Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My apologies for not being able to join earlier. Forgive me if I go over areas that have already been covered. I was caught on some other issues during the day. I thank Ms Hall for her presentation, which I have read.

I compliment the Garda on the work that has been done from 2020 onwards in dealing with the issue of Covid and the way in which it worked with local communities in providing help and support, especially to people living on their own. It was an extremely important contribution. The Garda also worked with other people, getting them to assist as well. As for the issue of policing and the work of the Garda, I wonder about community involvement. I have seen it in my area. I do not live that far from University College Cork, and there is very good co-operation between the local community and local gardaí. However, in areas where we have a high level of drug use and where cocaine and other drugs are now more prevalent - I suppose that applies everywhere but it is higher in some areas than in others - do the witnesses think a lot more could be done to have more gardaí at street level than is currently the case? Do we need to focus a bit more on policy and getting more gardaí to areas where that is prevalent? It is about getting gardaí more involved with the community and working to resolve those issues.

The other issue I want to deal with is the challenge we face of having a growing elderly population and how we can change mechanisms. I know it is not the responsibility of the Garda to provide the level of support it provided during Covid, and it went way beyond its call of duty in that regard. It is about getting more co-ordination between the relevant State authorities, including the Garda, in dealing with issues like this. Has that been looked at? Have we looked at other jurisdictions in respect of that issue?