Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

The title of these statements, which relates to public sector numbers, is wrong. The title should have referred to the reform of the public service and the provision of quality public services to the citizens of the State. The focus of our attention must be on these aspects of the debate. People are required in order that quality public services might be delivered. The Minister referred to managers being employed to manage. The difficulty is that this presupposes an equal distribution of managers, both geographically and across the relevant skill sets, which simply does not exist. We face a major challenge in this regard.

It is understandable that unions will represent the best interests of their members. A great deal of rubbish has been uttered in respect of the Croke Park agreement. The latter certainly offers particular benefits and we would have run into serious difficulties without it. The agreement is compartmentalised in respect of public servants. The focus of the Government and the Minister's Department is, for economic reasons, to reduce public service numbers. I am concerned that the focus of attention on public services will only happen somewhere down the line. There is a need to focus on those services now.

I wish to refer to a couple of matters. I wrote to the Garda Commissioner yesterday seeking a meeting. We had a meeting with the assistant commissioners last year and we might as well not have bothered doing so. This has been the case on several occasions in the past. I wish to highlight the position in the context of the unfair distribution of Garda numbers. This is not a matter for the Minister for Justice and Equality, it is one for the Garda Commissioner. The ratio of gardaí to members of the population in Kildare is 1:640. This is the worst ratio in the country. Sligo and Leitrim are at the other end of the spectrum, with one garda for every 82 people. There is a significant difference, with a national average of one garda for 379 people.

There was an awful shooting in Kilcock in the past week, but no matter how many gardaí we have, that probably could not have been prevented. The problem is with unfair distribution, as this exposes areas to such criminality. Criminals may be bad but that does not mean they are stupid. They will go where they are less likely to be caught or detected. I would not say the following unless I absolutely believed it. The Garda Commissioner and his predecessors have not done their job. It is only fair that the people of this country, irrespective of where they live, get an equal service proportionate to population and crime rates. Areas like Kildare, Meath and Wexford - which are growing - are not getting a fair crack of the whip. The Garda Commissioner should be asked to speak to the Minister for Justice and Equality to deal with this serious problem.

With schools, distribution again illustrates what happens in the growing areas, such as Fingal, where the population grew by 13.8% between 2006 and 2011. The average class sizes there are 10.4 above the national average. Kildare and Meath are the other counties which feature strongly, and at the other end of the scale are counties in the west or others with a very gradual increase in population. The historical model is used where a need must be demonstrated before a service can be supplied. That impacts disproportionately on growing areas, and primary school children in those areas suffer a disproportionate impact.

I will also mention local government. I have put together a table on the most recent figures received from replies to parliamentary questions. The areas at the bottom end of this spectrum again take in the counties on the periphery of cities or in commuter belt areas. Meath had the lowest ratio in the country, for example. I do not point this out because the Minister of State is in the Chamber.

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