Mr. Noel Dunne:

I am in Parnell Street. In our area, we are assigned to Store Street and we only deal with Store Street. That is who we call if there is a problem. They are the people who liaise with us. As I said earlier, the gardaí in Store Street respond. We have waited an hour or an hour and a half some times for gardaí to come. There are reasons for that which relate mainly to resources. Gardaí are very like ourselves; they are the people in the job and they are frustrated. They come to investigate an incident, take the details and go to court. I am repeating myself, but there is nothing done. It starts at the top. If there was a sanction, then gardaí would be more invested in tackling this crime. Of course they would.

We heard earlier about gardaí leaving the force. We have heard that being reported, and very much so lately. That happens if there is no end result and they are demoralised about bringing people to court, as a we are. If you get it right at the very top, the positivity will filter all the way down and not only to gardaí but also to the owners and staff and the perpetrators, who will know, when they walk into a store, that there will be consequences. The first thing they will think of is that if they do something, X, Y and Z will happen. In other words, I will catch them. The guards will arrive and make an arrest and they will be in court tomorrow or the next day, and a sanction will be put in place if they are repeat offenders.

To return to what the Senator said earlier about socially deprived areas, I am right in the heart of a very socially deprived area in Parnell Street. Some 95% of my customers are absolutely fantastic. We meet them every day. It is a small minority that causes trouble. This is a problem that can be handled if the sanctions at the very top are sufficient to the crime. Then we would see that filtering all the way down. I would be more enthusiastic as would staff and the gardaí. The only people who will not be more enthusiastic will be the guy on the electric scooter. That is what we want.