Calls for more Gardaí in Meath as two new recruits join Navan station
A Sinn Féin councillor has criticised the government for “failing” to address the Garda staffing crisis in Meath, as two newly attested members were deployed to Navan Garda Station.
The new recruits are part of a cohort of 154 probationer Gardaí who graduated from the Garda College in Templemore last week while another 201 trainees are beginning their studies this week, with a further graduation scheduled for November.
Fianna Fáil TD for Meath West, Aisling Dempsey, welcomed the additions, saying: “I welcome the deployment of two newly attested Gardaí to Navan Garda Station, strengthening visible policing across Meath West.”
However, Bettystown/Laytown Sinn Féin councillor Maria White said that the scale of recruitment remains far short of what is needed. Figures released to Sinn Féin through a Parliamentary Question show that Meath has 26 fewer Gardaí compared to April 2024.
“While I welcome an additional 22 Gardaí to the Eastern region who were sworn in recently, there is a lot more Gardaí needed for the area. The Eastern region is made up of ten counties including Meath,” Cllr White said.
“An additional 22 Gardaí for this region still leaves much work to be done in terms of truly boosting Gardaí presence within the area and indeed within County Meath.”
“We have too few Gardaí to police our communities. Too few Gardaí to prevent crime and to prevent young people becoming involved in crime. Too few Gardaí in Community Policing and too few Gardaí in Roads Policing.”
“This is not good enough. It is putting our communities at risk, and the failure to recruit new officers will inevitably lead to more overworked and overstretched Gardaí leaving the force.”
Cllr White also addressed issues with recruitment and retention, noting that the number of recruits coming out of Templemore is not keeping up with retirements, departures, and redeployments, and the government is “far from its target of training 1,000 Gardaí annually.”
“There needs to be a significant increase in the Garda training allowance, taking into account both the cost of living and the fact that those in the older age groups now being asked to join the Gardaí are more likely to have existing financial responsibilities that make this allowance unworkable,” she said.
“To address the retention crisis there also needs to be a focus on addressing the current disincentives that exist in terms of retaining those Gardaí who have 30 or more years service of which there are now over 1,000,” the councillor added.