I thank Deputy Kelly for bringing this motion forward today. It is very important. One of the biggest failures of successive governments has been the failure to invest in our gardaí, Garda resources and Garda stations. It is an absolute scandal and it is vitally important we are talking about this today. Our Garda numbers are very far down. I will talk about road traffic gardaí in a few moments but if we look at the resources and the places where gardaí are working, I live in the third largest town in Ireland by population, Swords, and our Garda station is not fit for purpose. For one month during the winter, it was without heating and hot water. Imagine if they turned the hot water taps off in this building for ten minutes. There would be absolute uproar. We had gardaí investigating delicate and sensitive murder cases and having people in custody without hot water and heating. The conference room where neighbourhood watch meetings take place suffered a leak and has been out of commission for weeks. Gardaí will not transfer to that station because of the working conditions. Donabate, a town that has gone up to 20,000 people, is a huge town, yet there are no plans to deliver a Garda station there. There is nothing in the Garda Commissioner's plans to deliver there. On road traffic policing, we continue to have an absolute epidemic and a disaster in deaths on our roads. I am 22 years driving this year. In my first couple of years driving, I remember running into static breathalyse checkpoints. They were not uncommon on Collins Avenue, Glen Ellen Road and Holywell. They are ones that come to mind. I drove between Monaghan and Cavan once and to Kinsale and in the first three or four years I was driving, it was not uncommon to bump into a checkpoint. I have not been breathalysed at a random checkpoint in years. Why is that? It is because we are 40% down in road traffic policing. It is no coincidence. There is a correlation between that and the deaths on our roads, of that I have absolutely no doubt. It is another failure of investment and strategy from this Government. This is an absolute crisis. This motion speaks to the collapse in morale within our gardaí. Our gardaí have not been supported by senior management and that is having an impact on the policing levels on our streets, and it has to end. I commend this motion. I wish Government would withdraw its amendment and get to work in improving and fixing An Garda Síochána.

Sentiment score: -0.13