Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Please, Deputy, I am answering your leader. I am not happy with the current figures but I am happy that we have dedicated gardaí who are out every day doing their best. I always resent that in this country we always seem to speak against ourselves. Our crime figures are lower now, pro rata, than ten years ago and lower than practically any other city in Europe. We have more gardaí than the equivalent anywhere except in Spain and Portugal, yet we try to talk ourselves down. This is one of the most popular countries for tourism.

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