Cork Gaeltacht gardaí fully fluent in Irish

All gardaí stationed in Cork’s Gaeltacht areas have the fluency to work through the language, compared to just 47% of gardaí in other Gaeltacht areas across Ireland, new data has shown.

An Garda Síochána issued a directive in 2018 to ensure that only members with the appropriate Irish language skills would transfer to Gaeltacht stations, with a view to increasing the number of bilingual personnel in these stations.

Following the appearance of An Garda Síochána before the Public Accounts Committee earlier this year, they provided a letter advising that in total, 42 out of 89 personnel attached to Gaeltacht stations have a level 4 or level 5 under the competency framework.

They added: “A review of fluency levels within the organisation is in progress and will be provided when available.” In Cork, the Baile Bhúirne (Ballyvourney) and Béal Átha an Ghaorthaidh (Ballingeary) stations both have two gardaí, and all four of them have the ability to work through Irish.

The only other county where 100% of its gardaí in Gaeltacht stations could work through Irish was Waterford, which had just one garda in a Gaeltacht area.

In both Donegal and Mayo, just five of its 26 gardaí in Gaeltacht stations had the required level of Irish, with one station in Mayo having just one out of its 20 members able to work in the language, while Kerry and Galway had nine out of 12, and 18 out of 20 members meeting the required levels, respectively.