Fifteeen new Garda recruits have been assigned to the Roscommon/Longford division since 2015.
That’s acording to Fianna Fáil TD for Roscommon/Galway Eugene Murphy has raised the issue of Garda numbers in parts of the Roscommon/Longford division in the Dail and tabled a parliamentary question with the Minister for Justice to query the number of new Garda recruits assigned to the division since 2015 to date in 2018.
Deputy Murphy pointed out that over the past three years only 15 new Garda recruits had been assigned to the Roscommon/Longford division.
“There were no new Garda recruits assigned to the Roscommon/Longford division in 2015 with only 5 allocated to Longford in 2016 while Roscommon gained 10 new recruits in 2017. I welcome the fact that 5 new recruits were assigned to the Castlerea Garda district in 2017 as this area had suffered a significant loss of numbers and is also now covering a larger area however there were no new Garda recruits for the Longford/ Roscommon division in 2018, “ said Deputy Murphy.
The Fianna Fáil TD said that rural Ireland was getting a raw deal on security and people are upset. “When are we going to have real security in rural Ireland? People are scared and we need to address this urgently,” said Deputy Murphy.
Deputy Murphy said that it was very difficult for communities to work with Gardai when many of these communities had been raided of Gardai resources.
Deputy Murphy also pointed out that a number of stations across County Roscommon had closed in recent years including Tarmonbarry, Ballintubber, Ballyforan and Knockcroghery.
Deputy Murphy said that rural communities have been hit time and time again. “Fear levels have increased, particularly in areas which have seen Garda numbers drop-A strong Garda presence is an extremely important tool in the fight against crime,” concluded Deputy Murphy.
