More gardaí needed outside city centre, Northside TDs say

Northside politicians from both government and opposition parties have said that more needs to be done to combat crime in Dublin.

Local Fine Gael TD Emer Currie has said that West Dublin is “losing out” when it comes to garda numbers.

Speaking in the Dáil this week, Currie broadly welcomed government plans to deploy two-thirds of Templemore graduates to Dublin City Centre, but she said it is the suburbs that need them the most.

“Suburban communities, such as those in Dublin West, also face challenges when it comes to law and order,” she said

“We have ongoing incidents of serious gangland crime along with persistent lower levels of crime and antisocial behaviour that, very worryingly, are becoming normalised.”

She cited examples of open drug dealing, car thefts, and incidents involving knives across Dublin West.

“All of that coincides with less visibility of gardaí on our streets,” she said.

She said that there are “significant inconsistencies” with regard to garda deployment across the Dublin metropolitan region outside the city centre. 

According to population figures produced by the Central Statistics Office, there is one garda per 510 people in the K district, or the Blanchardstown area.

In a neighbouring district, it is one garda per every 418 people and that same district has 40% lower crime statistics.

“There is no valid reason for some Dublin garda districts to have substantially fewer gardaí per capita than other districts, especially if they have more crime.”

She said, “the answer is not to take away from the Dublin districts that have those resources; it is to allocate more gardaí into under-resourced districts.”

“We need more gardaí on the beat in the villages of Dublin West – we should not have to rely on one station serving 120,000 people there.”

The Fine Gael TD, who succeeded former Taoiseach Leo Vardkar in the Dublin West seat in last November’s general election, said, “there has been a lack of evidence-based policymaking.”

Currie called on the Minister of State Niall Collins and the Garda Commissioner to provide a report on levels of allocation of gardaí to all Dublin metropolitan regions with reference to population and crime levels.

“I am sure that data will tell a story we are very familiar with in Dublin West,” she said.

Currie’s Fine Gael colleague Colm Brophy conceded, “there have been challenges in the area of recruitment, but we are starting to see the momentum move in the right direction.”

“The overall garda workforce, which includes garda members, civilian staff and the reserve, is, at 18,000, the highest it has been.”

Elsewhere on the Northside, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said, “the hard truth is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have presided over devastating cuts to community garda numbers.”

“For example, in the Dublin North Central area, the community had 139 community gardaí in 2014. By the end of last year, that was down to just 82. That represents a cut of 40%.”

“How on earth are communities meant to feel safe when gardaí do not have the manpower and the resources they need?”

The Sinn Féin leader said, “the government needs to get its act together.”

“We need more gardaí on our streets, and more investment in community and youth services, youth diversion programmes, rehabilitation and in our probation service.”

“We need a response from the Government that matches the scale of the problem, and we need it fast,” she said.

Sinn Féin’s Dublin spokesperson Mark Ward said it was “shocking” that suspects for 22,591 crimes carried out in Dublin in 2024 were on bail release.

That figure was an increase of almost 2,495 since 2022.

The combined figure for the past three years of suspects implicated in crime in Dublin while on bail amounted to 64,014.

Ward said, “we need to get this right.”

“The public will not tolerate a situation where dangerous criminals are repeatedly released on bail to commit further crimes.”

“The government must address this issue as a matter of urgency. If the bail laws are not working, as these figures suggest, then the government must act.”

Responding to the CSO statistics, Dublin Central TD Gary Gannon said, “the report paints a picture of a policing strategy flailing aimlessly in the face of rising crime.”

“All facets of this crisis are going in the wrong direction.”

Burglaries rose by 10% in the 12 months up to September 2024, while instances of theft were up 7%, per the CSO stats.

“Garda recruitment and retention numbers continue to plummet due to pay and conditions, cultural issues and a broken application process known to leave hundreds of recruits in limbo while our neighbourhood streets lie empty,” Gannon said.

“Talking tough without your own house in order – or, in this case, a police force and an entire department – can only deceive for so long before criminal factions see this as a weakness they can exploit, and that’s reflected in the numbers.”

“We need a coordinated multi-agency strategy to reduce crime, one that is informed by international best practice and funded accordingly by the state.

“This includes bolstering our youth diversion schemes, offering education and advice to at-risk groups, developing restorative justice programmes and taking a health-based approach towards addiction.

“Only when we see crime for what it really is, a group of unique problems which require a unique set of solutions, can we begin to make our streets safer.

Borrowing a line from Tony Blair’s New Labour across the Irish Sea, Gannon said, “we must not just be tough on crime, but tough on the causes of crime.”