- Galway’s crime rate: 408 recorded crimes per 10,000 people in 2025, the 13th highest county rate in Ireland, with road traffic offences the most common type (CSO data, as reported by Galway Bay FM, August 2026).
- Burglary: 123 burglaries were recorded in the Galway Garda division in January to June 2026, up from 115 a year earlier (Galway Bay FM, citing an analysis by Sky Windows).
- The wider region: recorded crime in the North Western Garda region, which includes Galway, dipped slightly to 48,098 incidents in the year to March 2026, down from 48,516 (CSO).
- Biggest regional moves: burglary fell 27% and homicide 37%; dangerous or negligent acts rose 7%, and drug and fraud offences each rose 4% (CSO, year to Q1 2026).
- Policing: 28 extra gardaí were assigned to the Galway division in 2026 and up to 13 officers now patrol seven city-centre areas daily (RTÉ, August 2026).
Is Galway becoming more dangerous, or safer? Crime is one of the most talked-about local issues, from shoplifting on Shop Street to burglaries in rural parishes, but the conversation is often driven by single incidents rather than evidence. This guide sets out what the official numbers actually show for Galway and the west, where the gaps in the data are, and what the Gardaí say they are doing about it.
A note on the data before we start. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) publishes recorded crime figures every quarter, drawn from the Garda PULSE system. Since the new Garda Operating Model came into force in 2025, it publishes division-level figures in its PxStat table CJQ10, which covers the Galway Garda division. We were not able to open that table directly for this article, so the Galway-specific figures below are as reported by Galway Bay FM from CSO data, and the detailed offence-by-offence picture uses the CSO’s published figures for the North Western Garda region. That region covers five divisions: Galway, Mayo/Roscommon/Longford, Sligo/Leitrim, Donegal and Louth/Cavan/Monaghan. Regional trends are a guide to the west, not a precise measure of Galway.
Galway: the headline numbers
| Measure | Figure | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recorded crime rate, Co Galway | 408 per 10,000 people (13th highest county) | 2025 | CSO, via Galway Bay FM |
| Most common offence type | Road and traffic offences | 2025 | CSO, via Galway Bay FM |
| Burglaries, Galway Garda division | 55 (down 2% on a year earlier) | Jan-Mar 2026 | PhoneWatch/CSO, via Galway Bay FM |
| Burglaries, Galway Garda division | 123 (up 7% from 115) | Jan-Jun 2026 | Sky Windows analysis, via Galway Bay FM |
Two things stand out. First, Galway sits in the middle of the national table rather than at the top: 13th highest in the country for overall recorded crime per head in 2025. Second, the most common category is road traffic offences, which is often a sign of enforcement activity (speed checks, drink-driving checkpoints) rather than of danger on the streets. Burglary was the least common offence type in the county last year, according to Galway Bay FM’s reading of the CSO figures.
The burglary numbers are small enough to swing from quarter to quarter. A rise of eight burglaries in the first half of 2026 counts as a 7% increase, so short-term changes should be treated with caution.
The North Western region, offence by offence
The CSO’s Recorded Crime Q1 2026 release, published on 25 June 2026, gives full regional figures for the 12 months to the end of March 2026. The North Western region recorded 16% of all crime incidents in the State over that period.
| Offence group (North Western region) | Year to Q1 2025 | Year to Q1 2026 | Change | State change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide and related | 19 | 12 | -37% | -27% |
| Sexual offences | 855 | 718 | -16% | -15% |
| Assaults, threats and harassment | 5,071 | 4,893 | -4% | +3% |
| Dangerous or negligent acts | 7,590 | 8,120 | +7% | +6% |
| Robbery, extortion and hijacking | 257 | 227 | -12% | -7% |
| Burglary and related | 1,512 | 1,109 | -27% | -9% |
| Theft and related | 8,038 | 8,065 | 0% | +1% |
| Fraud and deception* | 2,108 | 2,193 | +4% | +3% |
| Controlled drug offences | 2,285 | 2,379 | +4% | +3% |
| Weapons and explosives | 459 | 440 | -4% | +6% |
| Damage to property and environment | 3,654 | 3,548 | -3% | -4% |
| Public order and social code | 5,751 | 5,945 | +3% | +4% |
| Road and traffic | 8,848 | 8,436 | -5% | -4% |
| All recorded incidents | 48,516 | 48,098 | -0.9% | +0.5% |
Source: CSO, Recorded Crime Q1 2026, Regional Analysis (25 June 2026). Selected groups shown; totals include all 16 groups. Total percentage changes are our calculation. *Fraud figures exclude referrals from financial institutions, which the CSO says should be treated with caution.
