We had that regular Thursday pantomime at the end of the first part of Leaders' Questions. I want to focus on an issue that is important to the Labour Party, which is Garda resources and Garda recruitment. Specifically, I want to raise with the Tánaiste the lack of new Garda stations and the Government's continued lack of meeting Garda recruitment figures. According to a reply to a parliamentary question I submitted earlier this year, since 2017, only two new Garda stations have been delivered in the country, despite the population increasing by nearly 1 million citizens. One of those stations is on O'Connell Street in the centre of Dublin. The other was a replacement of the divisional headquarters in Wexford. There has been only one new Garda station in eight years. It is simply unacceptable. In my town of Swords, the third largest town in Ireland, we have a Garda station that is only fit for a village. The town of Donabate, just up the road, which is served by Swords Garda station and will be 20,000 people strong in a couple of years, has no Garda station or plans for a Garda station. This is not unusual throughout the country. My colleagues and I are screaming out for more resources throughout the country, particularly in rural Ireland, where we are being gaslit by the Minister about Garda resources. In a response earlier this year, the justice Minister said that 56 stations in this country were not closed but were simply unstaffed. That is absolute nonsense. If the door is not open and there are no opening hours for people to go in and meet and talk to gardaí, that station is, in effect, closed. Here is the reality. Figures show that 129 of 567 stations had a reduction in the number of gardaí assigned to them in the last year, and one in ten stations is without any designated garda. Overall numbers in An Garda Síochána have actually grown, by a paltry increase of 193. However, if you dig into the detail, the number of front-line gardaí has actually decreased, from just over 12,000 to 11,928, a net decrease. Warning lights are being flashed for the Government. At its conference this year, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors stated that we could lose 30% to 50% of our force due to upcoming retirements. Fine Gael has always identified itself as the party of law and order, yet the Tánaiste's party has stood over this lack of delivery for nearly a decade. The Tánaiste was one of the Ministers responsible for this portfolio, lest we forget. This situation is now beyond urgent and we need to see this Government make big changes to ensure greater recruitment and retention of gardaí and investment in Garda stations. The Government needs to look at increasing the training allowance, at pension reform and at building more stations. Will the Tánaiste increase the Garda training allowance to really incentivise new recruits? Will he reform the pension for our uniformed service members, including our gardaí who were hired post 2013, who upon retirement will receive no support from the State for possibly ten years? Will this Government commit to significantly increasing the number of new Garda stations being built around the country, prioritising large towns that have unfit-for-purpose stations, such as my own, Swords, and for really rapidly growing towns such as Donabate and many others throughout the country?
Sentiment score: 0.06
The capital plan that has been drafted does not seem to be rooted in the reality of how towns are growing. My colleague Deputy Conor Sheehan talked about the Garda station and Garda needs in Castletroy. Every Member in this House will say the same. There needs to be a commitment to the reality. I did not mention investment, because we have had no shortage of money; it is a shortage of delivery. There has been some creativity in how the figures for recruits into Templemore have been published over the last couple of years, with recruitment classes starting very late in the year, where in essence they were beginning in the following year. All this has been revealed through parliamentary questions from our justice spokesperson, Deputy Alan Kelly, and other Members in our party. Fundamentally, two things are happening here. We are not recruiting or attracting enough gardaí. As a result, our communities and people are not feeling safe or protected. That is a real issue that the Government has not got a handle on despite the amount of money we have in the coffers. I ask the Tánaiste again to properly recommit to a training fund and to pension reform, and to prioritise those towns and villages all over this country that need proper Garda resources invested in their communities.
Sentiment score: 0.06