Clare garda division 'too large with limited resources' according to Association of Garda Superintendents

Senior garda officers have said they are "losing the links with local communities" under the new Operating Policing Model being introduced by the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

The Association of Garda Superintendents, which is holding its annual conference in Meath this week, have flagged the Clare/Tipperary division as an example of an area "that is too large and with limited resources".

They have criticised the new model as "idealistic" and "rushed or forced through without consideration" of the impact on the gardaí tasked to deliver it, and on the communities those gardaí serve.

Where previously there were four superintendents in Clare, based in Ennis, Killaloe, Ennistymon and Kilrush, under the new policing model there is now just one in Ennis. 

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According to the association, there is now only one detective superintendent in the entire Clare/Tipperary division with responsibility for all serious crime from "Loop Head on the Atlantic coast to the Tipperary border with Kilkenny".

General Secretary Michael Comyns said the association wanted to see the number of superintendents, limited to 168 under the  Economic Control Framework, to be increased by at least 20.

He said the current limit of 168 is "purely for financial reasons as part of an economic framework" but that there is a statutory provision "a ranks order" that allows for up to 191 superintendents to be appointed.

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