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A REDUCTION IN the number of Garda Traffic Corps officers has left a number of busy national routes with little to no garda cover.
There are still active Garda jeeps on the motorway system – but the reduction in traffic resources mean it’s no longer possible to deploy one for each motorway route.
This means that major roads like the M50 now rely on Garda units who just so happen to be travelling along the motorway as part of their daily work – for instance, on the way from the Criminal Courts of Justice, near the Phoenix Park, back to suburban stations.
Many garda cars travelling on the M50 come equipped with an automatic number plate recognition system which will alert officers if the car in front of them is without a valid tax or NCT disc.
Most squad cars also have alcometers and speed detection cameras on board.
Gardaí have promised that more Traffic Corps jeeps will be in service in the coming weeks.
A recruitment process is also in place for the traffic section and new positions have been advertised internally within An Garda Síochána.
In addition to ongoing shortages of vehicles, many members of the traffic unit have also voiced concern over the appointment of young, newly-recruited members being placed on secondment to the corps for a 10 week period shortly after their year-long probation period.
Many more senior officers are frustrated this programme due to the relative inexperience of these new gardaí – who are only out of Templemore a short time.
While sources have said the new recruits “need all the experience they can get”, the argument of the more senior officers is that the new gardaí haven’t been trained to deal with traffic enforcement, and that their time would be better spent at local stations.
When contacted for comment, a garda spokesman said that recruitment within the corps is to increase by 150 this year.
He said:
“At all times, An Garda Síochána’s focus is to protect lives on the road by reducing fatal collisions through preventative and enforcement measures. Thankfully, road deaths in 2017 were significantly down on 2016. Ireland has one of the best road safety records in Europe.
An Garda Síochána has publically said at meetings with the Policing Authority about providing newly qualified recruits with a 10 week secondment in the Traffic Corps. This has helped us to maintain enforcement activity and also provides recruits with valuable road policing experience that will benefit them in their future careers in An Garda Síochána.
“The Traffic Corps use jeeps for a range of activity across the motorway network including the M50. Additional new jeeps have also been purchased and will be used on motorways in the next month or so.”
It is expected that by February 2018, 70 new members of the Traffic Corps will be selected. A further additional 80 members will be selected for the Traffic Corps on a phased basis during 2018. In other words, there will be an additional 150 members appointed to the Traffic Corps during 2018.
The number of full-time equivalent gardaí working in the Traffic Corps has fallen from 940 in 2011 to 643 last year.
The figures, which were given to Fianna Fáil transport spokesperson Robert Troy, show a steady reduction over the past six years across all counties.
There were 1,093 gardaí in the traffic corps in 2008 – that number has almost halved in the past 10 years.
Troy said that the drop in the number of gardaí assigned to roads policing duties was “disproportionate when compared to other areas of the force”.
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Moorooned
No bull there, it was the magic mushrooms that done it..!!
if u read it all than u seen that it sed two months old calf and the cow was missing for two months…cows expecting for 9 months just like humans…so think agen about ur magic mushrooom!!
Ah poor moo cow. The udders didn’t like her!!!
I’m delighted she was rescued the steaks were high.
The weathers nice now but in another few weeks she would have been friesian.
Amoozing!…… I’ll grab my coat.
Baaaaaah
I’d say the farmer creamed himself when he found her
Milking this story…..only been told calf of it …..
So the others wanted rid of her… Bunch of cows!!
thats great, they should have her on the late late.
Great idea !!! Bet she would make more sense that the 2 legged mad dog that was on it last week!
lucky cow
“She was pushed into the lake by other cows while they were drinking.” A typical student night out then really…
What a mooving story… Sorry.. Couldn’t resist
Moderators, can you please give this thread the hoof.
Well I’ll beef hooked
Who are these people that don’t turn their camera’s sideways!
Celebrity survivor moooove over. Survivor – Meath style is coming.
Wish some of the cattle in the dail would go missing.
I don’t think there is cattle in the dail.
the island the cow is on is the site of an old crannog. its fairly possible she walked over. In summer months you can walk to the island in waders
What a load of bullocks !!!
Great story but did anyone notice that farmer thick nor his young companion were not wearing life jackets while out on a lake.
We wonder how these accidents happen when hear of lives lost on small lake to drowning.
Load of bull ?
Awh I’m glad they found her and her baby :-)
Why are cattle being allowed access to a lake! With all the talk of septic tank inspections to protect groundwater, would it not make sense to keep cattle covered in faeces from wading in a lake! The farmer should be prosecuted and forced to protect the lake.
Looks like a lot of people have developed a taste for e coli.
Well you’re obviously not from the country and know nothing about farming or the countryside in general. It’s a very rare thing that cattle out in fields are covered in faeces. Cattle usually only get dirty when they are kept indoors during the winter or when they are corralled for an extended period of time in yards due to being medicated, awaiting milking, etc. Anyway, lots of other animals urinate and defecate into rivers and lakes, including badgers, foxes, rabbits, hares, fish, and pretty much every other animal we have in this country. On top of that, no one in Ireland uses water directly from a river or lake for any domestic use. It’s always treated unless you have your own well, in which case the water has been a long time removed from rivers and lakes and cleansed naturally by the surrounding rock. Oh, and maybe we can let the cows do what’s natural until we humans stop pumping billions of gallons of our own excrement and waste into our own water supplies.
Well said Brian…
I am 50 yards from a herd of cattle right now. They in turn are fenced off from a stream 100 yards in the other direction. Thanks for the lecture though.
You, sir, are a fool
Btw, aside from the faecal contamination of groundwater, which in no way compares with natural levels, there is the additional risk of spreading bovine TB by allowing cattle access to grounwater in this manner. Even farmers organisations acknowledge the need to keep cattle out of our waterways. The debate was whether 10m was sufficient or over the top.
Lake water is surface water Colin C.
Hoof Hearted!
Mad cow is still about so
The island on Lough Breakey is a Crannog that has now become overgrown with trees. The cow is likely to have waded out onto the ‘island’ to calf, cows are naturally forest animals and instinctively seek the cover of woodland if available, particularly when calving.
As an aside, cows do not as a general rule push other cows into lakes, that’s more of a human trait!
The young male cow went in search of a female as they are highly sexual creatures at this time of season,as you can see his skin is brown from the green grass he eats..
David Attenborough will be back in 5..
Male cow? It’s not, by any chance, looking for a female bull? Let’s just say, if you ever decide to milk a cow, let me know. I’ll bring a chair, some popcorn and something to calm me down after the inevitable bout of side-splitting laughter. Oh, and I’ll have the ambulance on speed dial for you…
I’ll go along for the craic too Brian!!
No popcorn for me though. Gets caught in me throat ..
Congratulations to my Grand daughter Niamh Carolan, Lossett for starting all the story of the cow and calf on Breakey Lake as I always called it when fishing there rather than Lough Breakey. That was in the good old days of the 1950′s. I did notice that she got very little comments or good wishes for her efforts. She posted the original video after using her Iphone when visiting the shore of the lake. Well done to her Dad Kevin who also.appears in the video link. You became famous overnight Niamh so well done from Grandad Peter
(insert cow pun here)
“She was pushed into the lake by other cows when they were drinking.” A typical student night out really…
Was Wilson ok.
Bet ya enda put the cow there
I don’t think the farmer put a lot of effort into the search at any time the animal was after all able to walk onto the island due to very dry summer anyway he had free grazeing
Don’t bother watching the video. 3min 47 seconds of boring.
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