25% of garda stations have no set opening hours due to Covid rostering restrictions

Out of 551 garda stations across the country 32 don't have a full-time officer assigned and 153 do not have a regular opening time

5% of garda stations do not have a single full-time garda.  File Picture.

More than one-quarter of Irish garda stations do not have a set opening time due to Covid-19 rostering challenges, and a further 5% do not have a single full-time garda.

The figures were revealed by Justice Minister Helen McEntee in a parliamentary question response to Fianna Fáil TD Eamon Ó Cuív.

Mr Ó Cuív asked the minister for the numbers of stations without a full-time presence, those which do not have set opening hours, and whether she had sought resources for them.

In her response, Ms McEntee said there are 551 stations across the country but 32 don't have a full-time officer assigned and 153 do not have a regular opening time. The latter issue, she said, is due to Covid-19 rostering restrictions.

"There are currently 32 garda stations which open to provide services to the public but which do not have at least one full-time garda allocated to them and are serviced by other stations within that district," she said.

"I am further advised that there are 153 garda stations nationwide which open to provide services to the public but which do not have a regular opening time. Due to the current rostering system as a consequence of the response to Covid-19, these stations open when there are members rostered to work. In such cases, a notice is displayed to identify opening hours."

Ms McEntee said the assigning of gardaí was an operational matter, but said the "allocation and transfer of garda personnel is determined by a number of factors, including crime and non-crime workload, minimum establishment, population, area, policing arrangements, operational strategies and transfers applications, including welfare issues".

In a separate answer to Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan, Ms McEntee said the budget for next year will "allow for the recruitment of up to 620 new gardaí, as well as up to 500 additional garda staff."