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A young man has been arrested following the seizure in Nenagh, Co Tipperary of approximately €100,000 worth of cocaine.
The search was undertaken as part of ‘Operation Thor’ by Gardaí from the Divisional Task Force, who were assisted by the Divisional Drugs Unit, the Garda Dog Unit and Gardaí from within the Nenagh District.
Operation Thor actively targets organised crime gangs and repeat offenders through co-ordinated crime prevention and enforcement activity, based on intelligence and the latest burglary trends.
The man arrested in connection with the search is understood to be aged in his 20s, and remains currently detained at a Garda station in the Tipperary area; held under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996.
The drugs will now be forwarded for analysis t be undertaken by Forensic Science Ireland.
Garda investigations surrounding the drugs seizure are continuing.
  
Clare Independent TD, Mr Michael McNamara, has described Senator Garret Ahearn’s criticism of Independent TDs, who on Tuesday last, (December 5th, 2023) voted ‘No Confidence’ in Justice Minister, Mrs Helen McEntee as “facetious”* and “surprising”. [*Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humour”].
Deputy McNamara has responded by suggesting that the Tipperary-based Senator is “opting to ignore the depletion in numbers of Gardaí in Tipperary merely for advancement within his own party.”
“The Garda numbers in the Clare/Tipperary Division have fallen considerably during Mrs Helen McEntee’s term of office and I am surprised that Senator Ahearn has no issue with the resultant increase in antisocial behaviour in towns like Clonmel and Ennis,” added Deputy McNamara.
Figures released by the Department of Justice in response to a Parliamentary Question by Deputy McNamara reveal that the number of serving Gardaí in the Clare and Tipperary Garda Division dropped from 727 in November 2020 to 674 in November 2023, while numbers nationally decreased by almost 4,000 to 13,940 in the three years to November 2023.
“Senator Ahearn’s comments are facetious and bely the situation faced by communities across rural Ireland that have witnessed the closure of Garda stations and an overall decrease in the number of serving Gardaí,” explained Deputy McNamara. “It comes as a great surprise to me that any politician, aspiring to represent Tipperary, would be happy with the depleted numbers of Gardaí serving in the Clare and Tipperary Garda Division.”
Speaking during yesterday’s ‘Motion of No Confidence’ in Mrs Helen McEntee, Deputy McNamara said, “There is much about personalities and criticism of people’s personalities on both sides of this House. For me, this is not about personalities at all, for what it is worth. The Minister is a fine person and a relatively competent politician. There must, though, be political accountability in this House, in this democracy. This must be the case for health services and security services. Unfortunately, there are fewer Gardaí in the State now. The total is a little under 14,000 now, while there was a little under 18,000 at the start of this Dáil term.”
“Of those gardaí, they are spending more time behind computers. That is annoying them, and they are losing confidence in their Garda management,” he continued. “We might ask what that has to do with the Minister. It is the role of the Government to put management in place in the health service or An Garda Síochána that is able and resourced to do the job. It is very clear from the views, responses and votes of rank and file Gardaí, with regard to the GRA, that they do not have confidence. The problem is resources or Garda management. Either way, that becomes the Minister’s problem because she is the one who is accountable to the House for that.”
Deputy McNamara added, “I regret not being able to express confidence in the Minister. I hope she will recruit a lot more gardaí and develop systems whereby they have more time on the beat and are not tied up as much behind their desks. All I can go on is what I am seeing and hearing in my constituency. The lack of Gardaí on the beat is resulting in increasing antisocial behaviour not just on the streets of Dublin, but on the streets of Ennis. That is a problem because people now expect Gardaí to be transferred from rural towns to Dublin. There is not the capacity for that.”
“There is a real problem with policing in this State and there has to be political accountability. It is not that I take any pleasure in not voting confidence in the Minister, but there has to be political accountability and on that basis I regret that I cannot express confidence in the Government on this issue,” concluded Deputy McNamara.
Tipperary Roads Policing Unit, in carrying out patrols in the Thurles district yesterday, Monday 4th December, intercepted and seized 4 vehicles.
One of the vehicles intercepted, found the driver identified as being disqualified from driving and the subject was subsequently arrested and has now been charged to appear in the district court.
The remaining other three vehicles were identified as being uninsured following alerts, identified through the new Garda Mobility Application (APP), latter which provides up-to-date real time information, thus enabling Gardaí to assist in identifying a number of motoring offences.
All vehicles, as already stated were seized, with a court appearance by their drivers to follow.
Within the past 36 hours, Tipperary Roads Policing Unit, who were patrolling the town of Thurles, intercepted two vehicles within a short period of each other, following the use of their new “Integrated Traffic App” alert system.
Both vehicles were found and confirmed as having no insurance.
The New Integrated Traffic App give Gardaí more real-time data, thus allowing them to detect road users without Insurance and other offences.
In both of the above cases/traffic offences, vehicles were seized, with a court appearance to follow.
