Home security in Galway: burglary figures, Garda alarm rules and installers

Quick answer: The CSO recorded 216 burglary and related offences in the Galway Garda division in 2025, down 37% from 344 in 2024, and 71 of them in the Galway city (Gaillimh) station area, down from 93. The PSA register lists 34 licensed alarm and CCTV installers with a County Galway address, and one Galway installer advertises a monitored alarm from €69 plus €32 a month.

Burglary in Galway: the official figures

The Central Statistics Office publishes recorded crime by Garda division. The Galway division covers the whole county, city included.

Galway Garda division	2023	2024	2025
Burglary and related offences	414	344	216
of which burglary (not aggravated)	407	330	201
of which aggravated burglary	6	11	11

By station area in 2025, the Galway city station (listed by the CSO as Gaillimh) recorded 71, down from 93, and Salthill (Bóthar na Trá) 13, unchanged. Outside the city, Ballinasloe recorded 24 and Tuam 11. The 2025 division total is well below the 531 recorded in 2019. Counts include commercial burglaries.

How to read these figures: the CSO category “burglary and related offences” covers burglary of homes and of businesses, aggravated burglary and possession of an article with intent to burgle. The CSO publishes recorded crime “under reservation”, which means it has flagged quality concerns with the underlying Garda data, so treat small year-to-year changes with care. Nationally, the category fell from 9,747 incidents in 2024 to 8,469 in 2025, down 13.1%, and is about half the 16,751 recorded in 2019.

What the Gardaí say about alarms

The Garda crime prevention sheet on intruder alarms (HS4, August 2020) and the Garda policy on monitored intruder alarms set out how a Garda response works. The key points for a household:

Rule	What it means for you
Unique Reference Number (URN)	To guarantee a Garda response to a monitored alarm you need a URN issued by the Gardaí. It is only issued where the system meets approved standards, was fitted by an approved installer and is monitored by an approved monitoring company.
Standard	The Gardaí recommend alarms that meet European Standard EN 50131; meeting it (or the older Irish Standard IS 199) is one of the criteria for a Garda response.
Verification	The Garda policy is to respond to verified alarms: a second detector going off, or a check by camera or microphone. Personal attack (panic) alarms always get a response.
False alarms	Three false alarms in any rolling three-month period trigger a notice to the monitoring centre, and Garda response is withdrawn seven days later. Reinstatement normally needs at least three months free of false calls.
Keyholders	Gardaí need a keyholder to attend. The URN application asks for keyholders who can reach the property within 30 minutes, and a keyholder who fails to turn up means the activation is recorded as false.
Auto-diallers	An auto-dialler can call you and your keyholders, but it must not be programmed to call the Gardaí.

The Gardaí do not recommend any particular company and suggest getting at least three quotes. If you change broadband or phone provider, tell your monitoring centre so the alarm keeps signalling. Our guides to building a response chain and fixing repeat false alarms go further.

Home CCTV and video doorbells: the privacy rules

The Data Protection Commission’s guidance on domestic CCTV (updated May 2026) says a home camera or smart doorbell that only records inside the boundary of your own property, including your garden and driveway, falls under the household exemption and is not covered by data protection law. Once it captures identifiable people beyond that boundary, such as a public footpath, the road, a back lane or a neighbour’s house or garden, the exemption no longer applies and you take on the full duties of a data controller under the GDPR. This follows the EU Court of Justice’s Ryneš ruling (C-212/13). The DPC also advises against posting footage online, including of a suspected burglar, because that too makes you a data controller.

In practice: angle cameras at your own property, use the privacy zone feature to black out the footpath and neighbouring homes, and keep doorbell recording to your own door. See our guides to privacy zones and Garda requests for doorbell footage in Ireland.

Typical alarm and CCTV prices

There is no official Galway price survey, so start with the national ranges in our Ireland home security costs guide. HomePros’ 2026 guide puts a 2-camera CCTV system at €500 to €900 and a 4-camera system at €800 to €1,500, installed and including VAT. Irish alarm companies typically charge a one-off installation fee plus monthly monitoring, and HomeSecure says most monitored alarms work out at €1 to €1.60 or more a day. Locally, Galway installer Pro Security says on its own website that it installs a monitored alarm (panel, motion detector and door contact) for €69, with monitoring at €32 a month. Compare at least two written quotes for the same equipment list and the same monitoring plan, and work out the total over the whole contract.

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How to choose an alarm installer in Galway

PSA licence. Under the Private Security Services Act 2004, any business that installs or maintains intruder alarms, CCTV or access control must hold a Private Security Authority contractor licence for that sector, and the PSA publishes a public register of licensed contractors. When we searched it on 29 September 2026, it listed 34 contractors with a County Galway address licensed for CCTV or intruder alarm installation, 29 of them for intruder alarms. Search the company name on the register and check the sector you need and the expiry date.
URN and monitoring. If you want a Garda response, ask whether the system and monitoring centre qualify for a Garda URN and how alarms are verified.
Standard. Ask for an EN 50131 system and the grade proposed, and get the equipment list in writing.
Contract terms. Minimum term, price rises, who owns the equipment and what it costs to leave early. Our monitoring contract comparison tool helps.
Camera set-up. Ask the installer to set up privacy zones so cameras stay within your boundary, as the DPC advises.

Alarm and CCTV installers in the Galway area

These independent businesses appear in public business listings for the Galway area and describe themselves as installing alarms, CCTV or both. We left out national alarm brands, lead-generation sites and addresses that look like private homes. We have not checked their work, prices or insurance, none of them has paid to appear, and you should confirm each one’s licence on the PSA register yourself.