Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Earlier Mr. Toland referred to the recording of walk-ins and reporting of crime. While I do not like to bring up personal matters in the committee, I have personal experience of this.

It is something people talk to me about fairly regularly. I have done it myself. When I finish work late at night and take my dog for a walk, I have often seen people dipping into bring banks and clothing banks in an organised fashion. I have called the Garda with a registration number and have called back a week later to find out that there has been no follow-up. It was never recorded. The gardaí in question said whatever they needed to say on the phone to get me off it. I do not identify who is calling but I should not have to. I find that frustrating, which is why when I heard Mr. Toland saying that those taking calls were not recording them, it sprang into my memory. This has happened a couple of times in the past seven or eight months. In terms of the implementation of a programme to ensure officers are doing it, how does the inspectorate oversee that? I know there are many structural changes it is recommending but at the same time, how does it oversee things in order that the systems are in place to ensure officers are recording crime effectively?