John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)

It would be most welcome if the Minister gave a commitment to reply to parliamentary questions on the Garda when the legislation is enacted.

Sections 30 to 34, inclusive, provide for the first time a statutory basis for the involvement of local authorities in policing matters. Interaction between local authorities and the Garda is long overdue. It is a welcome measure, which Fine Gael has advocated for some time. Garda superintendents will meet local authority officials and this is the most welcome provision in the legislation. Garda superintendents, who are all-powerful in their districts, will have a statutory duty to meet local authority officials and public representatives to discuss road safety, policing, anti-social behaviour and licensing laws.

If communities are to experience long-term reductions in crime, local authorities must take on a dedicated oversight role in policing matters. I hope the Minister has discussed this with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to establish how effective local authorities could be in taking on this role. It is important that local authorities should promote the local policing boards upon their establishment. Providing a forum for gardaí and local authorities to exchange views and co-ordinate their activities will bring real benefits to local communities. It will certainly provide an opportunity for interaction and give a sense of ownership to a public that is fast becoming disenchanted with our criminal justice system. Interaction between gardaí and communities must be brought down to a more local level.

An enormous amount of legislation has been enacted in these Houses in recent years and the difficulty is to implement it effectively. The biggest difficulty is that there are too few gardaí on the beat. With the three-shift system, on any given day in Sligo alone there might be only ten gardaí on duty out of perhaps 100 due to time off, holidays and so on. That is a major problem.

The Minister lost a huge opportunity with the volunteer system. It is not too late for him to examine the possibility of re-employing gardaí at the age of 50.

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