Louth TD says amalgamation of the Louth and Cavan/Monaghan Garda divisions will not work

The proposed amalgamation of the Louth and Cavan/Monaghan Garda divisions will not work and needs to be revisited, according to Dundalk TD Ruairí Ó Murchú.

The Louth deputy was speaking during a debate on the People Before Profit’s Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2022 in Leinster House last week.

Deputy Ó Murchú said:

“I want to raise the issue of joining the Louth and the Cavan and Monaghan divisions.

“That is like having huge urban areas such as Dundalk and Drogheda in this huge geographic area that also includes such places as Mullagh in Cavan.

“I am not so sure that it will work perfectly. It needs to be revisited. All plans that have been put together need to be revisited.”

He praised the community policing units in Louth, but said the only problem is that there are not enough of them, saying:

“With regard to community policing I can only speak in the highest, glowing terms on community policing in Dundalk and the interaction that there is with many communities that are suffering anti-social behaviour and so on, with the community policing unit.

“The problem is there is not enough of them. That is the situation we are in at this point in time. We need to get real about that.”

Deputy Ó Murchú further welcomed the announcement about the Citizens’ Assembly on drugs.

He said: “I add my voice to what has been said previously. If we are talking about crime and the issues we are dealing with, we need a citizens' assembly to be braver than we have been - by that, I mean the political class in general.

“We need to take on the twin issues the Minister has spoken about, namely poverty and drug criminality.

“We all know this needs to be health led. An attitude of ‘just say no’ is not going to work, but that does not mean we cannot say everything has an impact.”