Ms Marie Metcalfe:

At the time, when I was engaging with the community and gardaí at small local meetings, I could nearly promise the community that I would address a problem in a particular area. I do not have that power now because my community is full of drugs. There are black spots everywhere. Two drug units were set up before Christmas. There are 18 in the entire team. I find them a great resource. I cannot say very much about them because I need to give them time. There has always been petty drug dealing in most complexes but over the past few years, things have changed. This is because of the credit crunch. People lose their jobs and resources are gone. We did not realise how bad it had become and how badly we were hit in respect of resources until this year. Since the closure of Fitzgibbon Street Garda station, we have lost 120 gardaí in the division. The number could be larger, but the last time I checked it was 120. We cannot afford to lose one garda, never mind 120.

Due to the water protests all over the country, gardaí must leave my division to police protests. This means that we are on our own again. It is all down to resources because I know the gardaí do their job and how well they can do it. I know how well they can communicate and engage with and support me. We do not have the resources, which is appalling. What I am looking at in my street is similar to what happened when I started. Intimidation is happening and it is appalling. I have attended meetings about meetings about meetings and nobody has ever come up with a safety net. That is what we are missing. There is no safety net for a woman who came into my office. Her partner owed a drug debt of €100,000. She cried and cried and I had to counsel her for nearly four months. She could not go to the Garda. Who is going to protect her and her family if she gives the information regarding the drug dealer - the person her partner owes the money to? She cannot do this. You try to do your own thing in communities to help the family because you cannot go to the Garda. There is no safety net. I always make sure I get the community to engage with the Garda, but on this issue I do not because there is no safety net for them. They go away and get the information.

When I began my job 16 years ago, I would have thought that raiding a house or any flats complex for drugs was amazing. I have changed my opinion, and I will tell the committee why. When the Garda gets information on a particular house, they carry out surveillance on it and then they know whether they have the right information. When they decide to carry out the raid, they go in. They might come out with guns, money or drugs, and it is absolutely wonderful for them. I am glad they get what they need, but it does nothing for us. The gardaí lead the raid at 7 a.m. and it might be 8 a.m. when they are finished. Within the next half hour, I can guarantee operations will have started up again.

I want to see three units in my Garda division - the drug unit, the community gardaí and a mini-Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, unit. A mini-CAB unit would be an amazing facility for us. The babies who were in their prams when we were marching in 1995 might be drug dealers now, or they might be going around on bikes and getting €50 for moving hash. That is a lot of money for any child to make. Who would not want to make a few bob every day moving drugs on a bike? We need a mini CAB unit so that if I am a drug dealer and gardaí are well aware of me and know my assets, they can target me and find out where I am getting the money from, how I am able to live in this big house and how I can drive around my community in a huge Jeep. It is a case of "I want that and I am going to get it."

I am asking for more resources. I cannot complain about Dublin City Council and the gardaí in particular in respect of the way they communicate with my project. It is a brilliant initiative and I would like to see it happening all over the country. I have visited other community policing forums and I do not see them working the way we do. That is fine, because everyone has their own way of working, but I think we work very well. I have access from a young garda right up to the assistant commissioner 24 hours a day, so I cannot complain about access. What I must complain about are resources and the fact that a mini-CAB unit is not being used in local communities, because we are still losing children, people are still dying and mothers and fathers are still intimidated by debt. That is as raw as I can get.