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

The Minister can spin statistics to his heart's content. He can give the impression that he is on top of the problem, but that just proves he is in denial. There are enormous problems of crime in our society. The crime figure have increased from 73,000 in 2000 to nearly 100,000 in 2004. The Minister tells us the problem is in hand and the crime figure is decreasing. There is also the youth problem of anti-social behaviour in our society. We do not have a sufficient number of gardaí to deal with these problems.

I want to deal with the Minister's reference to 14,000 gardaí. That number of gardaí will not be on our streets in the near future. We need them now, but they are not there. They will not be on the streets during the Government's term of office. In spite of the Minister's spin, all we have had is an average increase of approximately 80 extra gardaí each year for the past three years while the Minister has been in office.

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