They can barely recruit for the standard Guards now.
We're constantly told about how the starting pay is awful, morale is at an all time low and about all the guards (i know one) who're on **indefinite paid leave** due to getting people off on minor traffic offences.
How are they supposed to come up with transport police now? Genuine question btw....
Agree with all of your points except one: Guards shouldn't be letting people off for traffic offences, and should be punished for doing so. The state of drivers at the moment, we need to see more done for offences, minor and major.
The number of applicants has collapsed in recent years.
Used to be 15/20 thousand applied. Last time around there was 6000 or so. And the likelihood is a good portion of those wouldn't be suitable like.
This is what happens when you have a membership with 98.7% no confidence in the guy in charge, and yet the government side strongly with him over you.
That on top of your job being kind of fucking pointless as they just get let go no matter what anyway, on top of you not being able to pursue criminals when necessary, or very often take appropriate action.
I think it's a bit more nuanced than that.
I think the whole public sector is struggling to recruit owing to changes in the pension post 2013.
I think societal changes make the job far less attractive to young people.
I think the housing crisis means that sending a lad from cork to Dublin far less acceptable. 1) sourcing housing and 2) paying for said housing.
The rise of the far right and the level of scrutiny puts people off.
Who could possibly apply for the guards in this economy? I would join the guards but I have a mortgage to pay and a child to feed, the only people they can really attract are young people living at home but sure they are better off emigrating.
They are fairly strict with their vetting. I know somebody who would like to work for the Gardaí but can't get in due to his brother having a drug conviction (possession). He ended up working in private security.
I applied but gave up because of the absolutely insane recruitment process.
Takes many, many, many months of bullshit to get through, only to be told that if I didn’t provide them with a GP cert within five working days that I was fit for a fitness test only two weeks later down in Templemore, that my application was being binned.
They actively drive good people away with how horrible of a process it is.
Have you tried sending a formal letter of complaint to Drew Harris?
It sounds to me like you did your best and were knocked back due to outdated bureaucratic nonsense.
Putting in place ridiculous administrative roadblocks isn’t being “demanding”, it’s just being cuntish.
If a prospective employee is treated with such open disdain, how much better can you expect to be treated once you’re an actual employee? No wonder people give up on the process and go on to do other things when it’s like that.
Can we have more Gardaí, in general? Population was 3.8m when I was in primary school, there was 11,640 Gardaí. Now it’s ~5.3m (a 40% increase) and there is 13,930 Gardaí and that number is probably declining.
I can go weeks without seeing Gardaí. It was a big culture shock coming back from continental Europe, comparatively way less officers here.
It’s a thankless job and you’re under constant scrutiny with shit working hours and shit pay so who’s going to sign up for that these days…not the quorum they’re hoping to get.
🤷🏻♀️ that could be related to organised crime in order to protect the boundary/territory of a local gang. Fact is the job is not attractive anymore for people and that’s why they’re struggling to get people in and keep them.
Is it really a case that there are more police per capita in somewhere like Italy? Or is it a case that there are more on the beat over there than in Ireland? My money is on the latter.
The Pearl Jam concert might honestly have been the first Gardai I have seen this year now that I think about it (though I was out of the country for all of March).
It's a consequence of the economy being good - there are loads of easier, well-paid jobs out there. Some people won't like this, but the only way to attract people to hazardous jobs in such a situation is to pay them handsomely....
>Can we have more Gardaí, in general? Population was 3.8m when I was in primary school, there was 11,640 Gardaí. Now it’s ~5.3m (a 40% increase) and there is 13,930 Gardaí and that number is probably declining.
i think their plans to increase the force by 1000 by the end of the year https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/our-departments/office-of-corporate-communications/press-releases/2024/june/garda-reserve-recruitment-campaign-2024-itsajobworthdoing.html
>I can go weeks without seeing Gardaí
do you need to see gardai every 5 minutes ?
I know policing is part of the issue, but I remember one article about this incident and someone in the article talked about how the bus is covered in cameras but these people don't care if they caught on camera or not.
Sure look at that Cathal Crotty case too, witnesses, CCTV, mountains of evidence, boasting about it on social media. Gets 3 years suspended. It really sums up everything wrong with the justice system and these sort of incidents.
Must be disheartening for the guards too, they'll pick up these lads in the morning and they'll be out robbing tourists or dealing drugs by the afternoon. You could have a garda for every person in the country but if people can get away with everything, what's the point?
Just make those Luas lads into a militia and the transport police is sorted.
easy way to add more numbers for patrols and calls...take the speed guns off them and leave that to goSafe. there's absolutely no reason a guard should be sitting on his hole at the side of the road all day. it's a waste of time and resources.
and before anyone says anything about them not being able to catch speeders and the like. I'm not saying eliminate the traffic corps, just reorganize so they can patrol the roads and respond to calls if needed.
Even if a transport police were created, there will never be someone sitting on a bus all day waiting for someone to kick off. It wouldn't work like that. We just need a new prison and more Garda numbers
They can barely recruit for the standard Guards now. We're constantly told about how the starting pay is awful, morale is at an all time low and about all the guards (i know one) who're on **indefinite paid leave** due to getting people off on minor traffic offences. How are they supposed to come up with transport police now? Genuine question btw....
Agree with all of your points except one: Guards shouldn't be letting people off for traffic offences, and should be punished for doing so. The state of drivers at the moment, we need to see more done for offences, minor and major.
I wasn't condoning the action of the guard. In fact, it really sticks in my craw that they can get full pay (on our tax) and do sweet fkk all.
