Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy has said, a lot of work is under way looking to the year ahead. This is not just in terms of new laws and legislation but also in terms of overall resourcing and structural changes in An Garda Síochána, focused on policing, not just in the city centre, but also more broadly. We introduced and passed body-worn camera legislation last week in the Dáil.

A pilot programme be will rolled out, starting with the inner city. It will be expanded beyond that. We will make sure that no matter where gardaí are, be it in rural or urban settings, they will have body-worn cameras to assist them in policing any type of protest or issue that might arise from protests and responding to any types of crimes. This is something that will be very welcome and has been sought for some time. Connected to that legislation are amendments around CCTV. For some time, colleagues in the House have called for changes in respect of issues relating to the general data protection regulation, GDPR, that have arisen and that prevented some communities from putting up CCTV cameras. Time and again, whether it is in our city centres or rural areas, gardaí say CCTV is a significant tool for them and helps in responding to burglaries, thefts, assaults or whatever else might be happening on our streets in rural and urban areas.

Obviously, having more gardaí is a big ambition for next year. There have been 640 entrants to the Garda college, 135 in February, 154 in May, 174 in July and 177 in October. There will be a final class on 27 December. The objective had always been 1,000 this year over five classes. Once I came back in June, I said that would not be achievable and what we are now looking at is between 700 and 800. Those numbers will start to come into our towns and villages next year. Of the second class of May, 153 will graduate next Friday. Many of them will be in Dublin, as well as across the country, and they will be on the beat a month earlier than planned.

A significant number of demonstrations, almost 800, were policed throughout the year. The vast majority of those went off without any issues. Gardaí have always used a graduated response. It is important that we continue to allow them to use their judgment in responding to any demonstration that arises. Of course, we know there have been some very challenging protests. In terms of the Dublin metropolitan region, I understand the figures to September indicated there had been 43 arrests. The idea that protests are happening and nothing is being done by gardaí is simply not the case. Where there have been assaults or other issues have arisen, there have been arrests and I trust that will continue.

More broadly, and looking at what happened a week and a half ago, the Commissioner has already moved to purchase better equipment and ensure that more gardaí are trained in public order duties. What we saw on that Thursday was the largest ever mobilisation of our public order units. However, the Commissioner has been clear that he wants more people to be trained. That is happening. Some of that training will be done by the end of the year. Obviously, that will continue into next year.

I have written to the Policing Authority to ask it to advise me as to what might enhance or support gardaí in responding to these types of situations. I have asked not just about their lawful powers but also any other types of equipment they might require. We do not want to see this type of riot happening ever again, but should something happen we need to make sure we have as many people as possible trained as well as the resources that we need available to us. The Commissioner is also looking at water cannons. Water cannons have come from our colleagues in the North, but we need to consider whether we need to look beyond that.

A massive change is happening in the structure of how gardaí work. The roll out of the new operational model means we will have community policing teams across the country. Every individual will know who the community garda is in their area. That is what people want and we need to make sure that the more gardaí we have the more community policing teams are populated. Separate to that is the roll out of community safety partnerships. Gardaí will play a vital role in rolling out these new partnerships which will look at community safety from a different lens than before. They will work with education, health, local authority members and local authorities and make sure plans are putting in place right across the country.

There are a lot of plans in place. Obviously, responding specifically to the incident on 23 November, lessons will always need to be learned. That will always be the case. We are moving forward. We are looking ahead to see what more we can do. Whatever the Commissioner and gardaí need, I will support them.