New Justice Minister tells Garda Commissioner: 'We do not have enough gardaí on the street'

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, right, and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, second left, announce the launch date for the upcoming recruitment campaign for An Garda Síochána at Irishtown Garda Station. Picture: Leon Farrell /  RollingNews.ie

The new Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, has told the Garda Commissioner there are “not enough gardaí on the street” and he wants to see members out and visible to the public.

The Fianna Fáil TD said he did not want to see gardaí in offices, adding it was “a waste of time”.

He was speaking at Irishtown Garda Station in Dublin, accompanied by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, to publicise the forthcoming Garda recruitment campaign, which opens on February 6.

“We do not have enough gardaí on the street,” Mr O’Callaghan said to the media. “As I said to the commissioner last Friday, I want to see more gardaí on the street. I do not want to see gardaí in offices. It’s a waste of resources to have gardaí stuck in offices.” 

The frontline Garda associations have highlighted for years the bureaucratic burden members face in having to allot time from their shifts to be back in their station to fill out detailed computer records for each incident.

Mr Harris said Garda management conducted an analysis on this issue and measures being taken were aimed at making this aspect of the job more efficient.

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“In part, it's not less ICT, it is more advanced ICT,” he said. “We have introduced mobile phone and mobility apps, so that members can do more out on the ground.” 

But he pointed out gardaí receive a million calls for service in any year and there is a system of external oversight to ensure each call is dealt with thoroughly and professionally.

Mr O’Callaghan defended commitments in the programme for government to fund recruitment of “at least” 1,000 new gardaí each year for the next five years.

He accepted only 631 recruits were taken on in 2024 and just short of 750 in 2023 — against government commitments to recruit 800-1,000 a year. The strength of the force at the end of 2024 was 14,190, just 200 more than at the start of the year.

“It is going to be a challenge, but there are some new proposals,” he said. “There’s a commitment given to increasing the training allowance. There’s also consideration being given to opening a second training college or looking at different means of allowing people to access into An Garda Síochána.” 

He said he was due to receive a report from the Department of Justice’s recruitment strategy group soon. He urged people to consider becoming a garda, saying it is “exciting” work and one with variety.  Mr Harris agreed, and said there was “meaning” to the job, in protecting the public.

Separately, the commissioner expressed serious concern at the yearly rise in domestic violence incidents. The Irish Examiner reported on Monday that reports of such incidents to gardaí had jumped by 30% in the last two years, to more than 65,000 incidents.

Mr Harris said: 

There’s a huge amount of violence going on, a lot of the violence is directed towards women. It’s a real problem for us.

He added: “There are individuals who are prolific offenders, who go from, in effect, one abusive relationship to another. Those are the individuals we have to target.” 

Mr O’Callaghan said legislation on a new extradition treaty between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates — where the leaders of the Kinahan crime cartel are based — has yet to be ratified.