‘One garda for the size of Donegal is just not enough’ following Garda attestations

Out of the 167 recently sworn members of An Garda Síochána, one was pledged to Donegal. 

These newly-attested 167 members of An Garda Síochána were recruited as part of the 2024/25 recruitment campaigns. The North Western Region received a total allocation of eleven gardaí. Contrastingly, the Dublin Region received the majority of the recruits, with 104. 

Fine Gael Senator Manus Boyle highlighted the issue of receiving one recruit in the Seanad, outlining that due to the size and the fact that Donegal is a border county, it requires more resources. 

“Following the recent news from the Department of justice of the allocation of new members of An Garda Síochána, I am very disappointed to hear that only one has been pledged to County Donegal,” Senator Boyle said. 

“Geographically, Donegal is a uniquely demanding, vast rural area with a poor road network. Gardaí are regularly covering huge patrol areas on their own. Being a Border county adds additional strain, as crime utilises the Border. This results in more time being spent at incidents on average than in other counties. The Garda has to liaise with the PSNI, which takes up a lot of time and paperwork.

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“Keeping our staff in Donegal is a major problem. Many leave as soon as they are eligible for transfers. Donegal's location discourages long-term placement and as a result, rapport and relationships with communities fall by the wayside. There is a demand for more members who come from Donegal to be stationed in Donegal, yet the requests are often not approved or take a very long time to reach approval. 

“One garda for the size of Donegal is just not enough. I am not getting at the Minister here, no way, but from being up there, he sees the geographical size of the county. We really need more help and more reinforcements up there.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme