30% reduction in community gardaí in Clondalkin since 2020, says Ward

Sinn Féin spokesperson for community safety, Mark Ward TD, has criticised the government for failing to recruit and retain community gardaí in the Dublin Mid-West constituency.

Ward was speaking following the release of figures to him from the Minister for Justice which showed that there are less Community Gardai in Dublin Mid-West today than in 2020

Ward said, “there is a crisis in recruitment and retention of our Gardaí. Communities are feeling unsafe because they do not see their Community Gardaí on the beat in their areas.”

Per Ward, there has been a 38% reduction in Community Gardaí in Ronanstown Garda station since 2020 while Clondalkin Garda station has seen a 30% reduction in the same time period.

Lucan has seen a marginal increase of 7 to 9 Community Gardaí, but this figure is down from 10 in 2023.

Rathcoole has seen only 1 additional Community Garda since 2020, and it’s a similar situation in Tallaght.

“A crisis in recruitment and retention is an understatement,” the Sinn Féin TD said.

“The government gave themselves many pats on the back for announcing funding for the recruitment of 1,000 Gardaí, but the Minister has already admitted that he will fall short of that in his first year, potentially only getting 800 at best.”

“Missed targets roll over to the next year. I am not confident that they will recruit their 5,000 target.

“Sinn Féin, in our alternative budget, set out how we would increase the Garda training allowance to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that our new recruits are facing.

“We are also exploring ways to encourage more Gardaí to stay when they have served for 30 or more years.

“Crucially, we want to increase the number of training places so that we can actually deliver on recruiting more than 1,000 Gardaí each year.

“The Garda recruitment crisis can be address, but it will take political will and action to see it through.”