Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Garda visibility, which I raised with the Minister previously through parliamentary questions, is a problem all over the State, but I will refer to the stations in my constituency. Every Garda station in and around Cork city district has had its numerical strength reduced since 2010. This is a fact. Some of the stations have had their numbers reduced substantially. Mayfield Garda station went from 51 gardaí down to 42 in the past 12 months alone. I believe the situation is the same in Dublin. Assistant Commissioner Pat Leahy said the situation in Dublin has hit "rock bottom", or at least that was the case in January. I am not sure if much has changed in the past four or five months.

I understand that probationers are coming out of the Garda College in Templemore but because of the increased importance being placed on vital specialist units - the Garda National Protective Services Bureau and some of the other specialist units do a vitally important job - they are increasingly taking the focus. From speaking with members of the Garda, I gather that experienced, qualified gardaí are being moved into these specialist units and the probationers are, essentially, only taking the place of those senior gardaí in the core units. Therefore, the numbers in the core units and Garda districts have not increased and while they might be at the same numerical levels, they have lost quite a lot of experience. This is having an impact on their ability to focus on community police work. This is combined with a 40% decrease in the number of community gardaí over the same period, which is particularly acute in areas such as Donegal and Limerick but which is having an impact right across the board. Perhaps the Minister will comment on this point.

It seems as though there is a commitment to have 15,000 sworn members in An Garda Síochána by 2021 - and we are almost at that figure already - but units are barely keeping pace with the position that obtained six or seven years ago before the significant reductions in numbers. Does the Minister believe there is now a need to reconsider whether that figure of 15,000 for sworn members needs to be revised to ensure the complement of core units of district gardaí out on the beat can be restored to a reasonable level to re-establish visibility in order that people can have confidence in the visibility of the Garda in their communities?