Ms Grace Hill:

There really are. I thank the Deputy for the question. It was a key recommendation in our report to increase the number of gardaí on the ground. I should say that we have a really good relationship with the gardaí in Tallaght. Deputy Shortall alluded to the non-attendance of some statutory representatives at task forces. We have the Garda superintendent on our task force and it is a very good relationship. Equally, with the drug units, they are just a phone call away and I can report things and we can meet them confidentially as we need to.

What we need is more community gardaí and our research has shown that is what we are lacking per head of population. The current Garda division, which is the south Dublin division, has the lowest strength per head of population so that area really needs to be addressed.

As an informal point, what we want is gardaí on the ground who are capable and trained up. We welcome the introduction of drugs education at Templemore level, literally at entry level, so gardaí understand the complexities of families that are impacted by addiction. I think there has been a real improvement on that in the last ten years, with gardaí showing more empathy in the community, which is very welcome. I am from Ballyfermot.

When I think back 20 years, I used to see houses being raided by gardaí on a Sunday morning where no empathy would be shown. That has really changed in Tallaght. The community gardaí on the ground know what is happening and they know the anxiety and frustration of the community from witnessing drug dealing daily. That understanding is there. I know the Chair will attest to that. However, we need more community gardaí. The Chair and Deputy Lahart were part of a meeting with the chief superintendent recently to talk about some of the gaps in our community. The report calls for more community gardaí on the ground and visibility.

There have been specific operations in terms of seizures. Operation Tara is under way. That is talking about seizures and that can be the language when you talk about Garda stuff. Big seizures are great but how does that impact the drug dealing and daily visibility? That is our concern and I know it is a frustration for the gardaí as well. Sometimes there is a lot of work going on in the background that we do not know about. It is about us explaining to the community that even little bites of information can help the bigger picture and help to reduce that.