Reports of planned major changes in An Garda Síochána cause concerns for Dundalk JPC chair

The loss of senior Gardaí in the Louth division would be a big blow, according to the chairperson of the Dundalk Joint Policing Committee (JPC), Cllr Sean Kelly. 

The local councillor was speaking to the Democrat after it was revealed  that the Louth Garda Division could lose its Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan, as  part of a major shake-up that could see the division merged with Monaghan and Cavan.

According to information revealed by LMFM  yesterday (Monday), Garda Commissioner Drew Harris informed top staff in An Garda Síochána last Friday, of a major shake-up of how the organisation is managed at divisional and regional level nationwide.

The proposed changes would see the six Garda regions reduced to four.

It would also see the 28 Garda divisions around the country reduced to 19, with nine of the divisions merged with others.

It is understood that the proposed merger of the Louth division with Monaghan and Cavan would have a major impact on senior management in the local division, as each division would have just one Chief Superintendent, meaning Dundalk’s Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan could lose his role.

“If we are going to lose senior Gardaí like Christy Mangan and others,” said Cllr Kelly, “because of a break up in divisions, we’re losing their experience, their knowledge of the issues on the ground and the knowledge of the individuals on the ground, in some of the cases they would have dealt with during the years.

“A lot of the experience that these senior guards have”, Cllr Kelly continued, “come from being based here for a long time and if they’re therefore moved out and new gardaí moved into the area, that could have implications for us locally.”

At Superintendent level, the merger would mean the potential loss of a number of Superintendents locally. LMFM  says that in the merger, each new division would have just three Superintendents and one senior civilian manager - there are currently seven in the Louth and Cavan Monaghan divisions.

“Given that we are only hearing about this now, I think we probably have to wait and see what the actual set of proposals are when they come out and how they are planning to be operational before we can make any final call on it,'' Cllr Kelly added. 

“I can see advantages to it from a point of view of post-Brexit, where combined with Cavan and Monaghan, there would be a dedicated division which would have, hopefully, the proper resources to deal with the aftermath of Brexit”, Cllr Kelly continued.

It is believed that there has been no advance consultations about the proposed mergers, but reports say that the Garda Commissioner wants to fast-track the merger with the intention of them coming into force within the next three months.

“A major question would be,” Cllr Kelly posed, “if Louth is going to be combined with Cavan and Monaghan - where is the divisional headquarters going to be located?

"Because Louth would be a substantially  busier county for Garda requirements, more so than Cavan and Monaghan, so it would make a lot of sense for the divisional headquarters to be in Dundalk, and if that is the case then we would obviously get a bonus as regards Garda numbers in the town, which is always good news.

“If they are going to do this the way they are talking about it, it should free up a lot of administration and that will lead to more gardaí on the streets which is something that we all want. 

“The first issue is resources. It’s all well and good doing these plans but if the resources are not in place for the new division then we’re going to have issues from the get-go.

“It’s all in the detail, until we see more of the detail we obviously can’t make a call,” Cllr Kelly concluded.