Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is the first time I have met the Commissioner. All I have seen of him has been in the newspapers and on the television. I am impressed. Even though the Commissioner says he is not an outsider, he has come from a different part of the country. I wish him the best. To me, what I see is what I get. The Commissioner seems to be a very honest person. He seems to be a person who wants to get the job done. What I like about him is that the first point he made was that he had confidence in the force. It means that the people working under the Commissioner note there is a man coming here and he means business.

One of the biggest challenges the Commissioner mentioned from day one when he got the job was the Border after Brexit. Coming from the Dundalk area, I am aware the Border plays a big part in the life of the community. As an ex-member of the 27th Battalion in Dundalk, an Army man, I know what it is like to patrol the 34 Border crossings from Cullaville to Omeath. During the troubled time, it was not a nice time to be involved. We also have a lot of illicit trade there at present. I refer to the fuel smuggling, the cigarettes and everything else. It is just not a nice time.

I am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. I spent the past two days in London and the main topic was Brexit. The British Prime Minister, Mrs. Theresa May, has said that she has 95% of Brexit sorted out. The last 5% is the Border. The Taoiseach has said that if the Border situation is not sorted out, violence will return. These are statements that we do not want to hear. The bottom line is that it is important that the Commissioner has a plan of action.

I have been very lucky in recent months. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, visited Dundalk recently and met Superintendent Gerard Curley. I would like to record that I find Superintendent Curley approachable, honest and upfront. In fairness, he gives the Garda a good name in the area.

We visited Dundalk Garda station. Given the amount of stuff they are taking in and the level of investigation they are doing, my main concern about the Garda station is that there does not seem to be an inch of space left. They are doing a good job. I can see a presence of the Garda on the beat, which is good there.

We also visited Dromad Garda station, which is a prefab building at present. I do not know whether the Commissioner is familiar with it.