Policing and Community Safety: Statements (Resumed)

Deputy Martin Daly

I would like to remember the late rural crime activist and Roscommon independent councillor, Tony Waldron of Ballintubber, as I make these comments. The safety and security of our rural communities must be a top priority. Across Roscommon-Galway, we are seeing a rise in serious criminal activity. There must be a response that matches the scale of the challenge. People in villages like Oran, Glinsk, Ballygar and Knockcroghery are living in fear of mobile crime groups. They deserve to feel safe in their homes and to be able to conduct their businesses. There have been raids by the Garda armed response unit, discharging of firearms and increased antisocial behaviour linked to organised crime in Ballinasloe in the past month alone.

Crime is evolving and so must our approach to tackling it. We need to strengthen our response in two key areas: enforcement and prevention. Criminals are more organised, exploiting gaps in policing and the lack of deterrence in rural areas. We must ensure An Garda Síochána has the resources to monitor key access routes, disrupt networks and prevent crime before it happens. Increased patrols on the roads over the Shannon into Roscommon-Galway would send a clear signal that law enforcement is proactive, supplemented by an intelligence-led approach. Equally, we must recognise the complex factors that contribute to crime. Community deprivation, lack of balanced development and lack of educational opportunities deepen the challenges faced by law enforcement.

Garda station closures remain a serious concern. Ballaghaderreen Garda station - in a town of 3,000 people with rapid population growth due to international protection applicants and vulnerable to mobile crime gangs - has closed. They have shouldered their responsibility; the State must shoulder its share. Their Garda station is more than just a building; it is a deterrent to crime and a reassurance to the community. It must be reopened.

Another trend is the increase in arson. These attacks are deliberate, targeted and designed to create fear. They threaten the stability of rural communities and even the will of the State. A strong forensic-led investigation strategy is required. Government has committed to recruiting 5,000 new gardaí in its term. Recognition must be given to rural communities left to manage with overstretched Garda units covering wide geographical areas. The people of Roscommon-Galway deserve an effective security strategy. Security should not be determined by geography.

Deputy Peter Roche

In his absence, I wish the Minister for Justice well in his role. The issue I wished to raise with the Minister concerns gardaí seeking transfers, particularly the case of a young garda based in Dublin city from my neck of the woods, Abbeyknockmoy, just outside Tuam, She is a married woman with a mortgage on a new property she and her husband built in the last few years. They are blessed with a young child of a couple of months and the plan is for her to return to work. She has been pleading since 2021 for a transfer from Dublin back home to the west or as near it as possible. Within an hour's commute of her home with be great. The round trip from her home currently is 370 km per day. That is a big challenge. Having to find accommodation in Dublin while paying a mortgage in east Galway is not the most desirable situation.

We must not lose the experience we have in the force. Retention is an issue and we need to focus on retaining the experience of dedicated members and to look sympathetically on cases such as that young garda. She loves her job and the testimonials from her colleagues in Dublin about her experience and value to the force are very positive. I wish the system would look more favourably on her situation and afford her an opportunity to build her future in the Garda, commuting daily while still being able to care for her personal and professional business at home in east Galway.

Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere

I have had the privilege of working with some of the finest gardaí in my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny in recent years as mayor of Kilkenny and chairman of Kilkenny County Council. My priority is that everyone has the right to feel safe and be safe in their community and home. Across the country, communities are dealing with the scourge of crime and antisocial behaviour. We need to build stronger, safer communities by strengthening An Garda Síochána, expanding resources and modernising support to tackle crime.

At present, there are 14,100 members of An Garda Síochána. It is simply not enough for a country of our size. There are only 312 in my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny, which is a 10% decrease in the past four years. This decrease has to stop. The programme for Government commits to providing funding for at least 5,000 Garda recruits in the next five years. These are badly needed in towns like Graiguenamanagh, Callan, Thomastown, Mullinavat, Mooncoin and Castlecomer. Lack of Garda resources is a huge issue.

The primary focus has to be to allow Garda to become more visible in our communities. They have to be visible on the beat and that is not felt in rural Ireland at the moment, including the constituency I represent. According to an Irish Examiner-Ipsos poll published recently, 70% of people living in rural Ireland do not believe there is a visible Garda presence in their area. Members of the public believe - and they are right - that improved visibility can deter crime.

