Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State outlined the so-called success of Operation Fiacla. I am sure that if he could point to a reduction in burglaries and aggravated burglaries in Donegal he would have included that statistic in his response today. Aggravated burglaries in Donegal have probably gone up by hundreds of per cent over the past year and over the same period that Operation Fiacla has been running. The Minister needs to address this issue straight away in Donegal and provide the resources necessary for the gardaí to deal with this issue. He talks about the new investment in the Garda fleet. These are not new vehicles. They are replacement vehicles, replacing fewer vehicles than have been taken out of commission. The Minister needs to make sure that the resources are available to change the situation that has existed for the past few months in Donegal where in west Donegal a squad car had to travel over 40 miles to attend a very serious incident and in Inishowen a garda had to hitch a lift to attend a burglary. That is what the gardaí face in Donegal and the Minister needs to address it immediately.

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