'An accident could block up the whole city': New Garda roster could cause ‘bedlam’ for morning traffic in Cork

GARDAÍ in the Cork City Roads Policing Unit will start at 10am instead of 7am and this could lead to traffic “chaos” in the city should an early morning incident occur, it has been claimed.

A source close to roads policing told The Echo that the roster change is to fully come into effect from next Monday.

“It is going to cause — when you have an accident, we’ll say, on the link during [morning] rush hour, or in the tunnel, or any one of those major roadways — absolute chaos and they will have very few resources to deal with it,” they said.

“Worse still, if something like the plane crash that happened a number of years ago at the airport, if that were to happen and if they had to implement the major emergency plan, they would not be in a position to do it, because it’s all-roads policing units that actually implement that.”

Dedicated roads-policing units exist in each Garda division and enforce road-traffic legislation.

These units are supported by all members of An Garda Síochána, who also have to enforce road-traffic legislation.

NEW ROSTER

The source close to roads policing said, from next week, the Cork city roads policing unit is moving from 7am-2am coverage to 10am-2am coverage.

The move, they said, contradicts the “vast majority of roads policing around the country” where units work from 7am to 2am. Units will sometimes work until 4am on overtime, the source said.

The source claimed that local garda management did not want to give overtime to the Roads Policing Unit, and because staff “wouldn’t change their shifts to work until 4am”, the change is an attempt to “discommode them by not letting them come in at 7am”.

The three-hour period not covered by the Cork city roads policing unit in the morning from next week could cause “bedlam some morning”, the source said, asserting that Gardaí will be under resourced should a traffic incident occur.

“If there is an accident on any of those major arteries, especially the North Ring or the South Ring Road, it is going to block up the whole city,” they said.

A statement to The Echo from An Garda Síochána said:

“An Garda Síochána does not comment on the operational deployment of resources or specific units.

“An Garda Síochána has commenced an ‘interim roster’ in order to facilitate negotiations on a new roster.”