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

Over the summer, members will have reflected on everything that happened in the committee during the first half of the year and the fallout from and ramifications of our debates have had on a district-by-district and county-by-county basis. Next Monday, I will attend a policing meeting with the local chief superintendent and superintendent as well as political and community representatives at which we will discuss a programme for policing in County Meath. Developments such as the matter we are discussing have a detrimental effect on such meetings. The broader ramification of this discussion is that it undermines our efforts when we attend public meetings to discuss policing. Garda stations in Oldcastle and Athboy in north County Meath and others in south County Meath have been closed or are only partially open. When nonsense such as this comes before us, it undermines the essence of what is being discussed.

Previous speakers raised the methodology used in making the decision to reopen certain Garda stations, specifically Stepaside Garda station. I wonder if the photograph of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, standing at a traffic light with a local councillor, holding a poster and giving a thumbs-up sign will be redacted when the methodology used in making the decision is published. I am sure as hell there is not a whole lot else to step over it.