Garda numbers: Figures well below 14,000

IN November 2006 then justice minister Michael McDowell said the number of gardaí had reached 14,137, exceeding the 14,000 commitment in the Fianna Fáil-PD Programme for Government at the time.

Mr McDowell’s claims were not borne out by the findings of the Central Statistics Office which shows that the number of gardaí still languishes well below the 14,000 figure — at just 13,300 — and at the time that the minister was speaking there were less than 13,000.

In fact, the figures from the CSO show that despite the commitment of the Government to bolster garda numbers, since September 2003 the number has risen by just 1,600 or 13%. That compares with a 21% rise in the number of employees in the education sector from 80,000 to 97,000.