In another case within the past 12 hours, Tipperary Roads Policing Unit, again patrolling within the Thurles town area, intercepted a car after it drew their attention.
Following their interception, the driver was arrested on suspicion of Drug Driving, after a Drug Wipe test for Cocaine and Cannabis proved positive.
- Bodycams on Gardaí in Dublin from next spring ahead of national rollout.
- Minister welcomes early attestation of latest Garda class before Christmas.
- Garda management outline range of new public order measures.
- Between 700 and 800 new recruits into Garda college this year.
Minister for Justice Mrs Helen McEntee TD has this evening welcomed the passage of key legislation to provide An Garda Síochána with bodyworn cameras to give our Gardaí greater access to CCTV and to provide for community CCTV.
Minister McEntee said this puts An Garda Síochána on a clear path to begin rolling out bodycams on frontline Gardaí from next year, with Gardaí in Dublin City Centre having access to bodycams from next spring.
The Minister also welcomed the series of announcements from Commissioner Harris and the senior leadership team of An Garda Síochána today, including the accelerated expansion of the Garda Dog Unit – as provided for by Minister McEntee in Budget 2024.
Other measures include the provision of stronger incapacitating spray for all Gardaí; the provision of tasers to public order units, subject to training; more public order training for Gardaí; more and improved public order equipment and vehicles; more Garda data scientists to support the analysis of evidential material; the purchase of hand held video cameras for public order units; and the further expansion of public order tactics.
The Minister also said she looks forward to attending the early attestation of 151 new Gardaí on December 15, with a substantial cohort being deployed in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, from December 16.
This will be the latest class to graduate from Templemore as Garda recruitment gains momentum and helps us build stronger, safer communities.
Numbers in Templemore continue to increase, with between 700 and 800 new recruits entering the college this year.
135 trainees entered the training college in February, 154 entered in May, 174 entered in July, and another 177 entered the college last month, the largest intake since Covid.
One more class is due into Templemore on December 27, putting us on course to have between 700 and 800 into the college this year.
Budget 2024 provides for the recruitment of between 800 and 1,000 recruits next year.
Equipping Gardaí with bodycams is a major element of Minister McEntee’s drive to equip Gardaí with state of the art modern equipment and she welcomed the passage of the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022 through the Oireachtas this evening.
It will provide a robust and modern statutory framework for the use by An Garda Síochána of recording devices to support their functions in investigating, detecting, preventing and prosecuting criminal offences, safeguarding against and preventing threats to public safety and public order, and in matters relating to the security of the State.
It will be accompanied by strong legislation to provide An Garda Síochána with Facial Recognition Technology.
The Bill will now be referred to the President to be signed into law.
Minister McEntee said: “The Government is committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána have the resources, the equipment and the technology necessary to build stronger, safer communities.
This includes ensuring that Gardaí have body worn cameras, which has been a priority of mind for some time.
The shocking scenes we witnessed last Thursday night show how crucial bodycams, as well as tools such as Facial Recognition Technology, are to protecting Gardaí and help bring criminals to justice.
These tough new laws will help An Garda Síochána identify perpetrators and gather evidence directly. It will help them deal with public order and with tackling incitement by the far right.
But there will also be other benefits this Bill – greater access to Automatic Number Plate Recognition will help with longer term investigations, and reduce the time it takes to collate evidence and track suspects.”
Policing services across the world have gained significant benefits from the introduction of these technologies and I am confident that they will play an important role in improving Garda front-line capabilities and in ensuring the accurate recording of incidents.
Minister McEntee added: “Particularly in light of the shocking scenes we all witnessed last Thursday night, this Bill and the changes it will make are more important than ever.
Now that the Bill has successfully completed its final stage, I hope to see it enacted, commenced, and for body-worn cameras to be rolled out as soon as possible.
I also welcome the Garda Senior Leadership Teams decision on a range of measures to support Gardaí in policing serious public order incidents and conducting criminal investigations in order to keep people safe.
This includes running a separate proof of concept (POC) project involving the deployment of body-worn cameras in Dublin city centre. The cameras will be used in conjunction with a code of practice developed in line with the Digital Recording Bill.
This relatively quick technical solution will make Body Worn Cameras available to city centre Gardaí in a shorter timeframe to the main solution by next spring.“
The use of Facial Recognition Technology will be provided for separately in the new Garda Síochána (Digital Management and Facial Recognition Technology) Bill 2023.
Minister McEntee said: “I have instructed officials to include riot and violent disorder in the new facial recognition bill which will be ready to go to Government within weeks.
I have also informed the Cabinet that I have asked An Garda Síochána to consider how to fast track the purchase of Garda bodycams.”
The Department of Justice has engaged extensively with An Garda Síochána, Garda oversight bodies and strategic partners during the preparation of this Bill, as well as the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.
The legislation is an overt policing Bill, dealing primarily with recording in public places, and is fully compliant with the GDPR and the accompanying law enforcement directive. Codes of practice will be developed for the use of the various technologies provided for in the Bill and will be included in a Statutory Instrument.
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