Gardaí in Galway coped well with the challenge of recent gang violence and anti-social behaviour in the city but there remains a need for additional offivers to tackle the issues invovled, Helen McEntee has said.
Violence in Galway city came to national attention in September when a video recording of clashes between two rival gangs in a shopping centre was circulated widely online.
The incident, which involved a car being driven at speed into a crowd of people, led to 15 arrests and charges being brought against a number of individuals.
Speaking in Galway on Friday, Minister McEntee said that growing Garda numbers is now her top priority.
“I think the response by gardaí locally, to a number of different issues, has been phenomenal. It is now a matter of making sure that they have the resources to respond, to make arrests when needed, to be able to bring people to court, to hold people accountable, and that will have a ripple effect right across the city,” she said.
“Visibility is about making sure we have as many frontline gardaí as possible and that comes back to the numbers that we have. The more gardaí we have, the greater visibility we will have on the ground. I have met retailers, I’ve met colleagues here in Galway, we have discussed this topic a number of times. What they have relayed to me is that they want more visibility and I think we all want that.”
With funding for Garda overtime increased by €26 million in the budget, the Minister for Justice says she expects to see an increased Garda presence in all Irish cities in the weeks and months ahead.
“My number one priority is to make sure that we have more gardaí, not just for Galway but right across the country,” she said.
“There has been a particular focus on recruitment over the last number of years. We had to close the Garda college unfortunately due to Covid, to keep people safe, we have reopened it now and we are starting to see that steady flow of recruits coming out of the college every three months. That number is getting higher and higher and places like Galway will benefit from that increase.
“Separate to that, there has been a huge amount spent on overtime, to try and fill the gaps in that interim period. Galway is no different and I know, from speaking to the Chief Superintendent [Gerry Roche], that every effort is being made and every resource is being used to increase that visibility on the ground, but also to insure that specialists teams are being populated as well.
“Unlike before we now have teams working on drugs and organised crime, domestic and sexual violence, working on online fraud, areas that have really expanded in recent years and really need that sort of investment.
“But look, I want more gardaí, everyone wants more gardaí, that is my top priority.”