Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is grand. I submitted these questions because of dialogue with a number of gardaí in different parts of the State. They are concerned that in their districts, the dedicated focus on drugs and crime detection was being lessened by cutbacks and reallocation. In a number of places where I spoke to officers, they would have had considerable success in the area.

Garda units with mobile patrols can quickly get on top of burglaries, and there is still good intelligence between communities and gardaí in that regard. Mobile patrols remain a significant deterrent. This feeds into the overall picture from gardaí and the issue I have raised regarding pay, why they are so distressed and the reason morale is so low. They do not have the resources to do their job. There are lies, damn lies and statistics and we can engage back and forth in that regard. Nevertheless, the feedback from gardaí on the ground is that the dedicated focus in a number of these areas of law enforcement is being lessened by cutbacks.

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