Paul Forrestal was in his early 20s and working in Germany as an aircraft mechanic in 1996. He loved the work and the travel opportunities it afforded him. Little did he know he would soon to trading his life and oily overalls on the Continent for a Garda uniform and the streets of Dublin.
Back home in Ireland that summer, Det Gda Jerry McCabe was shot dead during a Provisional IRA bank robbery in Limerick and journalist Veronica Guerin was murdered in Dublin.
In response to the killings – and the generally growing threat of organised crime – the government of the day decided to greatly expand the size of the Garda.
Originally from Westport, Co Mayo, Forrestal was initially stationed in the Bridewell station in Dublin’s north inner city, followed by Dundalk and then multiple postings in Donegal, where he is still based.
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“It’s a great career. Every day is different and I’ve had some great mentors in the organisation. My most satisfactory moment, if you like, was putting a man away for 12 years for rape and historical sexual abuse. People in the community, all women, came to me because they trusted me and said, ‘We have a story to tell you’,” he said.
“In another case, a woman was nearly killed by a man with a severe mental illness and I caught him in the act. When you really help people like that, it’s the ultimate satisfaction. There is a buzz off that. I love that.”
His daughter has just joined An Garda Síochána and his joy that she has followed his footsteps is clear when The Irish Times speaks to him at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.
Though Forrestal is as enthusiastic as ever about the Garda force, he is concerned. His generation – that vast group of gardaí recruited for a decade from 1996 – will all reach retirement age over the next decade. He points out that from early next year to 2038 between 160 and 220 Garda members will become eligible to retire every three months.
At its annual conference, AGSI said the strength of the Garda, just over 14,000 at present, could fall to 13,000 or even 12,000 in coming years.
Forrestal believes incentives must be offered to older Garda members so they do not retire aged 50 when they become eligible, but instead stay on for longer.
Det Insp Brian Downey, also an AGSI delegate in Killarney, said he shared his colleague’s concerns. Based in Balbriggan, north Co Dublin, he said the Garda was having the same problems recruiting new members as other parts of the public sector in a full employment economy.
At present the capacity of the Garda College was 800 recruits a year, meaning the Government’s aim of recruiting 1,000 gardaí over the next five years seemed impossible.
Insp Downey said changes could be made to move some of the training off the Templemore campus, through partnerships with other colleges, thus increasing the number of recruits that could be in training at any one time.
“We could lose 30 to 50 per cent of our organisation in five years. That’s massive,” he said of the large spike in retirements the force was now on the cusp of.
Sgt John Fitzpatrick, of Bray Garda station, Co Wicklow, said he and his colleagues had concerns around changes made to the structure of the Garda, under modernisation, in recent years.
For example, a new “crime hub” and a “community engagement” hub had been created in Bray, but a “siloed” culture was taking hold, meaning the crime and community engagement teams at stations across the country were not working as closely as they could be.
He would like to see a review of the new “operating policing model” to marry community engagement better with tackling crime.
