Galway allocated only four our of 700 new Garda recruits as Taoiseach to raise issue with commissioner
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he will speak to the minister for justice and the Garda commissioner about the “low number” of new gardaí being allocated to Galway
Galway has been allocated just four gardaí from the last three attestations from the Garda College, which saw more than 700 new recruits distributed to other districts around the country.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he would speak to the minister for justice and the commissioner of An Garda Síochána about policing levels in Galway after the issue was raised in the Dáil yesterday (Wednesday).
Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East, Albert Dolan, told Mr Martin that recent allocations for Galway meant the city and county were getting just one garda for every 64,000 people. He described this as a “huge problem”.
“In the last three attestations, Galway received, in total across the over 700 gardaí that were allocated, only four gardaí,” said Mr Dolan.
“That is not four gardaí for one town in Galway or one small village – that is for the entirety of County Galway, the city, and Connemara. It is a huge area that received only four gardaí.”
He wrote to the Garda commissioner in July regarding the number of gardaí that were being allocated to Galway, and acknowledged that 28 had been specially added to the city as part of high-visibility policing efforts.
However, he said a greater allocation was needed in areas such as Athenry, Gort, Loughrea, Portumna, Tuam, and Headford.
In response, Mr Martin said Mr Dolan had made a “very strong case” for Galway. He noted that Garda numbers had increased, but the commissioner had “concentrated” on “getting big cities done first”.
“I will speak to the minister and commissioner in respect of Galway,” added the Taoiseach. “He understands the desire of the Government for wide coverage and so forth. [Four out of 700] seems a low number.”