Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising this issue. I join with him in sending best wishes to the local gardaí he referenced who experienced assault. An attack on a member of An Garda Síochána is an attack on our democracy and should rightly be condemned. Indeed, in this House in recent years and under the leadership of the then Minister, Deputy McEntee, we significantly increased the maximum penalties for those who assault a member of An Garda Síochána, or indeed our emergency services more generally. I thank the Deputy for highlighting that and join with him in the condemnation of that.

As he knows - and he knows I will say this but I have to say it - the Garda Commissioner is operationally responsible for the allocation of Garda resources. Of course, the Minister for justice and the Government are responsible for making sure the gardaí have the resources, budget and policy they need to do their job effectively.

I am informed that when allocating and transferring garda members to and from any division, consideration is given to commitments and undertakings outlined in the annual policing plan. It looks at local crime trends, workloads, policing arrangements, local population, geographical area, size and transfer applications that can arise regarding welfare, personnel issues and concerns.

I am told that, as of April of this year, there have been 658 gardaí assigned to the Clare–Tipperary division and that 371 of these have been assigned to stations in Tipperary. These gardaí are supported in Tipperary by 62 Garda staff. I am also informed that, as of the end of May, 79 Garda vehicles have been assigned to Tipperary.

However, the Deputy is right that we need to increase our Garda numbers significantly. He is also right that there is a direct correlation between people's sense of safety and Garda presence and visibility in a community. That is absolutely true. The Deputy will know what I am going to say about this. I am saying it only because I believe it is true. Templemore was closed twice or three times. It was first closed during the economic crash and the Fine Gael–Labour Government reopened it subsequently. It was also closed during the Covid pandemic. The closures obviously had a significant impact on the pipeline of new gardaí, but we now have 14,223 Garda members. The number of Garda staff has continued to increase steadily over recent years, having reached a record high of 3,501 at the end of 2024. This dipped ever so slightly, to 3,493, in April this year.

On the issue of the transfer from Thurles to Ennis, I will pass the Deputy’s concerns on to the Minister for justice and ask that he pass them on to and engage with the Garda Commissioner on them. We want to see a very significant increase in the number of gardaí over the coming years. We have the budget, Templemore up and running and specific commitments in the programme for Government on considering a second college and the options it might bring. Of course, the latter would see more gardaí across the country, including County Tipperary.

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