Garda numbers in Wicklow have fallen 11pc since 2020
The Wicklow PeopleNew figures show a sharp fall in Garda numbers in County Wicklow over the past five years.
The data released to Sinn Féin in response to a Parliamentary Question show that as of May 2025, there were 278 gardaí stationed in County Wicklow, compared to 312 gardaí five years ago before the pandemic struck.
This represents a fall of 34 officers, or almost 11pc, over the same period.
A separate report from An Garda Siochana showed that at the end of 2024 there were 617 gardaí working in the Wicklow-Wexford division. Some 282 of these Garda members were assigned to Wicklow stations.
The Government has a target of recruiting 5,000 gardaí over the next five years, which will require the force to expand their facilities at the Garda College.
During a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee in June, former Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told committee chair Wicklow TD John Brady his team was working on a plan with the Office of Public Works that would allow them to expand while discussing alternative education options for Garda trainees with third level institutions.
Approximately 640 members are due to attest from the Garda College this year. That will show a growth of around 200 in 2025. When the most recent class passed out on June 6, 14,300 officers were employed across the country.
It’s anticipated that figure will rise to approximately 14,500 by the end of the year.
The overall national budget for An Garda Síochána in recent years provided for the recruitment of between 800 and 1,000 gardaí in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
To address the shortfall a further competition will take place in September, to create a more fluid and always-on pipeline of candidates.
Deputy Brady said despite these measures, the continuing decline in Garda numbers is having a direct impact on community safety.
"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 in roads policing," he said.
Brady pointed out that despite repeated government promises and publicity around recruitment drives, the reality on the ground is very different.
"There was a lot of fanfare from Minister O’Callaghan earlier in the year about the recruitment drive, but nothing has been achieved in terms of increasing the number of Gardaí available to police the streets of Wicklow," he said.
"This is simply 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.
Brady also criticised the government’s failure to deliver on its own targets for Garda recruitment.
"The government is nowhere near reaching its target of training 1,000 gardaí a year. To address the retention crisis there 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 nationwide.
"Without real changes to recruitment and retention, the decline we are seeing in Wicklow will only worsen," he said.