The number of Gardaí policing Ireland’s roads has fallen by 41% in just 15 years, new figures have revealed.

There are now just 620 officers assigned to the Garda Roads Policing Unit (RPU), the latest figures for May show.

Those figures were revised downward from 629 following a query from the PARC road safety group.

It means that the RPU has 41% fewer officers than it did at its peak 15 years ago, when there were 1,046 Gardaí policing Ireland’s roads.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, PARC founder Susan Gray said the situation is “very, very worrying”.

“This year alone, the figures are going down every month,” she said.

“The reality is that we've only got 620 valuable members on our roads policing units.

“They are specialised Gardaí and that 620 includes those that are not on active duty – those that may be on long time sick leave, those that are suspended and on and on.

“So it's not a true figure.

“And we have such concerns, as do the many people that are contacting us reporting the dangerous behaviour they're seeing on our roads on a daily basis.”

Gardaí at the scene of a crash. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

The falloff in RPU members comes as Ireland experiences a surge in road deaths.

The number of people dying on Ireland’s roads reached a low of 130 in 2021, but this year they are on track to potentially hit 200, a 54% increase.

Ms Gray said there is clearly a “strong link” between rising road deaths and falling RPU numbers.

She said PARC welcomes the Garda Commissioner’s promise to increase RPU figures by 75 this year and 75 next year.

She warned. however. that the competition for the positions opened in April and Garda management has yet to set up a panel to carry out the interviews.

“They really need to make this a priority to ensure that the 75 that are promised are assigned to roads policing units before the end of this year,” she said.

Adding 150 new members would still leave the RPU members 30% below what it was 15 years ago.

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