I will raise a point of order. I say this with the greatest respect for the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, and it is not any reflection on him. He is doing the job he has been asked to do but it was the custom - I acknowledge this is the general responsibility of the Office of the Ceann Comhairle - that where a Minister or Minister of State from the relevant Department was not available, the Deputy would be asked if he or she wanted to proceed. The first I learned of someone from the relevant Department not being available to take this question was now, as I stand here. That is not right and I might have decided to postpone. I would like this to be conveyed to the Ceann Comhairle.

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That is a very different point.

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It is not against the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, it is against the Department and its failure to provide a relevant spokesperson.

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It is important to make the point. I will set the context first. The small numbers coming to the Cork city division from Templemore from each cohort has been a source of significant contention in Cork for a considerable number of years. On some occasions it has been as little as one, on others two or three and sometimes it has been none. On one recent occasion there was an increase comprising 11 individuals, as against the 96 members who went to the Dublin division. In the most extreme example I came across, from December 2023, 115 gardaí went to the Dublin division while only one came to the Cork city division. I am aware Cork city is smaller than Dublin city but it is not 115 times smaller than Dublin city by any manner or means. We have challenges in the city. In recent months, we have had some serious issues relating to arson, serious assaults and public order issues. We have a situation now where the city centre Anglesea Street Garda station, which is the largest Garda station and the divisional headquarters, was reduced by 26 gardaí in 2024. This meant the main Garda station - the biggest Garda station in Cork city - lost one garda a fortnight in 2024. The Minister of State will agree that is a very serious situation. The city division as a whole has seen such pressure on resources that Garda management has come to a decision that four Garda stations are effectively going to be combined into two. The Bishopstown and Ballincollig units are effectively going to function as one unit and Carrigaline and Douglas are going to function as one unit. The Minister of State lives not too far away from Cork. I am sure he knows some of these places and has a sense of how big they are. Douglas and Carrigaline, for example, should have two substantial Garda stations, but they are being combined. For half of the month the Garda members are sent to Douglas and for half the month they are sent to Carrigaline. Carrigaline has almost 20,000 people in itself and probably 30,000 if the outlying area is taken in. Douglas has approximately 40,000 people. Similarly, Ballincollig has probably 30,000 in the outlying area and Bishopstown has 15,000 or something like that. These are huge areas. We are talking about one unit being responsible for Bishopstown, Ballincollig, Carrigaline and Douglas. There is significant concern. These are big areas with a growing population. What is actually happening is that the Garda numbers are falling back. The Minister of State is going to reply that the Garda Commissioner has responsibility for this. However, I would urge him to listen. Dublin undoubtedly has policing challenges that need to be responded to. The Government needs to ensure, and I am sure the Minister of State will agree with this, that the rest of the country, and I am speaking for Cork, needs to get a fair shake. We are not getting a fair shake. It is leading to this very serious reduction in service. People are concerned about the implications for their communities.

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I appreciate that. I will make a couple of points and I hope the Minister of State will take as much of this as possible back to the Minister. I welcome the fact that the Minister was in Cork recently. I understand he also met the chamber of commerce and that is a good thing. It is important that the Commissioner meets with public representatives in Cork. The business organisations in Cork make the point that we are all very keen for the city centre to be a place in which people can live, socialise and work. One of the issues for business organisations and for the people of Cork as a whole is the Garda presence in the city centre. It is coming up at that level. I hope that the Minister of State listened to that very carefully. There is a wider issue with recruitment to An Garda Síochána as a whole. I am concerned that the number of gardaí this year will potentially decrease because of retirements and that needs to be addressed. Not policing on a station basis and ensuring policing is delivered by all resources came up at a community safety meeting recently. The amount of resource keeps getting thinner and thinner, as was the case when there were units in Carrigaline and Douglas. If the car in Carrigaline was busy responding to an incident, for example, in Crosshaven, the car from Douglas would come up. If there is now only one car between them, and if that car is responding to an incident, then a car has to attend from somewhere else. There is no miracle of the loaves and fishes here. Just because policing is fluid and moves from station to station, if there are fewer units, and that is fundamentally what we are talking about, and four units are reduced to two with one unit covering an area with 50,000 or 60,000 people, which is effectively the size of a small county, at night, that is not good enough. I would be concerned that there are going to be situations where gardaí will not be able to respond to two serious incidents that happen within their unit area, which is effectively two station areas, at the same time. That is the concern that people have. The Garda Commissioner needs to take this seriously and I urge the Minister for Justice to take it up with him.

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