Paul Hopkins: Law & Order: where the streets have no shame

In her novel The Memoirs Of A Survivor Doris Lessing created a dystopian, beleaguered city where roving teenage gangs terrorise the streets, where government has broken down and meaningless violence holds sway. A futuristic city which the late Nobel prize winner called "a glimpse of a future only slightly more horrendous than our present".

Navan Councillor Tommy Reilly could likely identify with Lessing's take on a disaffected youth. Not in any future world but right now. Cllr Reilly has called for the Army to be brought in "to claim back" Navan town from increasing incidents of anti-social behaviour. He says there aren't enough Gardai to meet the town's needs. He told this paper last week: "The state of Market Square and the Bull at night is deplorable. There are marauding gangs in the town... A young lad was recently assaulted while going to get a taxi home and a shop assistant who tried to catch a taxi on Timmons Hill had two men approach her and demand she hand over her purse. She was petrified and did so immediately. It was a terrifying ordeal."

Cllr Emer Toibin says: "Meath’s population has increased by 13 per cent since 2016. There are 320 Garda in Meath, one Garda for 688 people and, shockingly, only half that Gardaí number stationed in our neighbouring counties. We have less Gardaí today than in 2021."

Cllr Reilly says such roaming gangs in Navan is not an isolated incident. He's right. It is increasingly a national 'incident'. Teenagers' natural wont is to congregate on street corners, to roam in packs – though, for the record, the vast majority are not malevolent.

The closure of rural post offices, banks and national schools, has long been a marker of a declining future but the absence of Gardaí presents a real danger in many areas. And are we not justified in thinking that these days there’s never a Garda around when you need one? As members claim increasingly dangerous working conditions, new research suggests our police force is going through the biggest recruitment crisis in its 100-year history. That one in four stations nationwide has less staff than it did 12 months ago. And a staggering 42 are without any full-time officer, according to a survey for the Irish Independent.

According to Garda union sources, policing just isn’t a very attractive career these days – and the most immediate result is a lack of 0frontline Gardaí to tackle crime on our streets.

"I met a colleague the other day who is actually resigning," the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) General Secretary Antoinette Cunningham told Virgin Media last week. "He said the pressure, the stress and the abuse was just not worth it anymore. I think that sums up the state of morale at the moment."

An Garda Síochána has a total strength of 14,133 – its lowest figure since 2018. Covid-19 is partly to blame, since the training college in Templemore had to close for most of 2020 and 2021. However, there are other, more fundamental, problems. In last October’s budget, the Government provided funding to hire an extra 1,000 Gardaí. Opposition leaders were quick to point out that Budget 2022 set a target of 800 recruits, but only 116 actually enlisted. During the same year, a record 109 Gardaí resigned along with 340 retiring on age or health grounds.

Some argue that young people are just not interested in a police career anymore. Last year a recruitment campaign resulted in over 11,000 applications. However, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman (and would-be leader) Jim O’Callaghan says the more people learn about what wearing the uniform actually involves "the less they like it". It was once considered a well-paid job, but now even a Garda in their sixth year gets a basic salary of €44,875. Imagine trying to get a leg up the property ladder on that lot.

Last year there were 285 violent attacks on Gardaí, an increase of 20 per cent on 2021. Many of these cases involved head injuries, open wounds, fractures and infections. The Government acknowledges safety is now a major concern. Justice Minister Simon Harris has introduced legislation that will allow Gardaí to wear body cameras and record violent encounters.

Last November, then Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he would "absolutely say yes" if Garda Commissioner Drew Harris asked him for an armed police force. Drew Harris is unlikely to do so anytime soon, but I fear that could be where we’re heading…