Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will start by returning to where Deputy Carroll MacNeill started on the youth justice service. Some of the agencies I have spoken to locally are feeling very optimistic and are very grateful not only for extra workers but new workers for outreach, family support and being able to broaden and deepen their connection with the communities they are trying to support. That positive development has to be acknowledged.

Deputy Kenny stole my thunder by asking about retention so I will leave that. I am concerned that we see new initiatives such as Operation Citizen and increased policing on transport, if short of a dedicated transport police, but without extra recruitment we are simply moving around inadequate resources. If we are putting extra gardaí on O'Connell Street, where are they coming from? If those posts are not being backfilled, then what are the gaps? That is a headache for the Commissioner and it will be a bigger headache if we cannot ensure those recruits are in place. However, recruitment has been covered sufficiently. I welcome the idea that we will try to appeal more to non-traditional communities and have more diversity in background.

On equipment, I am very glad we are not here seeking Supplementary Estimates for weapons and to arm and equip gardaí in that regard. The less said about that the better.

I will pick up on one thing that has not been mentioned, namely, the 122 additional vehicles for the fleet. I would ask about extra bikes. That is not me coming from a traditional Green perspective. I have spoken to gardaí who say that the two-week bike-training course is the most intense they have ever done in An Garda Síochána. You have to be able to fall off the bike at speed without hurting yourself, jump off the bike and tackle an assailant at speed, use the bike as a shield or a weapon or use a bike with other gardaí in crowd control. When policing an urban environment, it is a quicker way to get around. When policing an urban environment, you are very much part of it instead of being hidden in a cage, like the police car can be.

It is a massive addition, especially in terms of urban policing.

How many of the additional vehicles, of which there will be approximately 122, will be electric vehicles, EVs? I have seen gardaí patrolling in EVs. All parts of society, including the Garda, have to contribute to decarbonisation, . No concerns have been expressed to me by members of the Garda regarding the EVs they are driving.