Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)

I will continue when the Deputies are finished. We do not often see that great man, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, in County Meath. I hope the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, took the opportunity to inform him, when he was talking to him at the Cabinet table, that we have the same number of gardaí in Navan as we had 20 years ago. The population of Meath has jumped by 26,000 in the last five years. Navan's population has doubled. One imagines that would justify a few extra gardaí, yet the number has stayed the same. That is indefensible and is pure neglect. Mr. Shane McEntee will have an easy election.

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