Almost one in four garda stations around the country had fewer gardaí to tackle crime at the start of this year compared to 12 months earlier, while 42 stations have no permanent garda attached to them.
That’s according to a report in the Irish Independent.
The report focuses on staffing levels at over 560 Garda stations nationwide. It has revealed 133 stations – 23.4pc of the total – suffered a drop in garda numbers over the course of last year.
It also highlighted how the number of smaller stations without a dedicated garda continues to grow –up from 35 in 2021 to 42 last year.
The majority of stations – a total of 326 – experienced no change in personnel numbers last year, while 109 stations had more gardaí in December than at the start of 2022. Ballybofey Garda Station in Donegal is one of the stations to have more officers attached to the station compared to last year.
Across the 26 garda divisions, only nine recorded an increase in garda strength last year.
The numbers were unchanged in Sligo/Leitrim Division.
Sample figures for this region show that although there is one less officer in Ballymote Garda station compared to last year the number of officers has increased by 9 over the past decade.
The figures have confirmed that there is currently assigned to the Skreen station.
18 additional officers have been allocated to Ballyshannon Garda station over the past 10 years while the number in Bundoran reduced by two in the same period.
The number at Manorhamilton increased by two since 2013 while in Kinlough the number remains the same as 2013 but has risen from 3 to 5 over the past five years.
The analysis, which is based on official garda figures published by the Department of Justice, shows the overall size of the force at the end of December was 14,133 – its lowest level since 2018.
The figures indicate there was an annual net reduction in manpower of 102 gardaí last year with 340 members retiring and a further 190 resigning.
It is a decrease of over 350 gardaí from the recent peak of 14,491 serving members reached at the end of 2020.
The number of civilian staff also fell by over 1pc to 3,126, while the Garda Reserve fell to 325 the lowest level since the auxiliary role was created in 2009.
Compared to 10 years ago, more than 200 stations now have fewer gardaí than in 2013, despite the overall size of the force growing by 8pc over the decade.
The latest figures show that the total number of garda stations that no longer have a dedicated member attached to them rose from 35 to 42 last year, including four stations in Donegal.
Sligo Councillor Thomas Walsh says the falling numbers of Gardai is a cause of concern.