We have all these recruits coming out and I urge the Minister to make sure these recruits do not just stay in Dublin city. It is important that the city be looked after, but not by forgetting rural towns and villages around the country. We need to continue supporting our community alert and text alert schemes throughout the country and make necessary funding available. I have first-hand experience, having been chairman of my own text alert scheme, but the likes of Rosbercon, Glenmore, Goresbridge, Paulstown, Ballinkillen, Borris and St. Mullins, which the Ceann Comhairle is familiar with, worked at these text alert groups, and it was fantastic. They need to be supported.

Deputy Louis O'Hara

The lack of Garda presence and visibility in our communities is having a serious impact. Many people in my constituency are living in fear, particularly elderly and vulnerable people and those in rural communities. People are having to take drastic measures to increase security in their homes. We know that burglaries are on the rise. There were 386 burglaries reported in Galway in 2023, an increase of 8%. The most recent figures published this week show levels of burglaries continuing to rise across the west and across the State. Antisocial behaviour is also a serious issue, and the lack of Garda visibility in our communities is contributing to this. We do not see gardaí on the beat and they do not have a sufficient presence. Yet, in the Galway Garda division the number of gardaí actually decreased last year by 2% from 618 to 604. This does not include the number of gardaí not available for work due to career breaks, maternity leave and so on. A huge number of Garda stations have been closed, particularly rural stations, leaving no permanent presence in these areas. In my home town of Athenry, which has a population of 5,000 people, the Garda station is rarely open. It opens from time to time. There is no certainty as to when it will be open. People locally tell me that if you call the station, you are often transferred over to Clifden Garda station on the western edge of County Galway, about two hours' drive away. That is not good enough for a town of Athenry's size. This lack of gardaí and Garda visibility has serious consequences. It impacts on people's sense of safety, on deterrence and on crime prevention. There needs to be a particular focus on policing in rural communities and a rural Garda plan is needed to address those gaps where we have stations that have closed, or in areas where Garda numbers are down. We have a rising population, and we desperately need more gardaí in our communities. The intake capacity for Garda training must be increased to get to where we need to be in terms of numbers. We must also tackle the root causes of crime such as inequality, addiction, mental health issues and so on if we are to fully address these problems.

Deputy Maurice Quinlivan

I am delighted to speak on statements on policing and community safety, but if we are to be serious about this the outcome has to be that people actually feel safe in their own local communities. Unfortunately, a lot of them do not. In 2007 John Fitzgerald produced a report that led to the Limerick regeneration programme. In that report he stated that we needed a minimum of 100 extra gardaí for the four regeneration areas. That never materialised and we have had problems since then. I put on record that the gardaí in Limerick do a really good job. I deal with them on a continuous basis, but they cannot respond, they cannot do their work and they cannot deliver for the communities if they do not actually exist. Numbers decreased between 2023 and 2024, not significantly, but they should be going the other way. We did a survey recently and 547 people responded. Most of those were from regeneration areas but not exclusively and 57% of those people said they did not feel safe in their own communities. We need a focus on Limerick, and we need additional gardaí on the streets.

On other issues, I have raised previously in the Dáil particular problems in particular areas. The previous Minister for Justice organised for a Garda response in a particular part of Limerick with really good results, but there were only good results because we put extra resources in. We authorised overtime and we got additional staff and Operation Copóg was successful, but it has run out and the area is back to where it was before. I raised the issue of horses in urban areas in a Topical Issue question last week. The numbers of seizures are down dramatically and that is because there are no gardaí available to go out when the local authority is seizing horses. They need to have Garda protection when they are doing that because it is not safe. Unfortunately, and I hate to say this in the Dáil, but I have said on a number of occasions that crack cocaine is prevalent in Limerick city. It started off in Limerick city. It is available in Limerick city. It is cheaper to buy in Limerick city than anywhere else. People come from all over the country to buy their crack cocaine in Limerick city because it is cheaper. We obviously need to look at addressing not just the crime aspects of that but the health aspects, and funding groups that are supporting people in addiction. Other issues include the courts in Limerick. We have a brand new Courts Service facility with six courtrooms, but they are never fully operational. People are waiting for long times. As was raised earlier, the issue around bail needs to be looked at. People are entitled to bail - I have no problem with that - but continuously reoffending while on bail should be addressed.

