Garda Commissioner challenged on policing issues at JPC meeting

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris received a roasting from several members of the Donegal Joint Policing Committee when he met them at Donegal County Council headquarters in Lifford on Monday afternoon.

He was challenged over resources, poor response times to crime, particularly along the border, pay, resources, the closure of stations in rural areas and the new plan to regionalize the service.

Border security and the time it takes gardaí to respond to situations in this area was raised by Cllr Paul Canning. He said criminals that came into this area were only ten minutes away from places like Derry which made it hard to follow through.

"By the time the service gets the length the culprit is in another jurisdiction. I'm wondering is there a special plan for the border areas?"

He added it was often the case that when a crime was committed on either side of the border the vehicle involved usually ended up on the other side.
"How do we close that gap?"

Cllr Michéal Naughton queried how the commissioner could seek to improve the overall garda performance in Donegal if he was putting Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal into one area. He also questioned the wisdom of having all calls for help answered from an office in Galway and how many would be working to answer them.

"To me, that would leave us more vulnerable than we are at the moment."

He said he also wanted to know what this model of operation had been based on and how quickly he expected a response given the size of Donegal alone.

He added people in rural Ireland were uneasy due to recent criminal events and if the gardaí were not getting to them when something happens this made matters worse.

"There's no point sending gardaí a day later, that's no good to nobody and that's what the fear is," he said.

Cllr Naughton also highlighted the problems of drugs in the county.

"It's a serious issue, particularly with the length of coast we have and our proximity to Northern Ireland. How quickly can we respond? I think we might have to look at a different model."

JPC member and former garda sergeant James Trearty said he did not agree with the new policing model and particularly wanted to see all resources maintained in the Gaeltacht areas. He had seen services such as banks and post offices closing and services denuded.

He said while the commissioner had said the headquarters for the new region would be Letterkenny he did add all personnel may not be based there.

"I don't know what you mean by that. We had a chief superintendent who retired recently, I wonder will there be a replacement for her based in Letterkenny?"

He also voiced concerns that despite the fact three of the largest areas of population in Northern Ireland - Derry, Strabane and Enniskillen were close to the Donegal, you could count on one hand the number of permanent gardai that served in the border stations of Muff, Carrigans, Lifford and Pettigo.

"A lot of those stations are only opened by the lights being on which is very sad."

Mr Trearty highlighted the number of murders in Donegal that had associations with Northern Ireland namely Denis Donaldson, Doochary; Andrew Allen, Buncrana and Andrew Burns, Doneyloop as well as others that are unsolved and still had victims left behind.

He said he was concerned that recruitment of specialist units would see a drop of gardaí on frontline duties.

"Everybody in Donegal knows it's virtually impossible to see members out on the ground. People have lost contact with the gardaí. People in places like west Donegal, Glencolmcille and Malin Head deserve a service not more than the people in Dublin 4."

He described it as "spin" news that came out earlier that day about five new gardaí for the north-west.

"You have to remember the north-west region extends from Carrickmacross to Belmullet and from Malin Head down to Gort. Spin of the highest order," he said.

He also asked for a guarantee that Letterkenny would not be downgraded and that the Chief Superintendent would be permanently based in the town

The force's ability to retain garda recruits was also raised by Cllr Donal Coyle.

Cllr Gerry Crawford asked about call response times because he knew when an operation was broadened out there were times when dealing with it in a timely manner was unsatisfactory.

Cllr Michael McBride said he was concerned about connecting with the communities. He said his father was a garda sergeant in Kilmacrennan in the mid-Seventies and had three gardai under him. They recently had a garda appointed to the village and people were delighted but he was operating in a place where the population had almost trebled.

"We need to get members back into stations like this again and make the contact and trust because at the moment we're losing it with local communities."
He also described as "a disgrace" the lack of transport available.

"Garda cars are parked up, replacement not being sent. It's impossible to ask rank-and-file members to go out and do their job without giving them the resources. I think morale is pretty low at the moment."

He also expressed concerns about garda pay and how it wasn't working for young recruits.

"It's unfair. They put their lives on the line every day they go to work. I think they deserve a decent day's pay for the work they are doing," he added.

Cllr Michael McClafferty queried the chances of establishing both a garda helicopter service and dog unit for the county together with an upgrade in the quality of garda cars so they could match the more high-powered vehicles criminals appeared to have access to. He also expressed concerns about health and safety issues for a garda operating a station by himself as well as inadequate opening hours.

He claimed the drug problem in Donegal was out of control and drug dealers only got a slap on the wrist from judges in courts. He said he understood a drugs unit based in Milford was broken up shortly after it started.

Cllr Michael McMahon asked about the ability of the gardaí to deal with a situation where there was an obvious mental health problem. He also expressed concerns about the vetting of people coming into the country and the condition of some of the older garda stations.

Cllr Nicholas Crossan said he felt one of the problems he noticed in recent years was no one knew who their local gardai were.

"When I was growing up in Buncrana you knew all the gardaí and they lived in the town. That is not the case now. Can incentives be created to encourage gardaí to live where they work?"

Cllr Kevin Bradley said he would like to see more foot patrols in Letterkenny as he felt it was vital to have interaction between garda staff and the local community.

"There was a time you could walk down Letterkenny street and know everybody - there's hardly anyone speaking English on it now so I know it's not easy for the gardaí now," he said.

JPC chairman Cllr Gerry McMonagle raised questions about the location of the garda armed response and drugs units, the role of the garda reserves and garda recruitment campaigns, the ongoing problems with traffic accidents and a need to increase the number working on the Traffic Corps.

Killybegs councillor Niamh Kennedy urged the commissioner to look at the provision of CCTV around the county's ports and harbours to deal with any smuggling element that might be there. Signs were not enough of a deterrent, she said.

She added transport for rural gardaí was vital and she said the station in Carrick had no access to a vehicle and needed regular opening hours.

Cllr Noreen McGarvey said in west Donegal they have had five rural garda stations closed within a 35km stretch of road and added that structured opening hours were vital going forward.