THE POLICING WATCHDOG has criticised staffing pressures within An Garda Síochána, the lack of a national children’s plan, and also called for “greater consistency” in community engagement.

The Policing and Community Safety Authority (PCSA) today published its 2025 Annual Assessment of Policing Performance.

This provides an independent evaluation of An Garda Síochána’s delivery of policing services and progress against the 2025 Policing Plan 2025 and policing priorities.

The report found that of the 18 targets contained in the Annual Policing Plan, 10 were reported as “on target”, seven as “at risk” and one as “off target”, relating to community engagement.

The report acknowledged significant progress in a number of areas, including support for victims of crime, disruption of organised crime networks, enhanced community safety engagement, and the continued development of specialist policing capabilities.

However, it also highlighted challenges such as staffing pressures, delays in workforce planning initiatives, the absence of an effective performance management system, and the need for greater consistency in community engagement and victim services.

The report pointed to “ongoing challenges in the recruitment and retention of skilled personnel to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau”.

This has had an impact on the ability to “adequately resource and address money laundering and financial crime”.

And while the report pointed to continued success in identifying, targeting and disrupting organised crime, with large amounts of drugs, cash and weapons being seized, it warned that drug related intimidation remains an area of concern.

The PCSA highlighted the “vulnerability of young people to grooming by criminal gangs in certain communities” and added that as a result, these issues need to be included within the National Children and Younger Person’s Plan.

The children and younger person’s plans has yet to be implemented and the PCSA said it expects to see the issue of drug related intimidation included in it comes into place.

The absence of this children and younger person’s plan also contributed to An Garda Síochána being “off target” when it comes to community engagement.

Elsewhere, the PSCA highlighted a 75% drop in burglaries since 2015 but noted that retail theft has continued to rise.

The rise has been particularly sharp in Dublin, despite the introduction of high visibility patrols in the city centre.

Meanwhile, the mandatory domestic abuse call-back rate increased to 77% in 2025, although there are significant variations remain between garda divisions.

Call-back rates can be impacted by capacity issues, varied volumes of crime or differences in approach.

The PCSA report also questioned how effectively roads policing resources are being employed.

The Crowe report published last year revealed a “significant cohort” of roads policing gardaí show low productivity, general disinterest and make an effort to avoid work.

The PCSA said it has engaged with the Garda Commissioner on three occasions in 2025 on the need to “urgently address the issues raised”.

Elsewhere, the report noted that in-career vetting and substance misuse testing has yet to be implemented.

PCSA Chair Elaine Byrne remarked that while the report highlights “significant achievements” during 2025, it also “identifies several areas requiring continued focus and improvement”.

“Workforce capacity, specialist resourcing, performance management, and community engagement remain critical issues,” said Byrne.

“Addressing these challenges will be essential to ensuring that An Garda Síochána can continue to meet the evolving policing and community safety needs of the public.”