An increased Garda presence on the ground a priority for McEntee
Fine Gael TD Helen McEntee was in Slane this morning to meet Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in one off her first official engagements since being appointed Minister for Justice for the new coalition government.
Arriving out to the awaiting press gathered outside Slane Garda station McEntee said that she had the opportunity to discuss a "wide variety of issues" with the Garda commissioner and was "looking forward to working with the commissioner in the weeks and months ahead."
When asked whether she had the chance to discuss the the ongoing feud in Drogheda and its impact on East Meath, the minister commented:
“We have the opportunity to discuss the overall implementation of policing in Ireland and that impacts on obviously Meath, Louth and surrounding areas.
“What is important is that we continue to increase our resources and we have seen an increase in Co, Meath and Co, Louth in the last number of years.
“What I would like to see in particular and what would be a priority for me that we would have an increased presence on the ground, an increased responsiveness and that everybody no matter what county you are in receive an equal service.
“And that’s about resourcing and making sure that the commissioner and the chief superintendent here and throughout the country have the resources they need and I’m looking forward to working with them in that regard.”
The Minister also urged the public to comply with Covid-19 health regulations and described scenes of people socialising in large groups outside Dublin pubs over the weekend as ‘disappointing.’
In response to a question on whether the Minister was confident that Garda has sufficient powers and resources to deal with Covid restrictions and if she would be bringing anything to the cabinet to reinforce these powers she said:
“This is something that we need to continuously review, I think to date the vast majority of citizens, businesses, pubs and restaurants over the weekend have complied with regulations. These measures are not just protect their staff but people who are coming into their premises.
“Of course maybe we have seen some scenes over the weekend that were disappointing and I would urge everyone to comply with public health regulations because we have come so far and made such great progress and while we have been able to implement measures and being them forward what we don’t want is to have to reimplement any of these measures that we have relaxed.
“It’s an issue that will be kept under review I will be meeting with my cabinet colleagues later on today and we will keep engaged with the commissioner.”
The Commissioner said that over 6,000 licenced premises were visited by gardai over the weekend for checks on compliance with Public Health Regulations, while Minister McEntee said she was "extremely concerned" with scenes that emerged of large crowds of people drinking in Dublin City centre.