More Gardaí are needed on the streets of Cork to prevent anti-social behaviour.
That's according to the Chairman of the city's Joint Policing Committee who is meeting with the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris this week to request that additional Gardaí be deployed to Cork and subsequently to Ballincollig Garda Station.
It comes as an investigation is underway after a second arson attack in a council playground occurred on Tuesday evening near the Lidl Supermarket in Ballincollig.
There have been campaigns for a larger Garda presence in the area as Ballincollig Garda station only operates three hours a day and closes on Friday and Saturday, while the Fire Station is only in operation on a retained basis.
Speaking to RedFM News, Chairman of the Joint Policing Committee Councillor Colm Kelleher, says more Garda presence is needed in Cork:
"We have requested additional Gardaí be deployed to Cork and then subsequently deployed to Ballincollig. It's not something that we're facing locally isolated on our own. In relation to the lack of Garda numbers, we're lacking Garda across the city as a whole. That's an issue for management senior data management in Garda headquarters in Dublin, but it is something that I will be using with regard to commercial and be pushing forward because we do need more boots on the ground, to act as a deterrent for antisocial behavior."
