An Garda Slaiseadh

Safety in reduced numbers…?

atest figures reveal a dramatic drop in Garda numbers across Ireland, including County Wicklow.

In the past decade, 14 of Wicklow’s 17 Garda stations have seen their personnel decrease.

Across the country, it’s 133 out of 560 stations that have suffered a drop in Gardaí.

Almost one in four garda stations around the country had fewer Gardaí to tackle crime at the start of this year compared to the start of 2022.

Among the larger stations experiencing reduced staffing levels during the year were the Bridewell, Cork, which saw staff numbers drop 30% and Salthill in Galway where the drop was 25%.

Stepaside in Dublin saw a similar drop, while Rathmines in Dublin saw the number of Gardaí fall by almost 20%.

In the last five years, Bray has lost 23 Gardaí. This despite the increasing population growth in the town, and its proximity to South Dublin.

The Garda Representative Association have said that they are facing a staffing crisis because of the high numbers of retirements and resignations.