Galway has third highest number of reserve Gardaí

Date Published: 26-Jul-2010

By Darragh McDonagh

Galway has the second highest number of reserve Gardaí in the State outside of Dublin but recruitment to the Garda Reserve nationally has fallen almost two-thirds short of its original target, according to the latest figures.

A total of 38 reserve Gardaí have been recruited in the Galway divisional area, of which 23 are attached to Galway Garda Station in Mill Street.

Four reservists have been based in the Salthill district, while five are attached to Tuam, four to Loughrea and two to Ballinasloe.

The ranks of the Galway Garda Reserve are the second largest in the State outside of Dublin, where 209 members are spread throughout 42 Garda stations. Cork has the next highest number of reserve Gardaí at 39.

However, the national figure has fallen well short of the original aspiration of the Department of Justice of forming 10% of the full-time professional force when it was introduced in August 2006.

Four years on, there were just 555 reserve gardaí based in Garda stations around the country at the beginning of last month – around one-third of the target set out by Department of Justice.Minister for

Other major urban centres reported lower numbers of reserve gardaí in the statistics. Limerick had just 20 reservists at its Garda stations at the beginning of June, while Waterford had 21,

Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel