Mr. Adrian Cummins:

In response to Deputy Costello's question about why crime is not being reported, it is apathy. Let us look at the figures for the number of gardaí per head of population. In Dublin, there are 255 gardaí per 100,000 people. In London, there are 396 police officers per 100,000 people. We rank 21st in Europe for the number of gardaí per head of population. It is down to resources. The more visibility on the streets, the less the apathy business owners will have for reporting. They feel that when they report a crime, it goes into the PULSE system, but they wonder whether anyone will ever come to deal with the crime. I have case after case of queries from members who feel that the crime they reported was never followed up.

I have had personal experience of that and it needs to be dealt with. There is apathy out there.

On the drug treatment centre, I said they need to work with businesses. They are not at the moment. The new drug treatment centre in Dublin 8 is not working with the local businesses. I know that for a fact because our office is 50 m away. The objection to the drug treatment centre did not come from the business community. It came from the local school.