Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure Deputy Ross I am well able to meet people from my constituency without it being necessary for him to troop them in to me. Deputy Ross well knows he is choosing to ignore what I said earlier. He seems to have a very odd view of policing. He seems to think a large number of members of the Garda Síochána sit in Dundrum Garda station waiting for a call. This is not what policing is about. Deputy Ross chooses to making an argument with no credibility. I reiterate what I said earlier. This frees up gardaí for front-line policing and reforms the Garda station network. What it does, and what it will continue to do, is ensure the Stepaside area, as well as all other areas in south Dublin, are properly policed, patrol cars are on the roads and not parked in Dundrum Garda station awaiting a phone call and gardaí are on the beat engaged in community policing.

The difficulty with Deputy Ross's position on this issue, like so many others, is that he is a serial protester who is opposed to any innovation and reform and anything that could result in the more efficient use of resources. In other areas he castigates the Government for not being efficient, but it is extraordinary how whenever something is done to introduce efficiencies he always has a reason to oppose it. I agree this is about people. It is regrettable that Deputy Ross called a meeting which was designed to create alarm. It was a meeting for his own political purposes. If Deputy Ross had an interest in me as Minister for Justice and Equality addressing the meeting he would have advised me of it and I would have been happy to have attended. I would not unilaterally intrude on a personal meeting which he arranged.

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