TD to court Drew Harris on replacing sergeant in busy county Limerick district

DEPUTY Niall Collins will call on Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to appoint a new sergeant in Kilmallock post-haste.

The top garda in the country will be attending the Joint Police Committee meeting in County Hall this Thursday.

Deputy Collins said Sgt Damien Holian retired on Friday after over a decade spent as the sergeant in Kilmallock.

“Damien Holian was an exemplary sergeant for over 10 years. The powers that be obviously knew he was leaving for months so why is there now a limbo period in Kilmallock without a sergeant. We hear about all these new garda recruits coming out of Templemore and the strength of the force so why can't a sergeant be appointed to Kilmallock straight away,” said Deputy Collins.

The Fianna Fail TD said Kilmallock is the biggest town in the Bruff Garda District and anecdotally he says it has the highest reported incidences of crime in the district.

“There is now a management vacuum. In the last number of weeks alone, there was a heroin seizure of €200,000 and a farmer was viciously assaulted while moving his cows across the road. It is crazy that a sergeant wasn't appointed weeks ago to allow him or her liaise with Sgt Holian until he retired and then hit the ground running with the other gardai on the ground," said Deputy Collins.

He says he will be raising the issue with Commissioner Harris.

“Sgt Holian epitomised pride in the uniform. He was an excellent garda who enforced the laws of the land but combined it with a lot of community work. I read recently in the Limerick Leader how Sgt Holian and Superintendent John Ryan gave a talk on road safety in Coláiste Iósaef in Kilmallock using virtual headsets (pictured). He was also very involved with the handball club in Kilmallock set up by Garda Robert Young for local youths," said Deputy Collins.

He pointed to the recent retirements of Sgt Helen Holden in Cappamore, Garda John Curtin in Ballylanders and Garda Jim Ryan.

“Sgt Holian is another loss of massive experience. To be fair Sgt Holden and Garda Curtin were replaced in a very short period and I am now calling on Commissioner Harris to do the same in Kilmallock,” said Deputy Collins. 

Last month, the TD revealed that Bruff has six cars and two vans following a Dail question to the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan. He vowed to raise this with the commissioner.

“People will be shocked to learn that the Bruff district is being policed by only four garda cars. Given the vast geographical size of this rural district only having four cars to provide a high-profile visible presence with the ability to act and react in a timely manner is very questionable.

“One of the main criticisms I receive is response times, clearly the lack of enough and adequate transport is a huge issue and must be addressed immediately,” said Deputy Collins.

In July, Senator Kieran O’Donnell invited Mr Harris to attend Limerick’s JPC meeting. Both Mr O’Donnell and the Limerick Chamber have urged the redeployment of front-line garda staff from the Mulgrave Street courthouse facility to the city’s main shopping street. It comes from business owners being fearful of crime, and the use of private security in courts elsewhere in the country.