Galway Garda Division allocated one new recruit from 167 Probationer Gardaí
Galway is being left behind in the allocation of Garda resources – with just a single new recruit coming to the Division so far this year, out of a total of 167 Probationer Gardaí to emerge from the training college in Templemore.
That’s the claim of Galway West bye-election candidate Cllr. Thomas Welby, who claimed it was a pattern going on for years.
“Outside of Dublin, the area covered by the Galway Garda Division is the second most populated of all the Divisions in the country; yet it appears to be treated as the poor relation when it comes to resources,” he said.
“This has been going on for years, at a time when the population of Galway City and County is showing rapid growth, and it’s reflected in the fact that Galway has currently fewer Gardaí pro rata than 17 of the 28 divisions.
“There is currently a total of 618 Gardaí in the Galway Division, which is more than 100 fewer than Cork City, for instance, which has a population that’s just marginally ahead of Galway.
This has been going on for years, at a time when the population of Galway City and County is showing rapid growth
“And the Limerick Division has seen its numbers increase by 30 in the past year, while Galway’s has only gone up by eight – and those Galway figures include the officers working out of the Northern and Western Regional HQ in Renmore, servicing a broad area.”
Cllr. Welby said that the most telling figures were in the allocations of Probationer Gardaí when they come out of Templemore.
“In the past five years, just 31 of a total of 2,124 were allocated to the Galway Division, and if you go back further, you’ll see that in the ten years from 2015 to 2025, the Galway Division got just 94 out of 5,612 probationer Gardaí.
“This level of allocation is totally out of line with the population of the Galway Division, compared with the vast majority of other Garda Divisions.
“This increases the difficulty in providing proper security – in the city in particular – and it makes the job harder for those Gardaí who are doing their level best to serve and protect.
“They are facing an increasingly complex battle against crime, particularly with online fraud; last year, there was a 73% increase in overall fraud in Galway City and County, due mainly to online, phone or text scams, according to the crime stats for 2025.
“I have written to the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, urging him to ensure that when the next tranche of trainees leave Templemore, a fairer proportion is sent to Galway,” added Cllr. Welby.