Deputy Seamus Healy

The prevention of crime and antisocial behaviour requires a wide range of social, economic and community actions including education, employment, training, income, social inclusion, community facilities and community policing. I will say a few words on community policing. Over the past few years, community policing has effectively been dismantled, particularly since the introduction of the new Garda districts. I recall a briefing by Commissioner Harris, and it was immediately clear to me that community policing was going to take a huge hit and was not a priority any more. I was of course assured otherwise, but the figures do not lie. Nationally, in 2010 we had 1,182 community gardaí. In 2024 there are 700, a reduction of almost 50%. In County Tipperary it is even worse. In 2010 we had 108. In 2023 we had eight. Community policing is invaluable in building up relationships with communities. Local communities know their local garda. They will have his or her contact details, and they build up trust with the communities and individuals within them. Crucially, their relationship and trust and friendship with young people is built up through community policing. The community gardaí have in the past become involved in all sorts of local community activities such as youth clubs, sports clubs and residents' associations. In other words, they are seen and are active in their areas, and are available in their areas. As a result, crime and antisocial behaviour are reduced, and importantly, young people who might tend to stray are identified at an early age and supported. Unfortunately, all of those areas have been lost and the few community gardaí left work above and beyond the call of duty and are stretched and stressed to the limit. There needs to be a new priority given to community policing, with gardaí working from the ground up. This obviously requires additional recruitment specifically for gardaí. Visibility of gardaí on the beat is also vitally important. Too many of our towns and city centres are given over to actions of antisocial behaviour, drug use and drug dealing. Many of these people are known locally to the gardaí, but little or nothing appears to be done, so gardaí on the beat are vital for the safety of the public.

Deputy Paul Murphy

We are in the midst of a manufactured moral panic. To divert attention from away from its failures on housing, health, disability and climate, the Government prefers to have endless statements on policing and to pass more laws that erode our civil liberties. The programme for Government contains a frightening litany of attacks on civil liberties, all under the guise of getting tough on crime. Of course, it is never white-collar crime that they mean, not when they negotiated the programme for Government with Ireland's best known white-collar criminal.

I will address one of the worst attacks on civil liberties in the programme for Government, which is the promise to enable the Garda to use AI and facial recognition technology. The Government is committed to legislate to provide for retrospective searching of images, using facial recognition technology before the end of this Dáil term. It goes even further, by promising to introduce live facial recognition technology supposedly only in cases of terrorism, national security - whatever that means - and missing persons. It also pledges to increase funding for CCTV and to ban the wearing of masks at protests.

This is dystopian surveillance state stuff. It is also a direct attack on the right of disabled people to protest. Many disabled people need to wear masks for medical reasons and would not be able to take part in protests if banned from wearing them. I have no doubt that this would suit this Government very well. The previous Government faced effective protests of overwhelmingly masked disabled people against the so-called Green Paper. The Government knows its record on disability is disgraceful and it is under great pressure from the disability rights movement.

I have spoken before about how facial recognition technology is universally opposed by human rights groups. According to the American Civil Liberties Union:

Face recognition massively expands the government’s power to track our movements and target people based on their race, religion, political affiliation, or speech - and while everyone’s rights are at stake, Black and Brown people are harmed the most when this racist technology collides with our racist systems.

There is very significant racial bias within FRT. Error rates are 60 times higher for west African women than they are for white men. AI reflects, regurgitates and accelerates the racial biases that exist in our society, which come from the top. Together with FRT, this will be used to accelerate racist profiling. The claim by the Garda that it is 99% accurate is terrifying. If the Garda really believes that, we are entering dangerous territory. Instead of going in this direction, we should be joining those many parts of the world that have banned the use of facial recognition technology. We should also ban the use of AI in policing.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger

I will first register that we are again here, months after the general election, to make statements. We need to move on. The Government is complaining about a lack of Dáil business. We are making statements into a void and nothing will actually happen afterwards.

I live in a working class community where crime is an issue and I represent many communities where it is an issue. People certainly have the right to ring the Garda and get a response but we need a police force that is accountable and answerable to the community. This day last week, we had a debate on one of the biggest aspects of crime there is, violence against women, and there was very little interest from the Government benches. There are three Government Members here today. There was one here last week. Some 52% of women experience sexual violence. That is a very significant number of people in our community.

