Dog unit Garda demand better facilities for themselves and canine colleagues
Gardaí in the force's national dog unit are demanding better facilities – for themselves and their canine colleagues.
The officers – who team up with their dogs to provide vital back up to Gardaí all over the country – are based in part of Kilmainham Station in south central Dublin, but they say their conditions are just not good enough.
Garda Alan Cummins, one of the officers in the highly trained teams, spoke to the Sunday Mirror of their frustration when he attended the annual conference of force's biggest union earlier this week.
Speaking at the conference of the 11,200-strong Garda Representative Association in Killarney, Co Kerry, he said: 'They're frustrated. Every time we've been requested to stand up and be counted, we've been there.
'We've been there at the Dublin riots; millions of euros worth of drugs recovered; firearms; VIP visits; missing persons located; violent criminals apprehended. All of that was as a direct result of the actions of our dogs and our handlers.'
But he said the unit's conditions are not good enough. He said: 'At start of a shift, members are coming in. They're parking in an area that's completely inadequate for multiple reasons – a former building site that's left unfinished.
'We have our main area for changing and storage is a portacabin in the public car park at the station, which is 20 years old, practically falling down.
'And I could be deployed at any time. I could be on searches where I come [back to the station] and I am covered head to toe in God knows what.
'As a male member of the unit, I'm forced to change in a converted shed in the car park of the station. It's not much better if you're female. Female shower facilities for members of the dog unit physically backs onto the kennels.'
Gardaí on the unit keep the dogs in special kennels at their own homes, but have more basic facilities to keep the animals in the station when they are working there – and they need improving, he said. He said: 'The kennels themselves are over 20 years since they had been upgraded or fixed up.'
And he was backed in his calls by Detective Garda Niall Hodgins, GRA vice president, who visited the unit. He said: 'I'm very passionate about the dogs, and am a supporter.
'The conditions that I saw that the handlers and their canine partners – and remember these are not animals, these are their partners in the job – the conditions that they have at their kennelling are atrocious.'
The Irish Mirror asked the Garda press office for comment.
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