Almost seven in 10 Garda stations in Limerick, Galway and Cork county are staffed by three gardaí or less, new figures from the Department of Justice reveal, while a very significant number of stations are staffed by just one member of the force. Conor Lally reports.
The figures were released by the Department in response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Mr Paul McGrath. He said many people in rural areas, and in Limerick city and Galway city, would be "very surprised" to learn that so few gardaí were policing their communities.
"The whole idea of community policing, even in rural areas, is that gardaí get to know the area and the people living in it. When you only have one or two gardaí at a station they are often dragged into the nearest town to work, particularly at weekends when they are needed most. It means they never get the chance to build up any kind of a relationship with residents.
"That has to have an effect on the work of gardaí when it comes to looking for the public's co-operation in solving crime. It would also have the same effect on crime prevention and might influence people's willingness to report crime".
Mr McGrath sought details of staffing levels in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway Garda stations and their catchment areas.
While the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, was unable to provide population details of individual Garda station areas, he did provide details of staffing levels in the four counties as of last Monday, October 11th.
The figures reveal that stations in Dublin and in Cork city are staffed by a relatively high number of gardaí. Of the 46 Garda stations listed in the Dublin metropolitan region, 10 were staffed by more than 100 gardaí. Store St station in the city centre reported the largest number, with 260 attached to it.This was followed by Pearse St, on 243, and Tallaght, on 170. Enniskerry had the lowest number in Dublin, with five gardaí.
In Cork, city stations fared better than those in rural parts of the county. In Anglesea St, for example, there are 218 gardaí. This was followed by Watercourse Rd with 59 and Togher with 57. In the Cork north division, 19 of the 28 stations listed were staffed by three gardaí or less. Some 12 stations in the division were staffed by one garda.
In the Cork west division, 29 of 41 stations were manned by three gardaí or less and 22 of these were staffed by one garda.
In Galway, of the 38 stations listed, some 27 were found to be staffed by three gardaí or less, with 20 stations having only one garda on duty at any one time.
The situation in Limerick was similar. Some 22 of the 34 stations listed were staffed by three members or less, with 10 of these staffed by just one garda.