Garda chief told fall in number of county Tipperary based officers is ‘perilous’

South Tipperary politicians have voiced concern about falling garda numbers in their communities with the county’s new Garda chief, who has detailed the force's efforts to recruit enough trainees to replace retirees and catch up on lost years when a recruitment ban was in place.

They raised the issue with Tipperary/Clare Garda Division Chief Superintendent Colm O’Sullivan at the latest Tipperary Joint Policing Committee meeting in Thurles Municipal District offices.

The chief superintendent detailed to the JPC's councillors, TDs and community representatives how An Garda Síochána plans to recruit 1,000 trainee gardaí to meet the shortfall in the force’s manpower exacerbated by a two-year recruitment moratorium during the pandemic and a surge of retirements of gardaí who joined the force during the Government’s big recruitment drive of the early 1980s.

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Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Pat English and Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District Cathaoirleach Cllr David Dunne both voiced concern about the recent loss of gardaí in their communities through retirements and requested information on garda numbers.

Independent TD Mattie McGrath went as far as describing garda manpower levels as ‘catastrophic’ in Clonmel, Cahir and Carrick-on-Suir. What was needed was ‘boots on the ground], he declared.

“The numbers are quite scary going forward,” he bluntly told the chief superintendent.

“The population is expanding rapidly but now (garda) numbers are going down. I understand there are not enough gardaí in Carrick to fill one roster let alone three.”

Deputy McGrath complained the Government should have anticipated this exodus of gardaí but now they were in a “perilous situation”. He mentioned the impending retirement of Clonmel Garda Superintendent Willie Leahy and wished him well.

The TD pointed to the “massive success” of the Australian police force’s recruitment campaign and suggested the Government needs to offer better working conditions to attract new Garda recruits.

Chief Supt O’Sullivan responded that he would bring the garda manpower figures to the next JPC meeting and suggested such questions could be supplied to him ahead of a meeting in future so he could have the relevant information with him.

He said up to 90 recruits started at the Garda Training College in Templemore before Christmas while another group of about 121 recruits started in the college about 10 days before the JPC meeting.

The chief superintendent continued that the Government announced it wants to recruit 1000 Garda trainees. It was hoped that new groups of recruits would start at the college every two to three months, though he noted this depended on how successful An Garda Síochána is with recruiting staff and noted every organisation is fighting for staff now.

He acknowledged the force is facing a lot of retirements from officers who have reached the retirement age of 60 or have completed 30 years service.

Some of those recruited in the early 1980s recruitment drive retired last year, others are going this year and the remainder will retire next year.

He knew the superintendent in Clonmel was retiring soon and they could have more retirements coming up but he wouldn’t be made aware of them until the officers made the decision to give notice of retiring.

Chief Supt. O’Sullivan reminded JPC members that during the last recession Garda recruitment stopped in 2010 and that ban lasted betweem four and six years. This recruitment moratorium has impacted on the number of gardaí in the force today. On top of this, no Garda trainees were recruited for two years during the Covid pandemic.

He insisted An Garda Síochana was doing all it could to recruit new officers and pointed out the force was finding it difficult to attract young people to the force. Every organisation was fighting for staff at the moment, he noted.

The chief superintendent stressed a career in An Garda Síochána was very rewarding. It was a fantastic job with very high job satisfaction levels.

Thurles based Garda Supt. Eddie Golden, meanwhile, said a new recruitment campaign will be launched by the force in the next month or so. He said the force will endeavour to police smartly and maximise its resources over the next year to deal with the challenge of recruiting enough people to replace those who have left.