Sharp drop in Garda numbers in Dundalk 'bad news for the town'

A ‘sharp drop’ in the number of Gardaí stationed in Dundalk is ‘bad news for the town and the community’, Louth Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú has said.

Commenting on figures presented in the Irish Independent today, the Dundalk TD said it was not good enough that Dundalk had 25 fewer gardaí at the end of 2024 compared to the start of the year.

He said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s failure to address the problem of too few gardaí to meet the needs of an increased population was a dereliction of duty, that Minister Jim O’Callaghan must now tackle this issue seriously as a matter of urgency, and that this would only be done by increasing the training capacity of An Garda Síochána.

Deputy Ó Murchú said: "Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s failure to address policing numbers is Dundalk exposed and putting communities here at risk. The lack of gardaí has very serious consequences in terms of deterring crime, investigating crime and ensuring that people feel safe.  

"Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have failed to properly plan for and address this issue for more than a decade. This is a dereliction of duty, and communities in Dundalk and right across the state are now paying the consequences.

"There is a serious problem in terms of garda visibility, particularly in terms of the lack of community gardaí. It is unacceptable that almost a quarter of stations saw a drop in garda numbers over the course of 2024."

The Louth TD added that, "until there is a significant increase in the training capacity of An Garda Síochána, this problem will not be fixed. Sinn Féin has called for Garda numbers to be increased to 16,000. Minister Jim O'Callaghan, as a matter of urgency, must put a plan in place to achieve this to ensure that every community has a sufficient amount of gardaí assigned to their local stations.’