Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

I intend to share time equally with Deputies Morgan and Gregory.

Is mian liom labhairt ar an rún an-tábhachtach seo, mar is ábhar é seo a bhíonn idir lámha agus á phlé ag a lán daoine ar fud mo dháilcheantair. Mar a dúirt an Teachta Costello, tá ceist an ombudsman lárnach in aon sórt athbhreithnithe nó athstruchtúraithe, chomh maith le smachtú ó thaobh iompair de don Gharda. I have met the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Mrs. Nuala O'Loan.

I will not repeat what Deputy Costello said. There is already a good range of experience and a model for how we could proceed and it is amazing that our Government has not taken note of the effectiveness of the Police Ombudsman's office in the North more clearly. Perhaps there are other reasons for this, which I do not have time to go into. It disappoints people that the model in the North has not been more clearly followed.

There is a lack of progress on Garda resourcing in many other areas and we need to focus on that too. I have spoken to members of the force who do not wish to be quoted publicly and they have made it clear that there is great frustration on a number of levels. There is a resourcing mismatch. The Bellanaboy issue, with which the Minister is familiar, indicates a mismatch on the numbers of gardaí, who are needed in other parts of the country, being billeted in the Bellanaboy area and their behaviour. There was an investigation into the over-the-top reaction of gardaí there, which may be dealt with elsewhere. I do not want to prejudice that investigation by anything that is said here. Statistics show that the number of gardaí per person in the Dublin metropolitan area is 283, while in the eastern region I represent as part of my constituency of Dublin North there are 483 gardaí per person. In terms of the expectations and what they must deal with we ask gardaí outside the Dublin metropolitan area to work almost twice as hard as those inside, a fact which is clearly evident.

I have already dealt with the population explosion in the areas to which I refer. Swords is equal in size to Waterford city, Balbriggan to Clonmel, Skerries to Tullamore, Rush to Kilkenny city, Lusk to Athlone, Malahide and Portmarnock to Tralee, and Donabate, which does not even have a secondary school, is equal in size to Athy. Many of these areas do not have full-time Garda stations. Of that list only Swords, Balbriggan and Malahide have full-time stations, while the rest are closed for a large part of the day. Yet these places are expected to make do with a level of policing that would not be tolerated in other areas. That is a great injustice that is being perpetrated and perpetuated. It is not just an operational matter but must have political accountability and is not being dealt with. Would the Acting Chairman tell me when I have a minute left?

The Louth-Meath area, of which Dublin North is part, lacks a drugs task force, crime prevention units and other basic modern policing needs. Meanwhile the area is growing rapidly. The comparisons with other cities around the country make that obvious. It is not just an operational matter. Operation Freeflow was dealt with from a political perspective but this is more important. We are talking about life or death, murder in Swords, grenade attacks, abuse of young children and attempted abductions. We need the necessary policing; we do not have it and that is the first port of call.

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