'I'll miss the people, the colleagues and the community we serve' ... Navan Garda Supt Martina Noonan retires

After 16 years based in the Royal County, Meath North Community Engagement Superintendent Martina Noonan retired last Friday bringing a 35-year career in an Garda Síochana to a close.

She first came to Navan in 2010 as an inspector, was then appointed to Trim in 2020 on promotion to superintendent before assuming the role of Superintendent for the Meath North Community Engagement Area when the new Garda operating model was rolled out in 2023.

A native of Ballylander, Co Limerick, Supt Noonan spent her early years as a garda in Dublin before being assigned to Dunmore East in County Waterford as sergeant in 2000. Her next role was with a UN mission in Bosnia, followed by further stints in Dublin including five years at Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park during which time she got married to a fellow garda, now retired.

While in Garda HQ Supt Noonan was involved with developing and implementing strategies for the 'Implementation of Change' project including linking the Pulse system to the court service and the introduction of a new finger print system. Supt Noonan came to Meath in 2010 and has been there ever since. First as inspector, then as superintendent.

The introduction of the new Garda Operating Model in 2023 saw major changes in the organisation of the force. Meath, which had been a stand alone division for some years, was joined with Westmeath to form a new division with resources combined and shared between both counties. The days of having a superintendent assigned to each of the bigger stations was gone and rather than based on geography, superintendents were assigned functional areas such as crime, community engagement or performance assurance.

Supt Noonan became the community engagement superintendent for Meath North, now responsible for policing a much wider geographical area with the big population centres of Kells and Navan, which traditionally would have had a superintendent each, as well as Athboy, Slane, Oldcastle and Nobber.

At the same time, all serious crime moved over to the Crime Superintendent David Nolan and his team who are based in Mullingar and Supt Noonan explained this is generally the crime investigated by plain clothes detectives while more minor matters such as public order, assaults (depending on their nature), thefts, and criminal damage. She leads a team of 102 Gardai supported by seven garda staff and also manages the traffic portfolio for Meath and Westmeath.

Resources are always a challenge especially when it comes to keeping up with the policing demands of an increasing population and while resources have improved in recent times and they have been assigned more probationer gardai, Supt Noonan feels more is needed to keep pace with the population increase, particularly with Navan being a major commuter belt town.

People want to see a greater garda presence on the street and Supt Noonan said maintaining high visibility is hugely important but can only be done as resources allow. She said visibility is quite high at the moment, especially at weekends, and is working.

"Meeting the needs of the population with the resources we have is probably the greatest challenge facing gardai," said Supt Noonan. Being a people person, she liked to be out meeting people and making sure their needs are being looking after but said people in general don't understand how the day-to-day work of An Garda Siochana works.

"I have explained this at more meetings over the years- if I send four people out on the beat and they come across someone robbing something for example, that is two people taken off the street to process them and bring them to the court. "People say there are never any gardai on the street. But they could start at 10am and be back in here at 10.30. If they see someone being assaulted, they just can't walk past it, they have to lift the person, and process them," she said.

There has been criticism of the high level of anti-social behaviour that continues to persist around Navan town centre particularly around Market Square and when asked about this Supt Noonan said people are being arrested and brought to court but are soon back out on the streets again to do the same thing again.

"It is a revolving door. They are being arrested, prosecuted and brought before the courts but are back on the streets to do the same thing again in jig time," she said.

The current dispute between the Minister for Justice and solicitors over the new legal aid scheme has also posed challenges for Gardai. Supt Noonan said it is a challenge to make sure that when people are arrested that their human rights aren't breached and it's a challenge for them to be represented when they are before the court.

"It is not preventing us from arresting people but it is clogging up the court system."

Even though legal aid cases are not being dealt with, she said that they still have to have a garda presence in court at all times.

Last week saw the first public meeting of the new Meath Local Community Safety Partnership, the body which replaced the Joint Policing Committees and Supt Noonan was nominated by the Minister for Justice as a representative on behalf of An Garda Siochana. Meath South Community Engagement Superintendent Yvonne Murphy also sits on it. While this was the first public meeting, the inaugural meeting of the partnership took place last December.

Speaking in advance of the public meeting, Supt Noonan said: "I see it will be of benefit going forward, when they have their first open meeting and take on board the issues that are being aired by members of the public."

These are wide ranging issues but recurring themes are anti-social behaviour, and the need for safe spaces for children. "We have lots of GAA clubs. We have lots of schools,that you can’t go near once the school closes. These are areas that need to be looked at. What is already there and how they can repurposed to take children off the street."The need for a garda station to serve the population of Johnstown is also something that has been long called for. While Supt Noonan says it is something that could eventually happen and that a satellite station there would be of great benefit, she says funding would be a major issue.

It also is unlikely to happen before Navan gets its long promised new Garda Station, something that has been talked about since Supt Noonan first came to Navan.

Navan's current building, while upgraded in recent years, is still not adequate and efforts to find an alternative site are ongoing. Lack of space means there is no room for a number of specialist units that should be based in the Meath North headquarters. For example, the drugs unit is currently based in Slane. Other issues include lack of secure storage.

Supt Noonan said the new station is in the pipeline but there is nothing definitive yet.

Gender balance within the force has improved and in Meath/Westmeath female gardai hold four of the five superintendent roles. However Supt Noonan said there is a gap in the middle ranks and supporting and encouraging female members to climb the ranks and see out their dreams is something she feels passionate about.

She was the Champion of the Leinster Branch of An Garda Siochana's women's network covering Meath/Westmeath, Wexford/Wicklow, Kildare/Carlow, Laois/Offaly, Waterford/Kilkenny which aims to connect, support and empower women within An Garda Siochana. The Leinster Branch was involved in a major fundraiser for the Westmeath and Louth/Meath branches of Down Syndrome Ireland held in the Knightsbrook Hotel and Supt Noonan said that was a very proud moment for her. Another proud moment was receiving the community champion award from Meath Women's Refuge in 2023, an organisation she worked with over many years and now known as Willow Domestic Abuse Services.

A highlight of her time in Meath was being involved in the policing of nine Slane concerts, working with MCD and Alex Conygham and his late father Henry before him. In terms of the additional concerts being planned, she didn't foresee any issue with extra dates, and said the policing plan is there and is tweaked according to requirements.

Looking back over her 35 year career, she said she enjoyed every moment and will miss it but is looking forward to the next chapter.

"I will miss the people I work with, the people on the street, the community we serve. I just felt that I had given all I could give and I just wanted a new chapter and to see what else is out there. But I will miss it.

“I've loved every year of my career to date, every part of it. I really enjoyed my job. But when you know you know and it's time to move on and let someone else take the reins."

A superintendent has not yet been appointed to success Supt Noonan in the interim Inspector Peter Gilsenan will assume the role of acting district officer.