‘People feel less safe’ amid falling garda numbers: Commissioner to be invited to Cork County Hall

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will be invited to come before Cork County Council to hear calls for a more visible police presence in the region after it was disclosed that there has been a drop of 113 in garda numbers across the city and county in the four years since the current Government took office.

The invite was made after information provided by Justice Minister Helen McEntee in response to a Dáil question from Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould revealed the drop from 1,382 gardaí across the three Cork divisions in December 2020 to 1,269 in the latest available figures, those published at the end of June.

According to the figures, the garda strength in the Cork City division as of June was 667, while it was 322 in Cork North, and 280 in Cork West. The combined total is 1,269 gardaí.

The figures for 2020, as of December 31, were 723 in the City Division, 351 in North, and 308 in West.

This amounts to a total of 1,382 members across the three Cork Garda divisions.

Carrigaline-based councillor and Cork South-Central candidate for Fianna Fáil, Seamus McGrath, indicated that a motion inviting the commissioner to appear before the county council will be before today’s full council meeting. Commissioner Harris has already met with Cork City Council.

Mr McGrath said that more garda visibility was required, and pointed to the numbers of new recruits allocated to Cork in the last graduation from the Templemore training centre.

“It’s very obvious on the ground that we do not have enough garda members serving our communities — they are stretched too far in terms of their duties and we don’t have sufficient visibility of garda members out on the beat either in the city centre or in our suburban towns and villages,” he said. 

“We know from the last graduation from Templemore that the southern region as a whole got a very small number — that isn’t acceptable.”

According to the figures provided by Ms McEntee in her response to the Dáil question, there were 19 community gardaí in Cork City Division as of June 2024 compared to 38 in 2020. There has also been a reduction in the number of community gardaí in Cork North from seven to five in the same period, while there were four Gardaí assigned to community policing in Cork West throughout the four years.

”We are now faced with a situation whereby the gardaí themselves on the ground do not feel safe,” he said.

'SHOCKING DECLINES'

Mr Gould said: “How can Fine Gael claim to be the party of law and order when their minister for justice has overseen these shocking declines?

“The reality is that people in Cork feel less safe now than when this Government came to office, and the reason for that is clearly visible in these figures.”

Mr Gould also pointed to the numbers for the road policing units in Cork disclosed in the figures provided in the response. According to the June 2024 figures, 28 gardaí are assigned to the roads policing unit, compared to 34 in 2020.

In Cork North, there are now 21 gardaí on roads duty, against 26 in 2020. The reduction in Cork West has been smaller, down from 23 in 2020 to 21 in June 2024.

While Mr Gould drew a comparison between 2020 and 2024, the justice minister referred in her response to the figures for 2015.

“This represents an increase of over 3% when compared to figures at the end of 2015 when there was a total of 1,225 Garda members assigned to Cork,” she said.

“I am further advised that as of the same date there are 217 Garda staff working alongside Garda members in Cork, a total which has doubled since 2015.

“The significant increase in Garda staff across the country in recent years has enabled 900 gardaí to be freed up for frontline duties.”