Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her presentation. Earlier, the Commissioner gave us some figures. Approximately 60,000 individuals have been arrested by the Garda so far in 2023. This amounts to 1.2% of the population having been arrested so far this year. This sounds remarkably high. Is it high? Perhaps the Minister or the departmental officials might be able to answer this. The Commissioner also outlined that 248,000 charges and summonses were created and issued. Of these, 92,000 were in Dublin, which is 37% of the overall amount. This is probably par for the course given the size of Dublin compared to the rest of the country. Are these figures high or are they normal? What is the story with them?

The Minister said that new laws have increased the maximum sentence for assaulting a member of An Garda Síochána and other on duty emergency workers from seven to 12 years to make it clear we will not tolerate assaults on gardaí. Prior to this, how many people had been sentenced to seven years for assaulting gardaí?

What I am getting at is that, very often, we decide to increase the amount of time people will spend in jail for a certain offence or to create a new law. I wonder whether we have to do that all of the time. Surely there is enough legislation on the Statute Book to allow the Garda to do its job, as the Minister would imagine. I am wondering why that is always seen as the right response. Is it just a need to be seen to be doing something?