Dublin ‘policing surge’ ends

Sir, – The termination of the Garda “policing surge” funded by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee’s special €10 million budget is disturbing (“Policing surge to combat Dublin city-centre violence is halted”, News, January 18th).

Was the surge ever intended to have a long-term effect or was its role only as a confidence building measure to satisfy the public temporarily?

I predict that we will revert to a dearth of visible gardaí on the streets while inner-city anti-social behaviour cranks up again. This will be followed by another high-profile mugging, which will be followed in turn by another temporary fund introduced by the next Minister for Justice.

Dublin really needs a better policing plan than that. – Yours, etc,