I agree with Deputy Donnelly. There was a recent incident in Dundalk where an eight-year-old was stopped on an e-scooter. Gardaí have told me about the particular issues that they have that they are not sufficiently resourced to deal with this issue, which is causing danger, not only for those who engage in dangerous behaviour on e-scooters and scramblers but also for those whom they interact with. We need to see not only guidelines and legislation; we need to make sure that An Garda is given the powers that are required. It goes without saying that high-visibility garda operations can make a huge difference in preventing crime. I commend the community gardaí whom I have interacted with, particularly in Dundalk. The late night leagues with the youth diversion programmes have been running on a Thursday night for the past number of weeks. They are successful. It is about building relationships with kids and hopefully engaging with them from a point of view of ensuring that they can find that better road map themselves for their life. I also commend the gardaí who with me have met those on Barrack Street who are very worried about the ongoing destruction of property, anti-community action and open drug dealing. There is a Dublin Simon Community facility that probably has bad legacy issues. It is all about those powers that are needed. There is planning permission for 21 units there. Louth County Council would have to make some promises in relation to allocations, but a huge body of work needs to be done. From my discussions with Dublin Simon Community, it is hopefully up for it. It is between it, Louth County Council and An Garda. It is making sure that would happen. I was contacted by a long-serving member of the Garda Reserve. He had a number of asks relating to the absence of formal recognition of the 20th anniversary of the Garda Reserve, which needs to be dealt, consideration of a long-serving medal for Reserve members and progress on enabling greater operational responsibility for experienced reservists. We need more gardaí but we should also deal with the issue of the reserve.

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