Fury over Longford’s ‘ghost Gardaí’ as real ones left in limbo
Anger among local guards after Garda spokesperson describes as “inaccurate” the staffing shortage in the Longford Roads Policing Unit. The Longford Leader can also reveal that at least 9 Gardaí who successfully applied for transfer to the roads units in the Longford/Roscommon/Mayo division have been left waiting over a year to be placed. A number of these Gardaí had specifically requested a transfer to Longford but have still not yet been placed here.
Local Gardaí have been left furious after a Garda spokesman described as “inaccurate” the fact that the Longford Roads Policing Unit is operating with just four full-time Gardaí and one sergeant in charge.
The Longford Leader can disclose that despite the occurrence of three road fatalities in the county during the first five months of this year, a 300% increase on the same period last year, the Longford Roads Policing Unit has still not been allocated any new staff, despite having once had as many as ten.
It is known that over twelve months ago, at least nine Gardaí were informed they had been successful in their applications for transfers to the division, which is comprised of counties Longford, Roscommon and Mayo.
A number of the Gardaí had specifically requested Longford. Despite being told over a year ago that their applications had been approved, the Gardaí are still awaiting placement with no explanation as to the cause of the delay.
When contacted by The Longford Leader and asked why the Roads Policing Unit had just four full time Gardaí, not including the sergeant in charge, a Garda spokesman replied the information was "inaccurate” and instead gave the total number of Gardaí working in the roads units in the three counties within the division.
Said the spokesman, “there are 41 members assigned to the Mayo/ Roscommon/ Longford Roads Policing Unit.”
When asked to provide a county-by-county breakdown of the number of Gardaí working full-time in each of the three individual roads units, the spokesman replied that, “for operational reasons, An Garda Síochána does not comment on current or future deployment of resources.”
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When The Longford Leader also questioned the year long delay in transferring nine successful Garda applicants into the division, particularly in light of three road fatalities in quick succession within Longford alone, the spokesperson replied, “The allocation of personnel from competition panels, including Roads Policing, is considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the operational needs and resourcing requirements of each Division and region.
"Placement on a competition panel is not a guarantee of appointment. Allocations from competition panels will be made in due course where deemed appropriate, having regard to the overall policing requirements of the organisation.”
While all Gardaí are responsible for apprehending law breakers on the road, the burden of the roads policing work in Longford falls on the few attached full-time to the unit.
The Garda spokesman’s repeated insistence therefore that the staffing figure was “inaccurate” has left many local Gardaí furious as they feel this "denial of facts” will result in Longford continuing to miss out on much-needed allocations, something that has been the source of considerable outrage in recent months after Longford was again overlooked in Garda trainee deployments.
If the Garda spokesman says there are more than 4 Gardaí attached full-time to the Longford Roads Unit, then where are these ghost Gardaí? Why aren’t they carrying out duties? Why haven’t we met them? And why is the workload being carried by 4 Gardaí and their sergeant?
When members of Longford Gardaí were shown the responses issued by the Garda spokesman to our questions, many queried the day-to-day whereabouts of what they described as ‘ghost Gardaí.’
Said one, “If the Garda spokesman says there are more than 4 Gardaí attached full-time to the Longford Roads Unit, then where are these ghost Gardaí? Why aren’t they carrying out duties? Why haven’t we met them? And why is the workload being carried by the 4 Gardaí and their sergeant?”
When The Longford Leader put these questions to the Garda spokesman, no reply was issued.