NEWLY recruited Gardai will have to start at a lower rate of pay than was previously paid. Commenting at a meeting in City Hall of the Joint Policing Committee, Cllr Tom Shortt said: “Im sorry to see that more gardai are being mothballed at the moment and there is, I believe, not one student garda or new blood in Templemore – it will be very good to see the student gardai back in force. “I admire the public service ethos of the Garda Siochana, which is very healthy. They should have decent garda cars and stations to work out of”.
The meeting was told by Chief Superintendent David Sheehan, that “there will be more gardai on the ground at critical times.
“I agree with Cllr Shortt that as a result of the last round of promotion and retirement there has been a loss of inspectors and we will lose more.
“We lost 35 gardai but we do what we need to do to ensure that community policing remains and goes forward – it is critical to effective policing of the city – we can’t let it slip back – flexibility must be built in”.
The gardai also sent out a message to the general public that they can be assured that they can use the garda radio system in the knowledge that it is “totally confidential.
“Communities need not be wary of using the radio system”.
