I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and the Government are very strong in terms of increasing the number of gardaí. We have committed very substantial resources and we want to maintain those resources to continue to increase the number of gardaí going into Templemore for training. The cohorts of over 200 trainees are now entering Templemore regularly. In the first intake of this year, 215 recruits entered Templemore and 209 trainees entered the college on Monday, 4 May 2026. As of the end of March, there is a total of nearly 14,500 thousand gardaí across the State. That is up 13% since 2015. The numbers are coming in. I understand the Deputy's concern in terms of those numbers then translating into County Tipperary, and into Clonmel, but we will get around. Quite substantial numbers have gone into cities and they have made a big difference. It is the intention of the Commissioner to substantially increase the number of gardaí in given towns like Clonmel and elsewhere as the gardaí continue to come through. People were talking earlier about Government expenditure and so on. To keep this at a very high level, we need to maintain and ring-fence the expenditure for that. I think that is something everybody wants. Operation Thor, which is dealing with rural crime, has been operating since 2015, and I understand burglaries have come down 75% since 2016. An Garda Síochána is making a lot of progress and does enjoy the confidence of the public. I agree we need more numbers in Tipperary and we will allocate as soon as numbers come out of Templemore in line with the operational and strategic planning of the Garda Commissioner. We have also been working on freeing up gardaí. There has been a significant increase in Garda civilian staff, which has freed up about 900 gardaí for front-line duties as a result of that particular initiative. We will continue to work with communities, the chambers of commerce across the country and business groups with a view to supporting them in protecting their goods and their services from crime, and also in working collectively with communities on what is the best overall planning approach to reducing crime and protecting people.

Sentiment score: 0.24

We are providing very substantial resources to An Garda Síochána. There has been substantial change in terms of the recruitment processes. We have increased recruitment age and training allowance, shortened recruitment timeframes, reform of the physical competency test and the introduction of the assessment-centred approach to elements of recruitment. We had two recruitment campaigns in 2025, and likewise again in 2026. The numbers are increasing, but they need to increase more. We need to be very consistent in the allocation of resources to the Garda recruitment programme, but also more broadly in terms of equipment and supports to An Garda Síochána, which we are doing.

Sentiment score: 0.28