This policing model has been an abject failure. This suggests an intransigent commissioner and government who will not admit to the failure of this model.
The old Westmanstown Roster, which is being reintroduced, was a model imported from the UK, one based on a policing model for Manchester city and its surrounds. It was never adaptable to our form of policing because it requires five manned units, which in essence the garda force can’t fill and could never fill.
Why change the present roster system that has fulfilled its mandate, according to frontline officers?
The roster is only part of a wider problem that has manifested itself in the Garda force. We know there are serious issues with recruitment and retention, serious assaults on garda members, excessive bureaucracy, and disciplinary excesses.
Exit interviews that were to be conducted, looking into the issue of resignations, need to be conducted by an independent agency so that the results of that won’t be skewed in favour of any one part of the force.
Buzzwords by prospective applicants in interviews may comply with the new interviewing model, but it does not make for a worthy applicant.
Assaults in Dublin have, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures, remained virtually at the same level as previous years, except for last year, but the type of assaults, such as assaults causing harm (ACH), are getting national and international coverage, which does Irish tourism no favours. Assaults don’t just occur in Dublin, by the way.
We also know from a CSO survey done in 2019, 70pc of assaults are never reported.
Throwing millions of euro at overtime for a short period is a sticking plaster on what is a very open wound.
This might be good publicity for the hierarchy, but it is only a short-term solution.
As I have experienced in my years in the force, there is nothing more fulfilling than a garda on the beat engaging with the local business communities and communities themselves. It gives them, the community, a sense of protection and security, as well as pride. It also acts as a strong deterrent.
Security in the knowledge that our gardaí are there to watch over us, men and women from this nation who have dedicated their lives to protecting us from harm in all its forms. What could be more fulfilling?
The Garda force needs to get back to basics before it is destroyed by this model of policing, which is nothing more than a bureaucratic quagmire the force was not set up for.
Just to remind those at the top, An Garda Síochána is not a business model of supply and demand, it is a public service.
Christy Galligan (Retired Garda Sergeant)
Letterkenny, Co Donegal
Beautiful verse captured Sinéad O’Connor’s spirit, heart and kind nature
May I just pick two lines from the beautiful Sinead: A Poem by Martin Quinn (Letters, August 14) – “Never afraid, she spoke her mind”. Indeed she did.
“Honest and forthright, and above all kind.” Indeed she was.
Bravo, Martin.
Brian McDevitt, Glenties, Co Donegal
How chance introduction of literary giants at a bar became poetry in motion
Seamus Heaney, now 10 years gone from us, recalled being introduced to Patrick Kavanagh by a mutual friend in the Bailey pub in 1967, just three months before the latter’s death.
Kavanagh: “Are you Heaney?” (pronouncing it ‘Haney’)
Heaney: “Yeah”
Kavanagh: “Well, I’ll have a Scotch.” (Having point blank refused a drink before this introduction)
Heaney: (to himself) “This is like confirmation.”
Poetry between poets!
Michael Gannon, Saint Thomas Sq, Kilkenny
For AI advisory group, will there be interview process or interview processing?
I see plans are afoot by the Government to set up an Artificial Intelligence Advisory Group. Will there be an interview… or just a Chat?
Peter Declan O’Halloran, Belturbet, Co Cavan
Bees are integral part of our ecosystem, they need all the help they can get
Can I draw your attention to a few steps that might help the bees during the summer months, when there are fewer flowers and other food sources?
Water is also scarce, and many bees drown as they attempt to drink from the pools. In order to help one can grate an apple and add some water to a bowl. The bees will be able to get the sugars from the fruit and drink the water and not drown as they can stand on the pieces of fruit.
Our bee populations are threatened, let’s give them all the support we can.
John Fair, Castlebar, Co Mayo
We don’t need soundbites about climate change, Minister, we need action
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue says the Irish agricultural sector is “a big ship to turn around and to make progress on” (‘Most agricultural emissions cuts won’t be imposed until after next general election,’ Irish Independent, August 14).
May I remind the minister that the planet is warming faster than most climate scientists predicted and that we are, in the words of his own government, in a “climate emergency”?
It’s not repetitive soundbites we need, but urgent and radical action, by this government, and by the leadership of the farming organisations, whose main objective appears to be the maintenance of the status quo.
The status quo is no longer on offer.
Gerry Boland, Keadue, Co Roscommon
Great leaps forward show that our national talent for jumping is alive and well
Congratulations to Dublin woman Elizabeth Ndudi on winning the gold medal in the long jump at the European Under-20 Championships in Jerusalem.
The writer Flann O’Brien was aware of the Irish prowess as jumpers, and Elizabeth Ndudi’s jump of 6.56 metres and Ciaran McDonagh’s national record of 8.07 metres are proof of that prowess.
In At Swim Two Birds (published 1939), the characters discuss how the Irish people have long been renowned for their ability to jump. “Go where you like in the wide world, you will always find that the Irishman is looked up to for his jumping. Right enough, said Furriskey, the name of Ireland is honoured for that. Go to Russia, said Shanahan, go to China, go to France. Every-where and all the time it is hats off and a gra-ma-cree to the Jumping Irishman. Ask who you like they’ll all tell you that. The Jumping Irishman. It’s a thing, said Furriskey, that will always stand to us – jumping.”
Jack Flynn, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16
