The Garda Representative Association is to ballot members on whether they have confidence in Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

The association represents almost 12,000 rank and file gardaí.

The decision to hold a vote of no confidence in the commissioner was made at a meeting of the GRA's central executive committee yesterday.

The ballot is to take place within six weeks.

The GRA said that, under the leadership of Commissioner Harris, there have been 71 resignations this year and there is a crisis in morale, recruitment and retention.

With 116 gardaí on suspension, the GRA is also unhappy with discipline and said too much bureaucracy is turning investigators into administrators.

This vote had not been taken yesterday when the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee spoke to the media as she left a meeting with local gardaí  at Castlebar Garda Station, the headquarters of the newly formed Mayo/Roscommon/ Longford Garda Division.

There has been growing concerns locally over the lack of gardaí  visible on the streets in county Mayo, and many local representatives have been highly critical of the new policing model, where Mayo is now part of a three county Garda Division with resources and personnel spread over a huge geographical area.

Midwest News put these points to the Minister and asked her had local gardaí  spoken to her about their experience working under this new policing model …