Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

I am happy to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill, which I welcome.

I deal with the Garda in towns in my constituency, such as Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir and Tipperary town, on a regular basis. I find the gardaí with whom I deal co-operative and helpful. They do an excellent job. Issues of trust and confidence in the Garda have arisen in recent years for a number of reasons. People are concerned about Garda manpower, buildings, locations, equipment and the independence of its investigations. In fairness, there have been some high-profile investigations in the recent past. I consider the deployment of Garda manpower, the location of Garda stations and the provision of Garda equipment to be the primary reasons for the reduction in trust and confidence in the force, rather than the high profile investigations I have mentioned.

The number of gardaí serving at present in Clonmel, a town of between 17,000 and 18,000 people, is smaller than the number serving there 20 years ago. There are 40 gardaí, of all ranks, in Clonmel and just eight members of the force are on duty in the town at any one time. The eight gardaí are supposed to police an area that has a population of almost 25,000, when one takes Clonmel's hinterland into account. An inadequate number of gardaí is being deployed to police an area of that size. One wonders what criteria are used to determine the allocation of manpower resources within the Garda. Tralee has a similar population to Clonmel, but it has almost twice as many gardaí as the latter town. Approximately 60 gardaí are stationed in Thurles, which has a population approximately one third that of Clonmel. The manpower issue arises often when one examines the reasons for the undermining of trust in the Garda. Individual gardaí are doing their best, but they cannot respond to calls from the public in the way they would like.

The recruitment and appointment of community gardaí is probably the single most important issue facing the Garda Síochána. It is not a new phenomenon — we have been considering it for many years. Community policing has proven its worth in many parts of Ireland, but large swathes of the country are not served by community gardaí. There are no dedicated community gardaí in my constituency of Tipperary South. Some gardaí have community functions as well as their other duties. Community gardaí are absolutely necessary. The problem of a lack of trust and confidence in the Garda is found primarily in large urban housing estates. Visible gardaí are needed on the beat in such areas, where they can liaise with local communities, tenants' associations, residents' associations and RAPID groups.

Significant resources need to be invested to help community gardaí to build up relationships with young people in certain areas, but that is not being done at present. Such relationships would help to curb the development of low-level crime in the form of anti-social behaviour. Such behaviour is often not reflected in crime statistics, but it is serious, especially for elderly and vulnerable people. It is difficult for people who are different in any way to live in some of the areas to which I refer. They constantly suffer from stone-throwing, abuse, daubing and egg-throwing etc. The investment of more resources in community policing would help to stop a substantial proportion, if not all, of such behaviour.

While I welcome the sections of the Bill which provide for the Garda ombudsman commission, I would like the commission to be entirely independent. If the Garda is to be completely accepted by the people, it is in its interests that a totally independent investigations procedure should be put in place. It would not be a good idea to allow gardaí to be involved in the ombudsman commission's investigations, or to allow gardaí to transfer some investigations to other gardaí. That would not be a good way of dealing with the problems I have discussed. I would prefer if the commission was allowed to operate entirely independently. Such a system would be better and would be more likely to be welcomed by the Garda. I would like to have discussed various other matters, but I have run out of time.

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