Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

It is a real fear. Why are more gardaí not rostered for weekend and night duty? Is it a question of the Government not being prepared to pay the overtime? Clearly it is not prepared to recruit the gardaí. That is the nub of the issue in regard to public order offences throughout the country. CCTV in not in place in enough towns and cities nor are there enough gardaí on duty at night.

I refer to a photograph which appeared in the Drogheda Independent recently. It was of mounted gardaí on horses in the town. The next week I looked at the Dundalk newspaper and saw the same photograph. I wondered whether the horse had galloped up and down during the week or if the horse was on a PR course around the country. I welcome the fact that mounted police were on duty on at least one occasion in Drogheda and that the same horse appeared in Dundalk. I do not know what the facts are but I thought it was funny. I welcome it and I would like to see more. Let us be modern.

Let us look at what has happened in America, New York and Los Angeles where the whole police organisation was changed to put them on duty on rota when one knows there will be trouble. Why have a Garda station full of gardaí from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and few on duty at night?

When travelling to Dublin during the past few days I have noticed an increase in the number of gardaí on patrol on the motorway. That is good, helpful and constructive. While the Garda may be on duty the number of cameras for the purpose of catching speeding motorists is inadequate. There ought to be hundreds more cameras on motorways and on the approaches to towns which are high risk accident areas without the necessity to take a garda from other work to do that job.

This morning a wonderful gentleman suddenly decided to skip down the bus lane to get into town earlier, leaving the rest of us motorists stranded in a queue, which has become longer since this Government took office. I suggest that speed cameras be used on the bus lanes in place of gardaí. It would be a practical and cost-effective measure, even though I acknowledge the worth of a Garda presence.

I wish to highlight the difference in Garda numbers in different towns with which I am familiar. I will not name the towns. One town may have no garda on street duty at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. while in other towns many gardaí are on duty. Different policies regarding the number of gardaí on the beat seem to apply in different areas. I am not suggesting that gardaí are moved from area A to area B but rather that the numbers in the main towns should be augmented.

The link between the community and the gardaí has been broken by that wonderful invention, the Garda car. The garda on the beat is a key element. I noticed on a recent visit to America that police bicycle patrols are used. These are cost-effective and efficient. I was a member of the Garda Síochána and the exercise would have kept me slimmer. Modernisation in the form of a rapid response unit is required. More gardaí on the streets give a sense of security.

I was in Philadelphia at a waste management conference which was not a junket in the political sense. I noticed that at 6 p.m. all the major city intersections had a police patrol in place. Everybody knew they were there and it was a deterrent. I was aware of the efficient and low-key presence of the police on the streets of Philadelphia which is not apparent in Dublin or in other cities and towns because gardaí are not doing those jobs.

I question why the Garda is not provided with more resources and why there is not a fundamental change in their operational methods. I urge the Minister of State to take these points on board in a constructive manner. People must feel safe. I presume everyone in this House brings their car keys upstairs at night — unless one is a Minister. In my constituency many people are robbed at night. Thieves can remove double glazing panels, enter the house, take the car keys and drive off into the night. What is being done about this? People do not feel that their cars are safe outside the front door. That professional thieves are travelling from the cities to commit these crimes. As a benchmark of how this Government is not working and of the lack of proper policing, I ask the public to judge the effectiveness or otherwise of the policing system and in particular its level of resourcing by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. People judge it according to whether their car will still be there in the morning. This crime is becoming endemic and I ask the Minister of State to examine strategies for dealing with it. One strategy would be to have more gardaí on duty at night and to have greater vigilance on the motorways in order to intercept the speeding thieves.

My constituency colleagues and I are fully supportive of the Garda. The Garda Síochána in County Louth are extremely helpful to us and will help solve any problem in a constructive manner. I do not mean we interfere with the business of the Garda but rather we identify problems which have arisen in the community. The biggest problem of all in our society is anti-social behaviour. I would like to see many more community police on duty in urban communities. I have put down a parliamentary question today to the Minister on this matter.

Poorer communities which experience unemployment are also more likely to have a drugs problem. It is essential to have a better link between the people and the Garda. In Drogheda a Garda sergeant has been nominated to deal with the issues arising in one part of the town. People know the community gardaí and therefore they respect them. When I was young everybody knew the local gardaí. They were leaders in the community and their families were known. It is too impersonal now and contact has been lost. I do not wish to hear people complaining that the Garda response to calls is slow or non-existent. Part of the duties of the Garda Síochána is to build up strong links with the community. The juvenile liaison officers have a positive interaction with schools and young people.

I welcome the Bill and look forward to the Minister changing the operational procedures of the force and investing in better resources, particularly for the communities which most need this support.

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