Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice, Martin Kenny TD, today raised the ongoing Garda roster difficulties with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who confirmed he will not intervene to assist in attempts to find a solution.

Speaking after the debate in the Dáil, Teachta Kenny said:

“I called on the previous Taoiseach to intervene in this last year, yet Michéal Martin did not respond. 

“After Fianna Fáil swapped roles with Fine Gael, the so-called party of law and order, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar today confirmed in the Dáil that he will not intervene to find a solution to the ongoing roster difficulties.

“Dublin has lost 757 Gardaí since the recruitment embargo, and we have seen more than 100 members resign from an Garda Síochána in 2022 alone – a year when less than that attested. 

“There is a situation in Dublin now where Gardaí are being seconded from one station to another when working overtime in order to cover basic policing duties in communities.  

“They, and the communities that they work hard to support and protect, are being utterly failed by Fine Gael and their lax attitude to policing.

“How the Taoiseach cannot see this as a crisis is extremely worrying.

“The Garda Commissioner yet again extended the current roster agreement this week in order to give time to the WRC to find consensus on the issue.  

“But he cannot extend the current agreement indefinitely. This extension came just hours after the AGSI announced unprecedented ‘Days of Action’.

“The Taoiseach and his colleagues enjoy branding themselves as ‘the party of law and order’.

“But after more than a decade in justice, all Fine Gael have delivered is a policing service that is on its knees with a deepening morale crisis.”