Shortage of gardaí in Carrick-on-Suir 'giving confidence to criminals', councillor warns

The Garda Representative Association and a councillor have voiced deep concern about the low numbers of gardaí allocated to police Carrick-on-Suir and its environs and reduced opening hours of the town's Garda station.

Sinn Féin Cllr David Dunne from Carrick-on-Suir says he fears the Garda manpower problem is “giving confidence to criminals” such as drug dealers to carry out criminal activity in his hometown.

It’s an assertion that An Garda Siochána has disputed in a detailed statement in which the force insists there has been no reduction in Garda numbers allocated to Carrick-on-Suir Garda Station over the last 10 years and points out there was a 10% drop in crimes recorded in the Carrick-on-Suir Garda Station area between 2023 and 2025.

But Cllr Dunne claimed Carrick Garda Station is now effectively run from Clonmel and the station is closed so often that local people are finding it difficult to get passport applications signed there.

When they do get passport applications signed at the station, he claimed the Passport Office finds it difficult to get through to the station by phone to verify Garda witness signatures.

He appealed to An Garda Síochána to urgently allocate more officers to his hometown.

The GRA, which represents rank-and-file gardaí, has echoed his call.

Tipperary GRA representative Richie Kennedy said Carrick-on-Suir is one of the worst staffed Garda stations in the county and there were occasions when there were no gardaí in the town.

He pointed out it was not that long ago that Carrick-on-Suir Garda Station was manned 24 hours a day, but now the people of Carrick would be surprised if they saw the station open.

He says the town has become “extremely reliant” on gardaí coming from Clonmel on a daily basis compared to ten years ago.

But Mr Kennedy pointed out that Clonmel Garda Station is already stretched for resources.

“Gardaí in Clonmel are constantly responding to call-outs. There is no lull in Clonmel.”

Mr Kennedy said while on paper there are 12 gardaí assigned to Carrick-on-Suir, in reality there are just 8 officers allocated to the town at the moment as some members are on long-term sick leave. The detective assigned to Carrick is actually based in Clonmel.

“When you divide those eight officers across four units, that means there are only two gardaí to cover Carrick-on-Suir at any one time and that can be less if an officer is sick, on annual leave or attending a court hearing.”

Mr Kennedy noted the eight officers deployed to Carrick is a dramatic improvement on the number of gardaí allocated to the town a year ago, which was just three.

But he stressed the number of officers still needs to be increased further, as does the number of officers allocated to Clonmel Garda Station.

The GRA representative said county Tipperary was allocated seven probationer gardaí from the class that most recently graduated from Templemore Garda Training College. Clonmel needs seven more gardaí alone but just got one new officer.

“We are looking for more gardaí in every corner of the county. We (Tipperary) are always the poor relation when it comes to recruitment. I met the new probationer gardaí, four of whom went to Tipperary Town and one each went to Clonmel, Nenagh and Thurles. When you spread them around the county, it's very little.

“Hopefully we will get garda numbers up slowly and surely, but Dublin is sucking up so much resources,” he added.

The Nationalist contacted An Garda Síochána for a response to the concerns raised by Cllr Dunne and the GRA and received the following statement:

“An Garda Síochána does not comment on remarks by 3rd parties.

“For operational reasons, An Garda Síochána does not comment on current or future deployment of resources.

“The allocation of Garda resources takes a number of factors into consideration, including but not limited to population, crime trends, operational strategies and the policing needs of individual areas which are kept under constant review.

“It is noted that there was nearly a 10% reduction in recorded crime in the Carrick on Suir Garda Station area between 2023 and 2025, according to official CSO Recorded crime statistics.

There has been no reduction in Garda numbers allocated to Carrick on Suir Garda Station over the last 10 years. Carrick on Suir and Tipperary South Community Engagement Area is served by a cohort of professional dedicated members of An Garda Síochána and Garda staff.

The statement went on to outline how the Divisions of Clare and Tipperary were amalgamated under the Operating Model, which resulted in the realignment of personnel from a District Model of Policing to a Divisional Policing Model made up of the different areas of Community Engagement, Crime, Performance Assurance and Business Services.

“This in turn allowed for realignment of personnel to different functions and the relocation of resources.

“Policing across the Community Engagement Areas is supported by the Divisional Roads Policing Unit, Divisional Crime Unit and Divisional Drugs Unit, responding to the policing needs of these communities, further supported by regional and national Garda Units, including the Armed Support Unit and the Public Order Unit.

“The hours when a Garda station is open for ‘public business’ is not equivalent to the operational hours of the same Garda Station or the availability of Gardaí patrolling in the community.

“Outside of these ‘public business’ hours, members of An Garda Síochána continue to operate from Garda Stations, are on patrol in their local communities, are involved in community engagement and investigations and available to respond to assist the public.

“Every hour that a Garda is required to remain inside a Garda station to keep a public counter open, is an hour that the Garda cannot be on patrol in their local community.

In order to ensure that trained sworn Garda members are deployed on core functions patrolling their local communities, a member of Garda Staff (civilian) performs public counter duties at Carrick on Suir Garda station during core business hours to provide an increased accessibility to the public.

Gardaí attached to Carrick on Suir Garda Station commence and complete their tours of duty at Carrick on Suir Garda Station.

The statement continued: In emergency situations such as crime in progress, or urgent Garda assistance is required, members of the public should always contact 999/112.

“An Garda Síochána operates a Regional Control Room strategy which ensures that Garda resources are available to respond to calls for service from the public.

“GardaSAFE, An Garda Síochána’s 21st century Control Room system is fully operational across all four Garda Regions, and efficiently and effectively deals with all calls for service by the public.

“Gardaí attached to Carrick on Suir Garda station will support their colleagues in other Garda stations in County Tipperary in the same way that their colleagues will support them from other stations as and when necessary. This is the reality of operational policing.

The statement added: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on hearsay. An Garda Síochána has processes in place with the Passport Office to deal with the situation highlighted if it arises.

The certifying of passports is an administrative function that An Garda Síochána carries out in support of the passport office.

“While important, the policing of local communities remains the priority for An Garda Síochána, as is expected by the communities we serve.”