North Tipperary, and that is a deliberate policy that is being implemented by this Government, and it’s discriminatory to North Tipperary.”

Last Friday, 167 new gardaí graduated at a ceremony in the Garda College in Templemore.

Of the graduates, 100 were men and 67 were women, and both groups have been attested and will be assigned to Garda divisions nationwide by the Garda Commissioner.

More than 100 probationer gardaí are to be sent to the Dublin Metropolitan Region. With an additional 21 to be assigned to the Southern Region, 31 to the Eastern Region, and 11 to the North-Western Region.