More gardaí needed in Cork city for community safety plan to work, says local election candidate

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has launched a new All Island Community Safety Network, but a Cork representative says it will not work without additional gardaí assigned to the city divisions.

Launching the programme, Ms McEntee said: “Local communities, key workers in the area, and local representatives are often best-placed to know and identify issues that will improve community safety in their areas.”

The network will offer communities an opportunity to hear first-hand about the successes of other groups across Ireland and offer them the chance to shine a light on their own examples of effective collaborative community safety projects.

The project is being funded through the Community Safety Innovation Fund, which seeks to reinvest seized proceeds of crime directly back into projects to improve community safety.

Labour Party local candidate Peter Horgan said: “Sufficient garda presence is crucial to the wellbeing and safety of our communities.”

His comments come as Cork got just two new gardaí out of nearly 300, with just one from each of the two most recent graduations assigned to Cork.

“Fine Gael have been in charge of justice for 12 years and garda morale is on the floor,” he said.

 “We’ve heard from a worrying Garda Representative Association survey that there is a worrying culture of bullying, stress, and mental burnout within the organisation — there are also far fewer community gardaí active than there were a year ago.”

The issue of adequate community policing “is constantly coming up” when he is out canvassing, he said, explaining that without adequate support, community organisations “cannot effectively address the complex challenges facing our neighbourhoods”.

“Last year, the total strength of An Garda Síochána declined, reaching the lowest level in five years. We know 164 gardaí resigned from the service compared with 26 a decade ago.”