Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s failure to address policing numbers putting communities at risk – Matt Carthy TD

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Matt Carthy TD, has said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s failure to address policing numbers is leaving communities exposed and putting them at risk.

Commenting on figures presented in the Irish Independent today, Deputy Carthy said it was not good enough that almost a quarter of garda stations had fewer gardaí at the end of 2024 compared to the start of the year.

He added that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s failure to address the problem of too few gardaí to meet the needs of an increased population was a dereliction of duty, that Minister Jim O’Callaghan must now tackle this issue seriously as a matter of urgency, and that this would only be done by increasing the training capacity of An Garda Síochána.

Teachta Carthy said:

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s failure to address policing numbers is leaving communities exposed and putting them at risk.

“The lack of gardaí has very serious consequences for communities in terms of deterring crime, investigating crime and ensuring that people feel safe.

“Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have failed to properly plan for and address this issue for more than a decade. This is a dereliction of duty, and communities right across the state are now paying the consequences.

“There is a serious problem in terms of garda visibility, particularly in terms of the lack of community gardaí. It is unacceptable that almost a quarter of stations saw a drop in garda numbers over the course of 2024.

“I am particularly shocked at the drop in Cavan Town within my own constituency, which saw a drop of 31 gardaí – from 93 to 63.

“Until there is a significant increase in the training capacity of An Garda Síochána, this problem will not be fixed.

“While Dublin faces very serious issues in terms of incidents of crime and a lack of safety particularly in the city centre, the solution cannot be to move more gardaí to Dublin at the expense of other areas.

“From these figures we see that most of the stations that had a significant increase in number of gardaí were in the Dublin region, while those that lost gardaí were outside of Dublin.

“These figures show significant drops in Cork City’s biggest station (Anglesea Street), in Dundalk and in Mullingar, amongst other areas. I am seriously concerned that, working with an insufficient overall number of gardaí, other large towns and cities are suffering because of the particular challenges in Dublin.

“These figures also show that there are a considerable number of smaller stations without an assigned garda. This is also an important issue if we are to keep that close contact between communities and An Garda Síochána and to ensure rural areas also have that sense of safety.

“Sinn Féin has called for Garda numbers to be increased to 16,000. Minister Jim O’Callaghan, as a matter of urgency, must put a plan in place to achieve this to ensure that every community has a sufficient amount of gardaí assigned to their local stations.”