We are here to deal with the Revised Estimates for Votes 24, 41 and 46, which are justice-related Votes concerning the Department and the Policing Authority. I would have liked to raise numerous things with the Minister today. However, given what we saw unfold outside the gates of this building just yesterday, I want to raise that matter with him today. Most of us who work here will be well aware of Mothers Against Genocide who regularly maintain a vigil outside the gates of this house. They continue to raise the issue of the ongoing and genocide in Gaza. On Sunday night they began a peaceful protest to coincide with Mother's Day - the type of protest that was happening in cities across Ireland. In Galway, for example, many mothers, including my own mother, also marked Mother's Day by remembering mothers in Gaza who were brutally murdered or whose children were brutally murdered.
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Because this is about how we are funding the Policing Authority, I think it is relevant.
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We know that these women, who proudly and strongly stand with the mothers in Palestine, were armed with roses, placards and the courage of their convictions. They took their position there to display images of Gazan children. We have all heard of the force and very heavy-handed tactics that were used against them. It really shocked most people to see that happen. Many of these women were arrested and were subjected to different types of treatment. Some of them have contacted my office and told me that they were strip-searched, something I find deeply concerning. One woman contacted my office in relation to a cavity search, which again is deeply concerning.
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If we are talking about funding-----
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I understand that is happening.
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I think it has relevance but I have raised most of what I wanted to raise here at this point-----
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-----so I will move on with other issues of serious lack of funding for policing across Galway. One of the clear issues that was just raised with me again today is the lack of gardaí in Galway. The gardaí who work in Galway do their absolute best and do their utmost, but there is an inability to contact gardaí because there simply are not enough. When we are talking about the amount of funding that we have available across the State, and if we are talking about the likes of Galway, we need to make sure that we are adequately funding the number of gardaí that we have as well. People should easily be able to access gardaí when they need to.
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