Mayo gets one garda from latest group of graduates

Mayo will get just one additional garda from the newly attested batch of 126 recruits.

The new members of the force graduated on Friday last at the Garda College in Templemore in Co Tipperary — with one being sent to Castlebar. Last August, Mayo didn’t receive any recruits from the graduating class, meaning that the county has received just one recruit from two classes.

Westport-based Independent Cllr Christy Hyland, who is a retired detective garda, said he is very concerned about the new policing model and the administrative demands being placed on gardaí.

“It is not enough and we need more Gardaí coming into our rural counties such as Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon, we need them in our towns,” Cllr Hyland said. “We don’t need a guard on every street corner but we want to be able to get a guard when we are in urgent need.”

A total of 16 new gardaí have been assigned to the northwest region, which includes Mayo.

The recruits from the latest graduation ceremony will bring the total number of personnel in An Garda Síochána to 14,032.

The Garda trainee age limit was extended to 50 years last week and the pay for trainees was increased by €121 to €305. However, Cllr Hyland said it is still far too low and “impossible” for a trainee to live in Dublin.