That has led to claims patrol cars have been summoned from as far away as Youghal to incidents in Cobh — a distance of 42km.

Fianna Fáil councillor Dominic Finn said he has serious concerns about the lack of garda presence in the Carrigtwohill and Cobh areas, which have a combined population of more than 30,000.

“I went to call to Cobh garda station recently and asked to speak to a garda, but no one was available. On one Monday the nearest garda car (available to attend an incident in Cobh) was in Youghal. There was nobody rostered for Tuesday (in Cobh). 

"On the Wednesday a garda was borrowed from Carrigtwohill, with the result there was nobody there. If something happened here when we have to rely on a patrol car coming from Youghal we’re in big trouble.” Mr Finn said.

Independent councillor Ger Curley said at a recent Cork City v Cobh Ramblers match in Cobh there was trouble with fans clashing and no garda presence.

“That’s not a good sight for our town and the Carrigtwohill station is closed most of the time," he added.

Labour councillor Cathal Rasmussen, chairman of the county’s newly formed community safety committee, said it took nearly 20 minutes for gardaí to respond to a serious incident in a Cobh estate — as they’d to come from Midleton. He claimed garda numbers in Cobh “are at an all-time low” despite efforts of local management to get more.

He said:

Another huge issue is you can often ring the station, and you’ll not get an answer. 

"As a local councillor I am advising people to ring 999 if they can’t get through to the station."

The garda press office said for operational reasons it doesn’t comment on current or future deployment of resources.

It said the opening hours of garda stations is not equivalent to the availability of gardaí patrolling in the local communities.

"Every hour that a garda is required to remain inside a station to keep it open, is an hour that garda cannot be on patrol in their local community," the statement added.