Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

Os rud é gurb é seo mo ráiteas maighdine, mar a déarfá, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chuir in iúl do mo bhean chéile, mo chlann, mo lucht tacaíochta agus mo phairtí, a obair chomh dian ionas go dtoghfar mé sa toghchán. I wish the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, well in his job. The incoming Commissioner, Mr. Murphy, will also do a fantastic job.

To echo other Deputies, the chances are low that a member of the general population will experience crime directly. As the Minister said, however, that is no consolation to those who are affected by crime, especially serious crime. A particular problem in my constituency and other areas of expanding population is the lack of gardaí, which leads to a fear of crime. While the adage that we have nothing to fear but fear itself applies, it is also true that fear itself is problematic. People are rightly afraid in their communities if they feel the gardaí are not around to provide the security and safety required. While the village of Slane is adequately served with a fantastic complement of four gardaí, including a sergeant, Duleek which is many times larger and serves a greatly expanded population has only one sergeant and one garda. Nobber has one sergeant and one garda, which is insufficient, while my own parish of Laytown has two sergeants and 11 gardaí to cover a population of approximately 18,000. Changes in the Garda divisions will require the Laytown complement also to police the village of Stamullen which has seen its population expand to 4,000. My constituents fear crime, including burglaries and robberies, and anti-social behaviour. If the Garda were to place recruits in expanding areas, it would have a very significant effect on people's perceptions and their fear of crime.

The programme for Government includes a commitment to recognise the need for policing in areas of growing population. The Government will conduct regular detailed analysis of garda-to-population ratios to ensure that every region has appropriate policing. I welcome very much this commitment. Just this week, some of my constituents had cause to write to me about policing in the village of Stamullen. Following representations, local community representatives were informed that despite massive increases in population above north Fingal and Stamullen, the number of gardaí in the area remained at 1979 staffing levels. While there has been a very significant increase in Garda recruitment under Fianna Fáil Governments and while such increased recruitment will continue with the programme for Government, allocation must more properly reflect changes in population.

I agree with Deputy Costello's remarks on the reporting of crime. It is an issue which is especially relevant in my constituency. If people feel gardaí are not present or able to do their job due to lack of numbers, it is far more unlikely that crimes will be reported. I take the opportunity to urge people to report all crimes to ensure that statistics are accurate and appropriate plans can be made. The Minister mentioned a number of issues on community service and plans for community payback schemes which I was pleased to hear him raise. I was speaking to the parish priest of one of the parishes in the northern part of my constituency at the weekend. While I was there, I encountered a person carrying out community service work for the parish. It had a significant impact on the parish and, according to the priest, on the individual who was committed to community service. I was pleased to see it working in that case and support all efforts to expand the scheme.

I endorse calls to continue to have a generally unarmed police service, which is very important. It is the wish of the people. However, we must continue to provide resources to those elements of the Garda which need to be armed to deal with the increase in gun crime. The most significant issue we face, however, is Garda numbers which are important to give people confidence that they are safe in their communities and that crimes will be dealt with.

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