The standout figure is burglary: the 27% fall in the North Western region was the steepest of any Garda region, against a 9% fall nationally. Assaults also fell in the region while rising across the State as a whole. On the other side of the ledger, drug offences, public order offences and fraud edged up, broadly in line with national trends. Rises in drug offences often reflect more proactive Garda operations rather than more drug use, since most drug crimes are only recorded when gardaí detect them.
The CSO’s more recent Q2 2026 release (1 October 2026) did not give us full regional tables, but it did report that sexual offences fell in every region, by between 21% and 23% outside Dublin.
How often are crimes solved?
The CSO’s Recorded Crime Detection 2024 report, published in November 2025, shows how the North Western region compares with the national detection rate, meaning the share of incidents where at least one suspect has been sanctioned.
| Offence group (crimes reported in 2024) | NW incidents | NW rate per 100,000 | NW detection rate | State detection rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assaults, threats and harassment | 4,925 | 432 | 27% | 25% |
| Burglary and related | 1,562 | 137 | 18% | 23% |
| Theft and related | 8,400 | 736 | 38% | 31% |
| Controlled drug offences | 2,172 | 190 | 74% | 81% |
| Public order and social code | 5,774 | 506 | 83% | 83% |
| Sexual offences | 838 | 73 | 6% | 7% |
Source: CSO, Recorded Crime Detection 2024, Regional Analysis (27 November 2025).
The region does better than average on theft and assault detections, but worse on burglary, where fewer than one in five incidents reported in 2024 had led to a sanction by the time the data were extracted.
What people in the west say about crime
Recorded crime only captures incidents reported to gardaí. The CSO’s Crime and Victimisation 2025 survey, published in September 2026, found that nationally just 30% of personal crimes and 47% of household crimes were reported. It found that 85% of adults felt safe walking in their local area, but confidence in local Garda effectiveness fell to 57%, from 68% in 2019. Vehicle theft affected no more than 2% of people in the West, Border and Midlands regions, compared with 10% in Dublin.
What the Gardaí are doing in Galway
In August 2026 Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly launched a high-visibility policing plan for Galway city, RTÉ reported. Up to 13 gardaí from Galway and Salthill stations patrol seven designated areas each day between 8am and 4am, focusing on public order, anti-social behaviour, drug dealing, aggressive begging and shoplifting. The plan followed the assignment of 28 extra gardaí to the division. Acting Chief Superintendent Damien Flanagan spoke at the launch, following the retirement this summer of Chief Superintendent Gerry Roche, who led the division from 2022 and oversaw what the Tuam Herald described as the country’s largest Drug Task Force.
Joint Policing Committees have been replaced by Local Community Safety Partnerships. Galway County Council’s partnership, which includes An Garda Síochána, the HSE and community groups, ran a public consultation this year to shape its first three-year Community Safety Plan. Nationally, the Policing and Community Safety Authority set new policing priorities for 2026 to 2028 in February, focusing on a consistent, quality service, partnership and support for frontline policing.
What happens next
The CSO’s next quarterly release will cover the 12 months to September 2026 and should show whether the first-half rise in Galway burglaries continues into the darker months. Last year’s detection report appeared in late November, so figures on how many 2025 crimes were solved may follow soon. When we can verify the Galway division figures directly from CSO table CJQ10, we will add a full division-level breakdown to this page.
Sources
- Galway Bay FM: Road Traffic ranked Galway’s most common offence (10 August 2026)
- Galway Bay FM: Marginal drop in burglaries in Galway in first quarter (15 July 2026)
- Galway Bay FM: 7% rise in Galway burglaries this year (20 October 2026)
- CSO: Recorded Crime Q1 2026, Regional Analysis (25 June 2026)
- CSO: Recorded Crime Q1 2026, Background Notes (25 June 2026)
- CSO: Recorded Crime Q1 2026, Data (25 June 2026)
- CSO: Recorded Crime Q2 2026, Key Findings (1 October 2026)
- CSO: Recorded Crime Detection 2024, Regional Analysis (27 November 2025)
- CSO: Crime and Victimisation 2025, Key Findings (14 September 2026)
- Donegal Daily: Crime figures down in North West despite rise in drug and public order offences (25 June 2026)
- RTÉ: More gardaí on Galway streets as part of policing plan (12 August 2026)
- Tuam Herald: Galway Chief Superintendent retires after distinguished career (1 July 2026)
- Galway County Council: Public consultation launched on community safety across County Galway (2026)
- The Irish Times: New priorities set out for Garda (19 February 2026)
Featured image: The Courthouse, Courthouse Square, Galway – panoramio by Bob Linsdell, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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