McGuinness demands increased presence in west Waterford after gardaí hospitalised

Waterford Sinn Féin TD Conor McGuinness has said that no permanent visible garda presence in rural areas has left West Waterford hyper-exposed to crime.

McGuinness, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on rural affairs, said there can often be no garda presence in rural areas like Cappoquin, Lismore, Tallow and Ardmore.

October saw seven gardaí hospitalised across three different incidents in Dungarvan. Separately, a violent incident in Cappoquin on October 17 left a man in his 40s in critical condition.

“There are garda stations in Tallow, in Lismore, in Cappoquin, in Ballymacarbry, in Ardmore, there’s a garda station in An Rinn,” Deputy McGuinness said to the Waterford News & Star.

“There’s no guarantee that gardaí will be in the station all the time, nor indeed that there will be gardaí on the ground in those towns at any given time.”

August 2025 Figures from An Garda Síochána show there is one guard permanently positioned in Aglish, An Rinn, Ardmore, Ballymacarbry and Cappoquin.

There are two in Lismore and Tallow, with an additional sergeant in Lismore. There are 35 gardaí, nine sergeants, one inspector and one superintendent stationed in Dungarvan.

Deputy McGuinness said one permanent garda in each station does not amount to 24/7 safety for residents. Invariably, the guard will only work a fixed schedule, and violent incidents would likely require two or more gardaí on scene.

Government has pushed a recruitment drive in An Garda Síochána over the past three years. In October, the state police force said it had received over 11,000 applications to join the ranks.

“It is really down to adequate numbers of personnel, adequate efforts at recruitment and retention by government and adequate resourcing by the Minister for Justice,” Deputy McGuinness said.

“There is a need for senior Garda management to ensure that there are sufficient resources from within what's available to them assigned to rural policing,” he added.

“Criminals, by their nature, tend to be opportunistic, but having a strong, visible, responsive rural policing service is an extremely good deterrent.”

Speaking on WLR FM’s Déise Today, Waterford Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler said older people “were worried” and feel “they’re not safe”.

“The three incidents happened within three or four days, which was significant… it happened in quick succession, which was very, very worrying,” she said.

Minister Butler did not answer on whether she felt there was an adequate level of Gardaí in West Waterford.

“The superintendent, they’ll always want more…but if you look at the Garda figures across Ireland, Waterford would fare out as one of the best.”

Figures list 572 Gardaí in the Waterford/Kilkenny area, or approximately 240 gardaí per 100,000 people.

“When you’re a new garda and you come straight out of Templemore, it's better for you to be working with some colleagues and peers before you’re left in an area on your own, which is what they’re doing at the minute.

“From what I understand, you can always do with more.”