Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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I will. My contribution is more of a comment than anything else. In regard to the operating model, I come from east Galway and we might only have two Garda cars on some nights. I live in Portumna, Gort is my main base and there is also Loughrea. It takes 40 minutes to go from Portumna from Gort. If one car is out and one garda is left in the station the number of gardaí who can respond is reduced dramatically. With our next set of recruits, those in the Garda stations in east Galway would love to think they could get one or two extra gardaí. It would be greatly appreciated.

My main focus is on online safety and the child exploitation wing of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau. Has it enough staff given where adolescence is and the fears parents have about online safety? I compliment the work Detective Deirdre Holland has done locally in Galway in supporting the Think Smart campaign and going out into the community.

It has been very helpful having a member of An Garda Síochána with experience talking to parents and informing them of what gardaí see behind the scenes, without breaching anything. That work is the reasonable voice saying that if parents have a doubt, or their gut tells them something is wrong, they have a right to have that doubt. That experience is really valuable. I would like to know whether there are enough numbers for that. Is the Garda looking to increase them? Is there something we should be doing to support that action?

I will not get into any particular groups, but the trauma feuding groups is having on children is preventing some children in some communities from even going to school because the feud spills over. The children might not even be aware of it but the parents do not want to meet at the gate. We can read about feuding in the papers every day of the week, but what is its impact on children on the ground in accessing education? Ballinasloe is down the road from where I live. It has the second-highest level of deprivation after Darndale. While gardaí are doing excellent work there, we certainly need more community gardaí to support the various generations.