Crime Prevention
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Niall Collins (FF), Limerick County

As the Minister has just said, he has been to and is no stranger to Limerick. I outlined to the Deputy the huge increase in numbers of personnel in Limerick. There will be further allocations around the country next week. There will be a significant allocation of new probationer gardaí which I think the Deputy will welcome, when we have that officially next week.
I want to detail to the Deputy and the people of Limerick - the Deputy's constituents and mine - the number of Garda operations ongoing in Limerick, because it is important. First, Operation TARA is a dedicated local drugs unit which continues to detect and investigate drug trafficking offences. Provisional figures for 2025 indicate a 13% increase in detections for possession of controlled drugs for sale. There is also Operation Coronation, which is ongoing in the Limerick division and focuses on the investigation and prosecution of money laundering offences. We have Operation Gealbhan which is on the south side of Limerick city and provides an increased Garda presence through covert and overt patrolling to prevent and detect incidents of serious criminality. We have Operation Silverside, which commenced in January 2023 and focuses on the activities of persons based in the west Limerick area involved in organised criminality on the Continent of Europe and beyond. Finally, we have Operation Thor which is aimed at targeting organised crime gangs and repeat offenders in the Limerick division through co-ordinated crime prevention and enforcement activity. The 2025 figures indicate a 38% reduction in burglaries in Limerick. The Deputy can see there is a lot of positive outcomes happening in policing in Limerick. I thank him for raising all those issues and giving us the opportunity to put it on the record.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27