New Garda detective appointed in Arklow following spate of attacks

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

A new detective has been appointed to Arklow Garda Station that will focus specifically on drugs in the local community.

The news was announced following a meeting between Sergeant Mick Hill and Wicklow-Wexford Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan on Monday.

The appointment comes after Garda resources were called into question following a spate of suspected knife attacks in the town over recent weeks.

Since the end of last month there has been three attacks, two of which resulted in serious injuries.

The allocation of probationer gardaí to a divisional training station facilitates the reassignment of gardaí to other stations within the division, if required, by the divisional officer.

However, under the direction of the Wicklow/Wexford Joint Policing Committee, only six have been allocated for all of County Wicklow for 2025, which is putting pressure on current resources.

Speaking following the meeting, Deputy Brennan welcomed the allocation of a new detective but insisted more needs to be done to address safety concerns in the locality.

“I had a very constructive conversation with gardai in Arklow but the truth is we need more officers on the ground.”

Deputy Brennan has also written to the Justice Minister Jim O’ Callaghan calling on him to allocate more gardai for the Wicklow/Wexford division.

Figures from An Garda Siochana show there were 617 gardaí working across the region at the end of 2024, with some 282 of these Garda members assigned to Wicklow stations.

This was down 11pc on 2015 numbers, but a further report outlined that by the end of January this year Garda members in the full division had fallen to 612. As of January 31, 279 gardaí were assigned to Wicklow stations with a total of 225 gardaí scheduled to retire from the division over the next four years.

Despite the fall, Deputy Brennan said it was important to have more officers assigned to the area.

“We need to have a situation where the people of Arklow can walk their streets without any fear of being intimidated or witnessing incidents of crime.” he added.