28-04-2025
‘Endless red tape' – Front line Gardai ‘stuck behind desks' instead of on streets as cops call for policing model change
FRONT line gardai say they are being tied up with endless red tape and the policing model is unfit for purpose.
Officers claim they spending too many hours stuck behind computer screens instead of on the streets 'where they want to be'.
The Garda Representative Association's annual conference kicks off tomorrow in Killarney,
GRA president Mark O'Meara said: 'Unfortunately, that is how many of our members feel.'
Up for discussion is the Operating
The GRA, which represents over 11,000 rank-and-file members, believes the model is also damaging recruitment and retention of staff.
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Mr O'Meara said: '
He said recruitment numbers have remained static for over a decade while population increased.
The association has called for training allowances to be raised and a
It comes days after the
most read in the irish sun
New figures reveal that as of Thursday, April 24, 5,332 people were incarcerated with only 4,666 beds available.
This meant 666 inmates were being forced to sleep on mattresses, double up in single cells, causing rising tensions.
TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION
Almost every prison in the country has been swamped, with 987 in
The Irish
But staff still had to find places to detain an extra 180 inmates.
A Mountjoy source said: 'This place is on tenterhooks at the moment, we have two or three fellas in some cells when we use to only have one.
'There is a lot of tension in the air because of the overcrowding and fellas have no privacy. There is a lot of anger among the prison population and we are doing our best to keep a lid on it.
'Assaults and attacks on staff are up.
'Why in the name of God the State not build another new prison with a rising population is beyond belief.'
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Mark O'Meara, Vice President of the GRA
Credit: Social Media Collect