I also represent a very diverse electorate and, in many meetings I have had with people from migrant and minority backgrounds, the fear in which they live has been very noticeable. Contrary to what some in this Dáil might say, the people who are most at risk from crime are people from migrant backgrounds. I had a meeting with Pakistani taxi drivers in my community. They have lived and worked in Ireland for over 20 years. They registered the fear they are feeling because there is now so much racism in society that, if anyone says anything to them and they respond, the whole situation will escalate. This applies to health workers as well. Hate crime increased by 12% in 2023. Some 60% of people from migrant backgrounds report that they have experienced hate or harassment. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has said that one in four non-white people had experienced racism in the last 12 months while 31% had witnessed it happening to people they were with. More gardaí on the beat is not the answer because people from minority backgrounds have a real fear of how they are going to be treated by gardaí. The ICCL reports that 83% fear racial profiling or discrimination in their interactions with gardaí. In my own constituency, George Nkencho was the first black person to be shot and killed by gardaí. That is a real fear for a great many young black people in this society. That would not have happened and he would be alive today if he was white. There is absolutely no question that racial bias played a role in that and in the subsequent cover-up.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I welcome this opportunity although I share the frustration of the previous speakers that we are again having statements on this issue. We have had statements over and over and no progress has been made. On the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, I spent a short while on the justice committee and I had serious concerns about the Act. I put them aside because we were absolutely assured that community would form the major part of it and that we would have gardaí on the ground. That has not happened. It has not even been implemented, although we have been given a reason or two for that. It is worrying. I come from Galway and I believe there should be more gardaí in the city, although I acknowledge Deputy Coppinger's concerns about the interaction between gardaí on the ground and people from certain backgrounds. In theory, we all want to see more gardaí on the ground. I say that as someone whose introduction to the Garda was reading the O'Higgins report on Sergeant McCabe. That certainly opened my eyes to what was happening at a very high level in An Garda Síochána, which then filtered down. It is the same thing with the Morris tribunal, the Smithwick tribunal and others, the reports of which I read in my first few years in the Dáil. Notwithstanding that, it is a testament to the people of Ireland and the good gardaí on the ground that we actually want more of them. We feel safer having them but we have never got them.

Under the guise of community safety, we are talking about facial recognition. I absolutely tremble at the thought of this being pushed to make communities safer. In my experience in the Dáil, the ushers on the ground are absolutely fantastic in providing security by watching exactly what is happening in the Dáil. It is similar with gardaí on the ground who are part of the community. I do not like the word "embedded". A liaison or community garda whom you can call makes us all feel much safer. The Ceann Comhairle will know well that is being dismantled and is not to be seen on the ground despite all the wonderful words and that Act, which has not been implemented. All of the time, the push is towards technology to make us safer. It will not make us safer but it will certainly go a long way towards undermining social cohesion. We are going back to the Garda having enormous power, as it had in the past, and this power being unchecked, unsupervised and unmonitored. I say that with the greatest of respect for gardaí on the ground. I am asking for more gardaí on the ground. I believe they make us safer. However, I tremble at this technology and facial recognition. I note the concerns of human rights organisations that repeatedly go to great trouble to educate us in a very practical way. Here we are making more statements. I will go to Galway and watch out to see gardaí walking around or on bikes. I am thrilled when I do. That is one practical way to make words mean something.

Deputy Cathal Crowe

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. I am sharing time and will use three minutes, if that is okay. I have long represented the issue of suspended gardaí here in this Chamber. At the moment, a total of 112 gardaí are suspended. Some are suspended for very good reason and some may have done things that merit being kicked out of the force. However, many of them are suspended unnecessarily for very simple things like squaring road traffic fines. Imagine if some of those could be brought back into the force to fulfil the front-line service of An Garda Síochána. The number suspended at the moment equates to approximately half of the total Garda force in my own Garda division in County Clare. That helps to quantify the issue. Many of them are at home and being paid to fulfil this role. It is unheard of.

