An Garda Síochána
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Matt Carthy (SF), Cavan-Monaghan

Of course we want to see more gardaí across all the regions, but we also need to address the failure in terms of numbers. In that context, I am sure the Minister will accept that there is far to much reliance on overtime for routine police work. We have far too few community and roads policing gardaí. We are in what is probably an unprecedented year, with the EU Presidency and the upcoming Ireland-Israel UEFA Nations League game, which, unfortunately, is still going ahead. We still have the potential of a visit by Donald Trump in September.
The Minister mentioned the representative organisations. My understanding is that the Garda Representative Association, GRA, has threatened to refuse voluntary overtime as part of its dispute. An Garda Síochána has classified more than 40 events that will need to be the subject of major security operations during the Presidency . If we are going to rely on overtime for those, it will invariably mean that there will not be enough Garda visibility in areas outside of Dublin. What assurance will the Minister provide to communities that these additional responsibilities for gardaí will not leave their areas under-policed when the events to which I refer are taking place?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19