Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

He has failed to secure the resources to rollout the new Tetra radio system and he has failed to fight for the resources to refurbish and rebuild Garda stations, some of which are more appropriate at this stage to the developing world.

In terms of meeting the needs of gardaí, this legislation is limited. I accept there is a limit to what a Bill, when enacted, can achieve. I am aware of the Minister's penchant for legislation and his belief that legislation is some kind of panacea, but more law does not necessarily mean more order. He can put in place structures here and make announcements there, but that is all abstract. What is happening on the ground in reality land is a different matter. I fear that the basic needs of gardaí are not being met and that limits their effectiveness in the fight against crime.

I wish to deal with a few issues before I go into the detail of the Bill. An issue that concerns me is the annual haemorrhage of gardaí from the force. Those numbers are increasing. Up to a few years ago it was running at 400 a year and last year the number increased to 460. Early retirement seems to becoming more a feature of the force. I wish to make two points in that regard. First, an assessment should be carried out as to why there are early retirements and whether steps can be taken to ensure there is not that haemorrhage of experienced members from the force. Second, we have to bear in mind that Garda retirements, particularly the retirement of experienced members, puts more pressure on serving gardaí.

I want to refer briefly to Garda numbers. They have not kept pace with the massive increase in population in recent years. The Minister will tell us that we now have the highest number of gardaí in the force. That is true, but a number of points can be made in that respect. The level of crime is up 25% on the 2000 figures. The Minister quotes selective statistics when he talks about reductions in crime. Following the rainbow Government period in office, crime figures were down to 90,000 in 1997, 85,000 in 1998——

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