Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of Garda resources in County Meath. We have the lowest number of gardaí per head of population, at one per 668 people. We have a joint policing committee meeting tonight in Ratoath, which is the largest town in Ireland without a Garda station. This is testament to a lack of investment. There has been an increase in crime and in the number of unsolved crimes. There was a target to recruit 800 gardaí this year, but only 24 have been recruited. Since 2016, there has been an increase of just two gardaí per every 100,000 people. There is a chronic shortage of resources in the county. What is the Government going to do to address that?

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