As Deputy Coppinger leaves the Chamber, I will make the point that she misrepresented how this part of our work functions. This is a statements session. She said that only three Government Members bothered to show up. She is now leaving when I am speaking. She should not misrepresent how statements work for the sake of a social media clip. Off she goes into the sunshine.

The new policing structures overly concentrate activities on Dublin to the detriment of counties like Clare. I will not name the date but there was one evening in the past month when there was only one garda covering the entirety of west Clare up to the Galway border. To look at the fleet of vehicles, when An Garda Síochána Headquarters in the Phoenix Park buys new vehicles, they are nearly always concentrated in the city divisions. In a rural county like mine, some Garda fleet vehicles are ten or 12 years old. I have put down parliamentary questions to ascertain their service records and some of those vehicles have been off the road for six or seven weeks of the previous year because of malfunctions and not being up to date.

I will mention the programme for Government because it proposes to reintroduce electronic tagging. This was a suggestion I made in my own party. It is a no-brainer. The legislation for that passed in 2009. If our prison system cannot accommodate prisoners, at the very least, they should be shackled to an electronic tagging system at home so An Garda Síochána can know where they are. I have a few seconds left.

The Garda eyesight check needs to be changed. While the fitness test standard for An Garda Síochána was lowered in the past 12 months to allow a greater age cohort to get in, the eye examination standard has increased, which is not fair.

Deputy Emer Currie

I note media reports yesterday that stated two thirds of the most recent recruit class from Templemore will be deployed to the streets of Dublin city. Like all Members of the House, I warmly welcome the deployment of additional gardaí to our capital's streets and communities. I sincerely thank those recruits for signing up, but if it is true that 98 out of 150 new Garda recruits are heading en masse to the city centre, I must admit it adds to my concern and that of the people I represent that Dublin's suburbs are losing out to the city centre when it comes to Garda numbers. Suburban communities, such as those in Dublin West, also face challenges when it comes to law and order. We have ongoing incidents of serious gangland crime along with persistent lower levels of crime and antisocial behaviour that, very worryingly, are becoming normalised. This includes open drug dealing, theft from cars every night of the week in estates, and growing incidents involving knives. All of that coincides with less visibility of gardaí on our streets.

My concerns are amplified by the fact that there seems to be significant inconsistencies in the deployment of gardaí across districts in the Dublin metropolitan region outside the city centre. These figures are based on Garda numbers provided in replies to parliamentary question and CSO population figures. They are conservative. In the K district, there is one garda per 510 people. In the neighbouring district, it is one garda for every 418 people; that district has 40% lower crime statistics. There is no valid reason for some Dublin Garda districts to have substantially fewer gardaí per capita than other districts, especially if they have more crime. The answer is not to take away from the Dublin districts that have those resources; it is to allocate more gardaí into under-resourced districts.

We need more gardaí on the beat in the villages of Dublin West. We should not have to rely on one Garda station serving 120,000 people there. There has been a lack of evidence-based policymaking. Will the Minister of State invite the Garda Commissioner to provide a report on levels of allocation of gardaí to all Dublin metropolitan regions with reference to population and crime levels? I am sure that data will tell a story we are very familiar with in Dublin West.

Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí

I thank the Minister of State for attending this debate. I will raise a couple of matters. I welcome the Government's commitment to the Dublin city task force and the implementation of its report. It is very important for the city centre and restoring confidence in the city.

I will call out two items in the report. The first is "Big Move 5 - Deliver more targeted and better located services for vulnerable populations in [the] city ...". That is not easy to do. For example, there is a huge concentration of emergency accommodation on Gardiner Street. If we are to deal with the issue of safety, we will have to start redistributing those facilities. It will not be popular in other jurisdictions and locations throughout the country, but it is very important that everybody takes their fair share of those services. The second item in the report is Big Move 4, which recommends an additional 1,000 gardaí for the city, as my colleague mentioned. They will be very important for the city centre. I look forward to hearing about early progress and a timeline for recruitment, numbers and when boots will be put on the ground.

On a related point, from my experience in politics, community gardaí are often undervalued. Sometimes, that section seems to be seen as something of a backwater in the context of the various units of An Garda Síochána, but community gardaí do a huge service for their communities. They establish great rapport over many years in local communities and have very good relations with them. They are vital to the effective functioning of An Garda Síochána in our communities. Will the Government consider a community garda allowance, or some sort of allowance, that will allow An Garda Síochána to rebalance that perception? It would give an indication that the service is valued and rewarded. That is a very important element.

