30% increase in garda numbers at Tallaght Garda Station in last 10 years

There’s been a 30% increase in garda numbers at Tallaght Garda Station in the last ten years.

There are currently 230 members of the force working out of Tallaght, according to Dublin South West TD John Lahart (FF).

Deputy Lahart said that this is 30% increase “on where they were in 2016”, adding that “the emphasis in government is on continuous recruitment of more gardaí.

The numbers at Tallaght make up almost half of the total garda numbers stationed across the South Dublin Metropolitan Region.

A total of 545 members are stationed across the four DMR South stations, including Tallaght, Terenure, Rathfarnham and Crumlin.

“People like to see community policing, they like to see visible patrols on foot or on bike in their areas and I support the public very much in that,” Deputy Lahart added.

Community policing is in limbo in south Dublin and across the country, as the new Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSP) have yet to be established.

Set to be made up of local councillors, local authority officials, An Garda Síochána, representatives from the HSE and the Child and Family Agency Tusla, the LCSPs are to expand on and replace the former Joint Policing Committees.

Though the regulations for establishing LCSPs was signed by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan on June 30, no timeline has been given for when the meetings will start.

The last Joint Policing Committee met in South Dublin in May of last year.

Delays in the establishment of LCSPs and the lack of JPCs is “leaving a dangerous vacuum in our communities, preventing the ability to address ongoing concerns for crime,” according to Sinn Fein’s Dublin West TD Mark Ward earlier this year.

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