Justice Minister to be asked why Tipperary was only assigned one new garda
Only one of 167 new garda recruits has been allocated to Tipperary, prompting questions from local councillors.
Earlier this month, 167 new gardaí graduated from the Garda Training College in Templemore, but just one of these new recruits is set to be stationed in Tipperary, prompting independent councillor Jim Ryan to question why at the February meeting of the Thurles Municipal District.
Of the 167 new garda recruits, 104 were allocated to the Dublin region, the eastern region was allocated 31 new gardaí, while in the southern region 21 new gardaí will be stationed, and 11 in the north western region.
The latest graduation bringing the total number of serving gardaí to 14,564.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Ryan said he wanted to voice his concerns about the pressure gardaí across the county are facing, and called on the district to write a letter to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan looking for answers.
"Out of 167 new garda recruits that passed out last week, Tipperary only got one, and we didn’t get any in north Tipperary,” Cllr Ryan said.
"In this district in particular, you have three large towns in Thurles, Roscrea and Templemore, and we’ve received no new garda recruits. We all know the pressure gardaí are under, their jobs are not nice and it’s a stressful job at times, and we need more gardaí on the streets to patrol these areas.
"I want to write a letter to the Justice Minister outlining our disappointment at the fact that again, Tipperary is being ignored. We’re a huge county and I would ask for as much political pressure to ensure that, going forward, with new recruits that come out of Templemore, we can get as many as possible for Tipperary,” Cllr Ryan said.
Calling for district councillors to work as a team, Cllr Ryan said that more gardaí are needed across the county.
"We should all be working as a team here to ensure that happens, we have heard it from gardaí themselves, they need more numbers here in Tipperary,” he said.
The call was seconded by fellow independent councillor Eddie Moran, and recieved widespread support from councillors in the chamber from across the political spectrum.
A letter from the Thurles MD will now go to the Justice Minister seeking clarity on garda numbers across the county.