Limerick Chamber has called for the outsourcing of security at the District Courthouse on Mulgrave Street to a private agency to free up gardai for community and city centre policing.
Chamber CEO Dee Ryan has made representations for the Department of Justice to replicate the same practice of deploying private firms to look after court security as is the case at many Dublin courts.
“In the course of meetings with Henry Street Gardai on behalf of our members, the Chamber learned that over four times the number of gardai are now deployed at the new courthouse as was the case prior to the move to Mulgrave Street” said Dee Ryan, CEO Limerick Chamber.
While Limerick’s record on inner-city disorder and small crime compares favourably with other cities, Ms Ryan expressed concern about the impact of such a reduction.
“The reality is that prior to the opening of the new Courthouse on Mulgrave street, one garda sergeant and three gardai were allocated to court security duties. Since the opening of six additional courts in the new courthouse there are four sergeants and 20 gardai required to man the building. This change has inevitable consequences for garda presence in Limerick and a knock-on impact on community policing, which is a very positive crime prevention process,” she said.
“We have a really good record in Limerick over recent years in terms of community and inner-city policing and huge work has been carried out by gardai on this over the years. But one has to be concerned when you see resources drop by this much.
“The last thing we or any city want is to see those type of resources diminished but that, unfortunately, is what’s happening as a result of the deployment of gardai to the Mulgrave Street Courthouse.
The solution, she said, is to hire security staff for courthouse duty as is done in Dublin.
“The solution to this is to put in place similar private security contractor services at the Mulgrave Street Courthouse that exists in Dublin courts as this would free up to 16 gardai who could be deployed elsewhere.
“Furthermore, we are concerned about the reduction in general resources to Gardai in Limerick, with up to four sergeants and 11 gardai being sought for the traffic corps. The potential cumulative impact from both of these would divert considerable resources away from the critical day-to-day service that gardai deliver, particularly in the way of crime prevention.”
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