Waterford expected to lose Garda Division

Jamie2k9 · 22-08-2019 7:01am #1

Major shake up been announced today that will see number of divisions reduced from28 to 19. WLR indicated last week Waterford expected to be merged with Carlow/Kilkenny and potentially lose HQ to Kilkenny.

Cork, Limerick and Galway will keep there separate city and county divisions.

https://www.wlrfm.com/2019/08/19/fears-waterford-could-be-only-city-without-its-own-garda-division/

Gardner · 22-08-2019 8:23am

can only be a good thing. Less Guards doing admin work and more on the beat etc. All criminologists i have heard are in favour of it except for the local sensationalist journalist who thinks it's a bad thing.

Max Powers · 22-08-2019 8:31am

Gardner wrote: »

can only be a good thing. Less Guards doing admin work and more on the beat etc. All criminologists i have heard are in favour of it except for the local sensationalist journalist who thinks it's a bad thing.

Biggest Problem is, it will probably result in less Gardai on the beat, the main aim of these rationalizations is money saving, not greater productivity.

azimuth17 · 22-08-2019 8:56am

How anyone can think that moving the HQ (for political reasons) from the largest population centre by far in the south east to Kilkenny is beyond me. The thrust of the plan is sensible , but the implementation , as it affects Waterford is terrible. The push to nominate Kilkenny , instead of Waterford which senior Gardai want, is entirely political. Does anyone think that politics should determine Garda policy?

hardybuck · 22-08-2019 9:40am

Max Powers wrote: »

Biggest Problem is, it will probably result in less Gardai on the beat, the main aim of these rationalizations is money saving, not greater productivity.

It is absolutely about both.

They've had big difficulties in integrating 'civilians' into their organisation and embracing reform. These people were needed to introduce specialist management and technical skills in certain areas, and to bring administrative support in others. However the organisational culture left many of these people left isolated and not valued.

There has been a renewed push to get more Gardai out from behind desks and onto the beat - and this can only be a good thing.

Dum_Dum · 22-08-2019 10:29am

And so it begins: up until now Waterford has had to fight for things it ought to have to attain parity with the rest of the country. Now it must fight to keep those things it already has.

hardybuck · 22-08-2019 11:52am

Just looking at Garda statistics, whatever about where the Divisional HQ is, Waterford seems to have a good number of Gardai in it for its population.

For example Wexford's population is 29% bigger than Waterford's but Waterford has 11% more Gardai.

Waterford Division has also more than the Divisions in Wicklow, Meath, Kerry, Mayo and Clare despite having a smaller population than those counties.

So on the one hand Waterford appears to be well resourced, I could see how on the surface people mightn't be happy with Waterford, Kilkenny and Carlow merging.

azimuth17 · 22-08-2019 1:07pm

I presume the Waterford figures are bigger for a reason.

Statistics can cover any eventuality. A quick look gives Kilkenny (town) 146 Gardai and Waterford City (150% bigger if my school maths are correct) with 226.

We might as easily ask why UHW has approx 2000 staff and St Luke's General Hospital Kilkenny has approx 900.

I presume there is a reason.

hardybuck · 22-08-2019 1:34pm

azimuth17 wrote: »

I presume the Waterford figures are bigger for a reason.

Statistics can cover any eventuality. A quick look gives Kilkenny (town) 146 Gardai and Waterford City (150% bigger if my school maths are correct) with 226.

We might as easily ask why UHW has approx 2000 staff and St Luke's General Hospital Kilkenny has approx 900.

I presume there is a reason.

But wouldn't the Kilkenny station cover a lot of ground around it - in the same way that Waterford's would?

Waterford has more numbers than Kilkenny and Carlow combined.

azimuth17 · 22-08-2019 2:10pm

hardybuck wrote: »

Waterford has more numbers than Kilkenny and Carlow combined.

Ergo Divisional HQ should be in Waterford.

hardybuck · 22-08-2019 2:13pm

azimuth17 wrote: »

Ergo Divisional HQ should be in Waterford.

But is that solely based on numbers?

Has anything actually been confirmed?

Wanderer2010 · 22-08-2019 4:10pm

When I read about the cons of this move including "less guards on the beat" I had to laugh. There are practically no guards down the town and surrounding areas as it is. Im in town a lot and I see the beggars tormenting people left right and centre and there isn't a guard to be seen for love nor money. In the busiest times in the centre of town, they are never there. So although this loss would be very bad for Waterford, I certainly wouldn't notice the change in the number of Guards.

Topgear on Dave · 22-08-2019 4:51pm

Is begging illegal? I dont think the guards can do much about it?

vriesmays · 22-08-2019 5:31pm

Time for another protest march, down Ballybricken and onto the Quay, do the hucklebuck and shake it all about.

debok · 22-08-2019 7:15pm

vriesmays wrote: »

Time for another protest march, down Ballybricken and onto the Quay, do the hucklebuck and shake it all about.

Hoot

Wanderer2010 · 22-08-2019 8:08pm

Topgear on Dave wrote: »

Is begging illegal? I dont think the guards can do much about it?

