'Drastic' drop in Laois Garda numbers claim two county councillors

Laois Garda numbers are "drastically" reduced, two Laois County Councillors claim while slamming the 17 month wait for community policing meetings.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Paddy Bracken from the Mountmellick Borris-in-Ossory Municipal District made the claim of lower Garda numbers, backed by Cllr James Kelly from Mountrath who also represents the same district.

They spoke at the recent Laois County Council meeting about the delay to replace Joint Policing Committee meetings where they were able to quiz senior Gardaí in person about Laois crime rates.

The last one took place in March 2024. They are being replaced nationwide with different styled meetings that are still months away.

Cllr Bracken asked for an update on the community safety partnership.

"I'm sad to see this hasn't progressed. The numbers of Gardaí in Laois are down drastically. It's sad to see we haven't resources on the ground," he said.

Cllr James Kelly agreed.

“We should have it in place, it’s a disgrace that we don’t. Gardaí numbers are very much down in our county," he said.

He went on to claim that one female Garda had to attend a late night incident unaccompanied.

“There was an incident a few weeks ago where one bean Garda was at an incident at 1am in the morning, they didn’t have more resources available,” Cllr Kelly claimed.

Laois County Council Director of Services Carmel McNichol responded to their comments about the lack of JPC meetings.

"We did correspond with the Minister, we have had no response but we'll follow up. We are advised that guidance is imminent. as soon as we receive it we will move forward with establishing arrangements," Ms McNichol said.

Read next: Witness appeals for two burglaries in Laois

Since the meeting on July 31, new guidelines have been published by the Department of Justice on Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSP) in each local authority. The new LCSPs will only have space for seven Laois councillors instead of 13. An update will be given to councillors at their next meeting on September 29.

An Garda Síochána has been asked to comment on the councillors' claims that there are fewer Gardaí in Laois.