“Government needs to get act together” on Garda recruitment numbers says Ward

Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward has said that the government “needs to get its act together” on Garda recruitment numbers.

New figures, released to the Dublin Mid-West TD, estimated there will be between 770 and 780 Garda trainees starting training this year, far short of the government’s 1,000 target.

“2026 will be another year that the government fail to reach their Garda recruitment targets,” Ward said.

“This is the second year that the government fell short. Last year only 619 Gardaí attested. So for 2025 and 2026, an approximate total of 1399 Gardaí will have attested, only 70% of the target. If this continues, we will be short by 1,500 new recruits by the end of this government term,” he predicted.

Ward, who serves as the party’s Dublin spokesperson, said “it is not credible for the Minister to say that he will recruit 5,000 over the lifetime of the government.”

Due to resignations and retirements, the total number of Gardaí has only increased by 364 members since the end of 2024.

Ward said, “we can see the impacts this is having on communities, where we simply do not have enough Gardaí visibly present.”

“The EU Presidency is adding to this where large numbers of Gardaí are being pulled out of local areas leaving our communities vulnerable to criminality and anti-social behaviour,” he added.

“The government needs to increase their effort to recruit more Gardaí and to ensure that a sufficient number have the training needed for our communities to be safe.”

“Our communities are being failed, and this is simply not good enough,” he said.

The Dublin Mid-West TD said “Sinn Féin have put forward common sense solutions to increase Garda recruitment, including an increase to the training allowance and improvements to pay progression. We have also suggested incentives to retain experienced Gardaí.”

“The government needs to get its act together and implement these suggestions,” he says.