Aggressive begging is harassment. And pretending to be poor/hungry/homeless just to get a few bob which is what most of the chancers down town are at especially that shower outside back of City Square is downright scummy.

somahoney74 · 22-08-2019 8:27pm

I was at the recent station open day, I was surprised to hear Waterford is the third busiest station in the country. I'm beginning to think that Fine Gael in government is as bad for Waterford as it is when the Labour party us in Government. Both parties seem to be an unmitigated disaster as far as Waterford is concerned.

redlead · 23-08-2019 8:11am

somahoney74 wrote: »

I was at the recent station open day, I was surprised to hear Waterford is the third busiest station in the country. I'm beginning to think that Fine Gael in government is as bad for Waterford as it is when the Labour party us in Government. Both parties seem to be an unmitigated disaster as far as Waterford is concerned.

This is true. I'm not affiliated with any party but it's clear that the only scraps we ever get is when FF are in power. FG and Labour governments systematically take away and downgrade as much as they can when in power. The biggest issue we have is our own electorate who are largely ignorant of this fact. I chuckled to myself when I read that article because I knew that Waterford would be number one on the list. Not only amalgamated but to have HQs moved to smaller towns like KK or Carlow in the "Universities" case.

Interestingly you could argue that Irish independence is the worst thing to ever happen Waterford. Its importance has eroded massively ever since.

vriesmays · 23-08-2019 4:32pm

Waterford should campaign to get that big mosque Kilkenny rejected, only fair.

alta stare · 23-08-2019 5:35pm

redlead wrote: »

Interestingly you could argue that Irish independence is the worst thing to ever happen Waterford. Its importance has eroded massively ever since.

Ah here now i dont think you can argue such a silly thing. Should we strive to be a small bit of commonwealth land on the South East of Ireland? After Brexit it would be a nightmare crossing the Waterford/Ireland border.

Waterford is great, i do love it here but we are not as relevant in Ireland as we like to think we should be. As long as Cork, Dublin, Galway are all ticking away the government are happy. They dont care for many parts it isnt just a Waterford thing.

redlead · 23-08-2019 10:13pm

alta stare wrote: »

Ah here now i dont think you can argue such a silly thing. Should we strive to be a small bit of commonwealth land on the South East of Ireland? After Brexit it would be a nightmare crossing the Waterford/Ireland border.

Waterford is great, i do love it here but we are not as relevant in Ireland as we like to think we should be. As long as Cork, Dublin, Galway are all ticking away the government are happy. They dont care for many parts it isnt just a Waterford thing.

I didn't say I wanted it; I don't. I was just making the point that the city had greater significance within Ireland pre independence which it did. Its pretty much been undermined continuously ever since. Galway has seen the opposite.

alta stare · 24-08-2019 10:09am

redlead wrote: »

I didn't say I wanted it; I don't. I was just making the point that the city had greater significance within Ireland pre independence which it did. Its pretty much been undermined continuously ever since. Galway has seen the opposite.

Britain was not good for Ireland. They took away our land, ffs they drove out millions. Id gladly live the way we are now than be ruled by the mess that is Britain. People died fighting for our independence i dont think we should dimiss it just because our Garda station is being adjusted to suit HQ plans.

None of us want to see Waterford regress but lets be honest what iv said in my first reply is true...as of now as long as those other cities are tipping away Waterford wont be progressed as much as we would like just like loads of other places across Ireland... We are fine down here. We are not forgotten we are just not as important as we think.

Galway is treated the way it is because of where it is.

Cork is our second city. It is always going to get looked after. It has the population for it.

Dublin is Dublin. It will keep expanding. Its our capital it is bound to keep growing.

I think in the future things will begin to spread around the country as we are building the roads to make it easier and quicker to move around. Waterford will benefit from that. We already have with the M9 and City bypass. We have never been so well connected. A project like the NQ is an important step in building Waterford, sustaining that project is even more important.

vriesmays · 26-09-2019 5:00pm

Staying in Waterford but Kilkenny is the HQ for the the East.

Harry Palmr · 26-09-2019 6:18pm

So we win but lose

debok · 26-09-2019 6:21pm

vriesmays wrote: »

Staying in Waterford but Kilkenny is the HQ for the the East.

The headquarters of the new Waterford/Carlow/Kilkenny Garda Divsion will be located in Waterford.

An Garda Síochána has today announced the locations of the new Regional and Divisional Headquarters as part of a major restructuring programme in the force.

The Regions will reduce from six to four and the Garda Divisions from 28 to 19.

There had been fears that the HQ of the Waterford Division would be moved to Kilkenny.

An Garda Síochána say a wide range of operational factors were considered when deciding where the new headquarters should be based, including population, geography, projected growth, crime trends and workload.

Waterford Fianna Fáil Councillor Eddie Mulligan is welcoming the decision. He says Waterford will greatly benefit from the Chief Superintendent being based here:

“Under the new reorganisation, it is the Chief Superintendent himself who will be responsible for the allocation and deployment of Gardaí throughout, not only in Waterford, but Kilkenny and Carlow.

“And with him based here in Waterford City, the fifth busiest station here in Ireland, he will certainly be on the ground seeing what’s happening in Waterford, and will certainly be hearing from local representatives like myself as to where we need Gardaí out and about in the community.”.
Wlr

MaccaTacca · 26-09-2019 7:01pm

Bray, a town of 35k people is 10km away from the DMR East HQ of Dun Laoghaire - would make sense to merge it there but instead now relies on a HQ in Wexford town which is over 100km away.

Waterford expected to lose Garda Division

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