Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

The people are looking to the Government of the day to act in the matter and they are looking to the Opposition of the day to support good measures for the reform, reconstitution and strengthening of the Garda.

Today, tomorrow and the next day our streets must be policed. I cannot take the Garda to a test bench in a laboratory and fiddle around with it leaving a vacuum for weeks, months or perhaps a year while I experiment with reform and hold meetings around the country to decide what should happen.

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