Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is little point in the Garda Commissioner quoting statistics and telling me she in confident there are people on the street, if that is not the reality. That incident proves it is not the reality. Gardaí are on my local radio station every week detailing the crime. There is little point in only telling the people about the crime that has occurred when there is no follow-up. Has the Garda Commissioner got a plan whereby she instructs her chief superintendents with regard to how many people are getting back to that basic element of policing? My question is about the style of policing. I acknowledge that policing has changed and that intricate work has to be done with regard to drugs and so forth. However, people are afraid about that basic element of policing, namely, people staving off these thugs who appear to control towns such as Navan, Mullingar and Thurles. They are allowed to wander the streets and not be challenged by the force that is supposed to be protecting people. Why is it that a mother who walks down the streets of my home town of Navan is afraid? These thugs seem to think that they own the streets. They can beat a guy around the head with a glass vase and when the gardaí arrive they have a chat with them and then drive off. It took the Joe Duffy show to implement the arrests. That is crazy.