Just one new garda from latest cohort of probationers assigned to Cork city
Only one of the 151 gardaí sworn in last week will be assigned to Cork city.
OF the 151 new gardaí sworn in last week, only one will be assigned to Cork city, The Echo has learned.
On Friday last, the garda press office issued a statement saying that of the latest 151 graduates of the Garda Training College at Templemore, 115 were being assigned to Dublin, 20 to the garda eastern region, and eight each to the southern and north-western regions.
The garda southern region encompasses Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, Clare and Limerick, which covers 8,811 square miles, and, as of 2022, has a population of approximately 1.2 million. According to the garda website, the southern region currently has 2,894 gardaí across all ranks.
There are currently 697 gardaí – across all ranks – listed for the Cork city division, with 323 in Cork north and 282 in the Cork west division.
A Cork delegate of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents rank and file members of the force, confirmed on Monday that the number of newly qualified “probationer” gardaí assigned to Cork will be one.
Det Garda Padraig Harrington said the GRA was “very unhappy” at the announcement.
“We have always and ever, with the last number of years, said that we’re probably short about 125 guards in Cork and it hasn’t been recognised that we provide regional units that are allocated to Cork city division but they are actually regional units, the likes of the Armed Support unit but [garda management] in Dublin, when it comes to seeking resources for Cork city, they count those regional units as being a Cork city resource and they’re not solely a Cork city resource, they’re a resource for the southern region,” Mr Harrington said.
He emphasised that Friday’s allocation was of one “probationer” garda across the 15 garda stations in the Cork city division.
“We lost 11 to the rank of sergeant, six transferred, nine retired, and three resigned. We got four probationers and 17 fully-fledged guards transferred in, so we got in 21 in total, but we lost 29, so we had a nett loss of eight gardaí.” Mr Harrington added that in 2019 there were 576 rank-and-file gardaí in Cork city, while today the figure is 570.
Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central described the news as “shocking and extremely disappointing”, and it was simply not good enough.
“We have about 10% of the population and we regularly get about 1% or less than 1% of the gardaí coming out of Templemore,” he said.
“There are so many stations across Cork city and county that are stretched to absolute breaking point, areas with big populations, areas with large rural catchments, and they are really struggling.” Mr Ó Laoghaire said his party recognised that An Garda Síochána was struggling with a recruitment and retention crisis, and that Dublin was a priority, but he added that Cork had been neglected “for years now” in terms of garda numbers.
“I raised this with Micheál Martin in the Dáil a number of weeks ago, and he said he would make representations and that there needed to be more gardaí for Cork.
“The senior ministers in Cork need to be taking this issue very seriously, we have had very serious incidents in some of the large suburban areas , and while our gardaí are doing the best they can, it is impossible to do a miracle of the loaves and fishes with the numbers they have.” Fine Gael councillor Damian Boylan, chair of the Cork City Council Joint Policing Committee (JPC), described the news as disheartening.
“Without doubt, it’s extremely disappointing, especially after the conversations we had directly with Drew Harris, the garda commissioner, when he was down before the JPC.
Cllr Boylan added that while Cork had only been given one newly attested garda at the last round of graduations from Templemore, a further five members had transferred into the city.
“I would be hopeful that that will be the case now too, but if all we’re getting is one guard in total, then it’s incredibly disappointing.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said the management and administration of An Garda Síochána rested with the garda commissioner and the justice minister had no role in this process.
“The Minister is assured that the Commissioner keeps the allocation of resources under continued review to ensure their optimum use. This is done in line with data available on crime trends, population stats and operational policing demands,” the spokesperson said.
“As of the end of November, there are a total of 697 members assigned to the Cork City Division, an increase from 644 at the end of 2016.” On Monday evening, the garda press office confirmed that one newly attested garda had been assigned to the Cork city division.
The Tánaiste was asked for a comment.
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