Can they barely recruit because of lack of applicants or because applicants aren't passing the criteria?
The number of applicants has collapsed in recent years. Used to be 15/20 thousand applied. Last time around there was 6000 or so. And the likelihood is a good portion of those wouldn't be suitable like.
People don't sign up to jobs to get hurt.
This is what happens when you have a membership with 98.7% no confidence in the guy in charge, and yet the government side strongly with him over you. That on top of your job being kind of fucking pointless as they just get let go no matter what anyway, on top of you not being able to pursue criminals when necessary, or very often take appropriate action.
I think it's a bit more nuanced than that. I think the whole public sector is struggling to recruit owing to changes in the pension post 2013. I think societal changes make the job far less attractive to young people. I think the housing crisis means that sending a lad from cork to Dublin far less acceptable. 1) sourcing housing and 2) paying for said housing. The rise of the far right and the level of scrutiny puts people off.
Who could possibly apply for the guards in this economy? I would join the guards but I have a mortgage to pay and a child to feed, the only people they can really attract are young people living at home but sure they are better off emigrating.
They are fairly strict with their vetting. I know somebody who would like to work for the Gardaí but can't get in due to his brother having a drug conviction (possession). He ended up working in private security.
I applied but gave up because of the absolutely insane recruitment process. Takes many, many, many months of bullshit to get through, only to be told that if I didn’t provide them with a GP cert within five working days that I was fit for a fitness test only two weeks later down in Templemore, that my application was being binned. They actively drive good people away with how horrible of a process it is.
Have you tried sending a formal letter of complaint to Drew Harris? It sounds to me like you did your best and were knocked back due to outdated bureaucratic nonsense.
I'd expect the recruitment process to be demanding. This isn't, or like, applying for any job.
Putting in place ridiculous administrative roadblocks isn’t being “demanding”, it’s just being cuntish. If a prospective employee is treated with such open disdain, how much better can you expect to be treated once you’re an actual employee? No wonder people give up on the process and go on to do other things when it’s like that.
This isn't intended to be any other sort of job application. If you're treating it as such then it's probably not for you.
Can we have more Gardaí, in general? Population was 3.8m when I was in primary school, there was 11,640 Gardaí. Now it’s ~5.3m (a 40% increase) and there is 13,930 Gardaí and that number is probably declining. I can go weeks without seeing Gardaí. It was a big culture shock coming back from continental Europe, comparatively way less officers here.
It’s a thankless job and you’re under constant scrutiny with shit working hours and shit pay so who’s going to sign up for that these days…not the quorum they’re hoping to get.
How much they pay in Italy because there are more police in some individual streets there than you see in Dublin overall
🤷🏻♀️ that could be related to organised crime in order to protect the boundary/territory of a local gang. Fact is the job is not attractive anymore for people and that’s why they’re struggling to get people in and keep them.
Italy is much poorer than Ireland and can hire public servants at lower wages quite easily.
Is it really a case that there are more police per capita in somewhere like Italy? Or is it a case that there are more on the beat over there than in Ireland? My money is on the latter.
The Pearl Jam concert might honestly have been the first Gardai I have seen this year now that I think about it (though I was out of the country for all of March).
It's a consequence of the economy being good - there are loads of easier, well-paid jobs out there. Some people won't like this, but the only way to attract people to hazardous jobs in such a situation is to pay them handsomely....
>Can we have more Gardaí, in general? Population was 3.8m when I was in primary school, there was 11,640 Gardaí. Now it’s ~5.3m (a 40% increase) and there is 13,930 Gardaí and that number is probably declining. i think their plans to increase the force by 1000 by the end of the year https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/our-departments/office-of-corporate-communications/press-releases/2024/june/garda-reserve-recruitment-campaign-2024-itsajobworthdoing.html >I can go weeks without seeing Gardaí do you need to see gardai every 5 minutes ?
That’s Garda reserves. They are trained volunteers.
There is a bit of a difference between 5 minutes and a few weeks....
We need same level of police as in other EU countries
I know policing is part of the issue, but I remember one article about this incident and someone in the article talked about how the bus is covered in cameras but these people don't care if they caught on camera or not. Sure look at that Cathal Crotty case too, witnesses, CCTV, mountains of evidence, boasting about it on social media. Gets 3 years suspended. It really sums up everything wrong with the justice system and these sort of incidents. Must be disheartening for the guards too, they'll pick up these lads in the morning and they'll be out robbing tourists or dealing drugs by the afternoon. You could have a garda for every person in the country but if people can get away with everything, what's the point? Just make those Luas lads into a militia and the transport police is sorted.
I don't think many people would sign up to be abused physically/mentally daily on a low wage.
Some people pay for it
I don't see some of the feral scumbags respecting safe words and hard limits though
No enough people to do this
Can’t have services for your taxes. Don’t be crazy.
How many calls can remain unanswered?
How dare they. Dublin bus never attacked nobody!
How would transport police have stopped this attack? Are they just hopping off and on buses.
easy way to add more numbers for patrols and calls...take the speed guns off them and leave that to goSafe. there's absolutely no reason a guard should be sitting on his hole at the side of the road all day. it's a waste of time and resources. and before anyone says anything about them not being able to catch speeders and the like. I'm not saying eliminate the traffic corps, just reorganize so they can patrol the roads and respond to calls if needed.
We need to bring back borstal.
"calls"
Even if a transport police were created, there will never be someone sitting on a bus all day waiting for someone to kick off. It wouldn't work like that. We just need a new prison and more Garda numbers