STORM TRACKER: Follow 'Storm Amy' as it bears down on Ireland amid brutal forecast
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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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Ray McMahon, Chief Superintendent for Mayo and Roscommon/Longford
THE number of gardaí in Mayo has dropped by eight percent in the last two years. However, the recent meeting of the Mayo Joint Policing Committee heard that many are looking to transfer to Mayo despite a drop in the number of gardaí in the county.
The meeting heard that 15 extra gardaí have taken up duty in the county since October. On February 29, there were a total of 589 gardaí of various ranks stationed in Mayo, Roscommon and Longford.
Ray McMahon, Chief Superintendent for Mayo and Roscommon/Longford, said he hoped that the number of active gardaí in Mayo would be replenished. He added that there is ‘a long list of people’ stationed elsewhere who are looking to transfer to Mayo.
“I can’t just hand out guards like confetti, I don’t have them. So I have to manage it as I see fit,” he said.
Ballinrobe policing
CHIEF Supt McMahon said he would monitor policing resources in Ballinrobe after local councillor Damien Ryan called for a full-time detective to be appointed to Ballinrobe Garda Station.
Cllr Ryan argued that Ballinrobe warranted the reinstatement of a detective due to the large number of ethnic communities living in the area.
In 2022, 41 percent of the population of Ballinrobe town were of an ethnicity other than ‘White Irish’.
The JPC was told that there are eight gardaí, including three sergeants, attached to Ballinrobe’s garda station.
An enhanced policing presence has been maintained in the Ballinrobe area following several violent incidents in the town.
A number of arrests were also made locally last year.
“Certainly, with the makeup of our area and of the town, and of issues and all of that, Ballinrobe certainly warrants the reinstatement of a fully-fledged detective attached to the station,” said Cllr Ryan.
Chief Supt McMahon said that he would continue to supply police resources to the area ‘to address the issues that are there’.
“I can’t promise you that there will be a detective in Ballinrobe. I have to look at that on a continuous basis,” he said.
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