Four gardaí leave Cork City division during January

THE Cork City Garda division lost four gardaí during January, according to figures that were confirmed in a letter from Justice Minister Helen McEntee to Cork North Central Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould.

At the end of January, there were 695 gardaí in the Cork City division, down from 699 at the end of December, which itself was down from a high of 734 in January 2022.

In the Justice Minister’s letter to Mr Gould, she said the January 2024 figure was a rise of 7% compared to 2015 figures. Ms McEntee also pointed out that the number of Garda civilian staff had more than doubled since 2015.

“This increase in Garda staff numbers means that, as well as new gardaí assigned to the division, additional gardaí can be redeployed from administrative to operational policing duties, where their training and policing expertise can be used to best effect,” Ms McEntee wrote.

Mr Gould pointed out that January’s figures represented a loss of one garda per week during the first month of this year.

“That is a shocking figure and lays bare the serious concerns with Garda resourcing in our city,” said Mr Gould. “I cannot understand how a minister for justice can see these figures and even pretend that there’s good news here.

“Garda numbers in Cork are now 39 below their peak and 28 below where they were when the minister took office.

The TD described the assignment of 15 probationer Gardaí per year since 2015 as “a drop in the ocean”.

“We are the second-largest city in the State and we have such low garda numbers that they cannot keep stations open, they cannot do any community outreach, and they are struggling to make our communities safe,” said the TD, adding that he was “extremely concerned” that the wellbeing and safety of gardaí were being put at risk by what he termed “these shocking reductions”.