Roads policing numbers at historic low of 618 gardaí, figures show
The number of
gardaí
involved in
roads policing units
has dropped to a historic low of 618 according to the latest
Department of Justice
figures.
There has been a steady decline since 2009 when official figures for those engaged in roads policing began to be regularly published.
That year 1,046 gardaí were assigned to road policing duties and the numbers involved fell to a low of 623 in 2017. They rose over the next four years to 736 in 2021 but have fallen again, down to 627 last year.
In January this year the number of gardaí in the units dropped to 626, to 623 in February and was down to 618 by the end of April.
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Every region and county has seen the number of roads policing gardaí drop, in some cases by more than 50 per cent since 2009.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told the Oireachtas Transport Committee in May last year 'we plan to add 75 gardaí to roads policing this year and a further 75 in 2025, and working towards this, we are proactively recruiting into our roads policing units'.
A recruitment campaign was undertaken in eastern, north-western and southern regions last year. But Susan Gray of road safety campaign group Parc said the figures show a reduction of nine members at the end of April compared to last year. 'They are just playing catch up all the time.'
The figures show the Sligo/Leitrim Garda Division had 23 members in 2021, but it was down to 11 in February this year.
Donegal had 31 Garda roads policing members in 2021, which fell to 21 last year, a reduction of 10 officers in three years.
Official Road Safety Authority data shows 17 road deaths in Donegal last year, 'the highest number since 2010 when 19 died', Ms Gray said. Sixty-nine people have died on Irish roads so far this year, she said.
In the Dublin Metropolitan Area the numbers have dropped from their 2009 high but have remained consistent over the last two to three years.
In Dublin's eastern region which goes from Dún Laoghaire to Stepaside and takes in Dundrum, Blackrock, Shankill and Cabinteely, the numbers dropped from 18 in 2009 to four in 2023 and rose to nine the following year, where they have remained.
In Laois/Offaly there were 42 dedicated roads policing officers in 2009 which fell to 24 in 2023 and dropped to 18 in April this year.
'It is very disappointing,' said Ms Gray. 'Everybody talks about road safety being a priority and everywhere we look it's obvious it's not a priority,' she said.
'We hoped to see the figures going up rather than down for gardaí involved in roads policing.'
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Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
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Cork, propelled into that recent round-robin tie on a tide of anticipation, departed less than two hours later nursing the kind of traumas that must have invaded their night time imaginings ever since. With Hayes rampant, Limerick were again a force of invincible self-belief, a reborn team delivering perhaps the magnum opus of John Kiely's star-spangled reign. In full flight and fizzing like a well-fletched arrow across a rectangle of grass, their number six offered a jolting reminder of why he rates among sport's most arresting and magnificent vistas. Watching again the footage of his wonder goal against Tipp in the 2021 Munster final, different elements of his jinking, jaw-dropping solo gallop — a run at once thunderous and balletic — evoke Lamine Yamal, Rudolph Nureyev, Roger Federer, the Road Runner confounding Wile E Coyote, a Lamborghini Aventador and an 18-wheel juggernaut. Tipp's defence appear as helpless as traffic cops trying to stop a runaway buffalo from breaking a red light. The fever of excitement surrounding Hayes that afternoon, his capacity to deliver such irresistible moments, was a key component in Limerick's four-in-a-row champions announcing their separation from the rest of the field. His success in combining demonic intensity with flourishes of artistic beauty in the most recent meeting with Cork — the player exhibiting what one Joe DiMaggio biographer describes as a 'glint of godhood' — strengthens the arguments of those who are happy to declare the 26-year-old the greatest hurler in the country. He is unquestionably the most divisive. If Hayes has one or two rivals for the title of Ireland's most influential hurler — led by his Limerick teammate, the lyrical master conductor Cian Lynch — he is unrivalled as the most contentious. Ahead of tonight's rematch, there will be discussion of a sporting life bejewelled by achievement, a freakish talent who combines an engraver's touch with the kind of physical dimensions that might eclipse the sun. As he swatted the Rebels aside 20 days ago, a rampaging Hayes had Dónal Óg Cusack flicking through the history books in search of a meaningful reference point. 'This Limerick we ever seen a better team than them? What a machine they looked, so well engineered, resilient, strong, every part is working and up for the fight everywhere.' Anthony Daly was just as effusive: 'Hayes is like a gazelle. It's not just his breaking out, it's the tackling, it's the handling at the last second, it's the whole package he gives you there at six.' 'Hayes is the leader of this Limerick team,' was the unequivocal verdict of Ger Loughnane's one-time sideline Sancho Panza, Tony Considine. 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