Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

Again, the Deputy wants to see more gardaí in his constituency. I do not get involved in directing the Commissioner as to where I think he should send gardaí. That would be far too political. What I say to the Commissioner, and it is something he agrees with, is that I want to see high-visibility policing. That means high-visibility policing not just in our urban areas and cities such as Dublin, Cork and Limerick, but throughout the country. When it comes to rural constituencies like the Deputy's constituency, it is more difficult to have the visible presence of gardaí in every area because of the size of the constituency. However, I assure the Deputy that the Commissioner and I are committed to ensuring we get more gardaí out around the country and visible to the people in the area. That will be achieved through garda recruitment. The numbers are looking better at present. We have 14,400 members of An Garda Síochána. I am looking to get to close to 15,000 by the end of the year. Once we get those numbers, we will see more gardaí going to the Deputy's constituency and to everyone else's constituencies.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21