I mentioned previously the proposed Dublin metropolitan region headquarters at Northern Cross. I take the opportunity to raise that matter again. It is a new divisional headquarters for An Garda Síochána that will go into Northern Cross. Nothing is better in policing than boots on the ground. That headquarters will make a huge difference to safety and the perception of communities in Clongriffin, Belmayne and other areas. I encourage and ask the Government to continue to prioritise the delivery of that station.

Deputy Willie O'Dea

I congratulate the new Minister of State, the Ceann Comhairle and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on their new positions. I wish them well.

It is self-evident that with the rapidly increasing population, more gardaí are needed. I am very glad that the Government has taken very positive steps in that regard. Figures from Templemore indicate that it will probably be successful in its attempt to recruit 5,000 extra gardaí in the lifetime of this Government. I hope that it does so.

I will make one special plea to the Minister of State. A study is under way on the reconstitution of the Garda Reserve, which has the capacity to be a powerful adjunct and addition to the Garda force, not just in policing public events but in deterrence, especially in areas afflicted by antisocial behaviour. I ask the Minister to conclude and act on that study as soon as possible.

It is also a fact that as the population increases we will need more prison spaces, but we cannot go down the road of permanently building prisons and incarcerating people in them. I agree with the Minister that quite a large percentage of prisoners in the country probably should not be in jail. We should deal with them in some other way. The difficulty is that the non-custodial sanctions we have are pretty useless, not to put too fine a point on it, for example, the recent scandalous revelations about non-collection of fines. We have a very antiquated system of collecting fines in this country. It wastes Garda time going around begging people to keep up their instalments, etc. A much more effective way to collect fines would be to apply the attachment system to people's income, whether it is from employment, social welfare or whatever.

I have come across many cases of people, especially those in deprived areas, on fixed incomes and the elderly, who have incurred financial losses as a result of the activities of people engaged in antisocial behaviour. I would like a system to be in place whereby people who are convicted of this antisocial behaviour, whether they are fined, or an attachment order or whatever is made against them, that this be directly related to compensating those people for the losses they have suffered. Some of those convicted are underage. They do not have any income and are not even old enough to be on social welfare. In some, though not all, of those cases, the parents of those kids have made no attempt whatsoever to control their children's behaviour. In those situations, if that can be established, I would not mind parents being called upon to pay the appropriate compensation.

The Minister for Justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, has made a very good start in his job. The feedback on him is extremely good throughout the country. I wish him the very best. I am confident that he will continue as he started.

Deputy John McGuinness

Yesterday, the Minister stated that he would listen carefully to what was said by Members in this House because they are on the ground experiencing all of what is happening in respect of crime and so on. I will take him at his word. To learn to improve the morale in An Garda Síochána, we need only go to John Barrett, who did a great service in exposing many controversies and scandals within the Garda, only to find himself booted out of the force and out of his job. I ask the Minister of State to reach out to him and listen to what he has to say. He should also talk to Maurice McCabe because we have learned nothing from that tribunal. We have learned absolutely nothing and have not put in the structures necessary to improve the Garda and give gardaí the scope to do their job. If the Minister of State wants further proof of the continuation of the abuse and blackguarding of gardaí who make complaints, the intimidation and, in some cases, the sexual abuse that goes on, he should listen to Lois West.

Deputy Alan Kelly, who had more time than I have, made a wonderful contribution in which he put before the House very many issues that the Minister of State should take note of. I ask him to examine the Shane O’Farrell case because within that case is everything that is wrong in the State, the Garda, the DPP and the courts system. This State beat up Shane O’Farrell’s family to hide the truth. That is what is happening. If the Minister of State is serious about that, he needs to start there. Then he needs to consider the contributions made by Members here.

In my constituency, which is no different from anywhere else, we have a drugs issue, a crisis, that is out of control. You can buy drugs on the street as easily as you can buy a pint of beer. You can sell drugs on the street and no one seems to bother or take action.

Extreme antisocial behaviour is ongoing in every single community and it is destroying communities. That behaviour, coupled with the violence and drugs, is simply causing serious problems for the young people in our country.

I ask the Minister of State to examine online crime and the fact that you can defame someone or a business online and get away with it. The Garda is ill equipped to deal with that issue.

Garda presence has been spoken about. In north and south Kilkenny, which are big rural areas, police stations have been closed. They need to be reopened and remanned. We need to have gardaí on the streets in the towns and villages to restore the confidence that people once enjoyed when they had a garda presence at that level. In cities like Kilkenny, where the numbers boom from time to time because of tourism, additional gardaí are needed during the tourism season. That requires a Commissioner to take the initiative, support the troops on the ground, the gardaí, and ensure communities are represented.

The new Garda structure, in line with that of the new local authorities, is not as good as the last one. There is not the same opportunity for input and you do not feel the same connection to the local gardaí. All of this feeds into the notion or feeling among the public that things are out of control to a degree in certain areas of our country and most parts of our cities and towns. If we do not deal with this now and have a modern, dynamic Garda force, we will pay a price in the future.

Deputy Ann Graves

Dublin is a great city. Our people, history and rich culture make it a great place to live. Everyone has a right to feel safe. Every community should be a safe and welcoming place in which to live, work and visit, but unfortunately not everyone feels safe here in Dublin. Every community is different but the challenges are the same. The lack of a visible, accessible, reliable and accountable Garda service has created a sense of fear and desperation in many homes and communities across Dublin. The lack of investment, cuts to essential services, and poor planning, transport and infrastructure all contribute to making neighbourhoods unsafe for residents. Of course, it is not true in all areas of Dublin. These challenges are the preserve of certain postcodes. Some communities have suffered for years from neglect and marginalisation, brought about and made worse by consecutive Governments imposing cuts from which they have never recovered. Youth services, mental health services, addiction services and drug task forces – I can go on and on – have all borne the brunt of Government cuts. These cuts hurt and cause damage. If we are to create safe communities, the Government must commit to investing in these essential services, not in a piecemeal fashion but through multi-annual budgets that are adequate and sustainable.

I fully acknowledge that we cannot simply police our way into safety, but the Garda must be a central part of any community safety plan. Garda numbers in Dublin have yet to return to pre-austerity numbers. The programme for Government commits to recruiting 5,000 additional gardaí. This is welcome but where is the plan to retain the current number? Gardaí are voting with their feet. We are haemorrhaging gardaí to the private sector and emigration. Pay, conditions and morale have to be addressed as a matter of urgency by the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan.

In my constituency, Dublin Fingal East, Swords needs a Garda station that is fit for purpose. The current station is there since Swords was a village, not a town. Swords station serves a population of over 50,000. The gardaí provide an excellent service, which I know from experience, but the station is simply not fit for purpose. The public and gardaí deserve better. We deserve a new, fully functional Garda station that meets the needs of our community.

Deputy Denise Mitchell

It is a very challenging time, particularly in Dublin, when it comes to policing and justice. We hear stories every week about assaults and violence on our streets, and people simply do not feel safe. The fact is that we do not have enough gardaí. Back in 2009, in my local Garda station in Coolock, for example, there were 123 gardaí. Today, the number is slightly lower. Between 2009 and now, the population covered has increased dramatically. The Belmayne and Clongriffin population alone is now estimated to be 30,000 and is expected to hit 50,000.

Back in 2019, when the constituency of Dublin Bay North was facing very serious issues with criminality, the then Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, arrived at Coolock with hand-picked Government representatives and told the media he was to build a new Garda station for the region and, indeed, regional headquarters in Northern Cross. Six years later, we still have no Garda station. I ask the Minister of State to get us an update on this.

One of the main issues raised in my constituency office is Garda response times. People are often apologised to because there is only one Garda patrol car out in their area at the time in question. That is simply not good enough. Our gardaí need to be resourced with the equipment they need to do their job properly.

One thing I know from my years as a community activist is that community policing works. We see this all the time. A community response works. When communities and local organisations have built up relationships of trust with the gardaí, they feel more confident discussing other problems in the area, be it antisocial behaviour, vandalism or more serious crime. We all see that early intervention can make a genuine difference in a young person’s life.

May I just ask the Minister of State-----

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 5 Mar 2025

Policing and Community Safety: Statements (Resumed)

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 5 Mar 2025