Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I would like to begin by expressing my sympathy to the wife, family and Garda colleagues of the late Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe. While I will support this motion, it needs to be said that it is a case of the kettle calling the pot black. We have to remember that Fianna Fáil initiated the closure of Garda stations, started the reduction in Garda numbers and stopped the recruitment of trainees at Templemore training college. During the 2011 election campaign, the parties that comprise the current Government said they would overturn all of that. They gave commitments to support the Garda, ensure the Garda college reopened, begin a proper recruitment campaign and ensure the force was fully resourced. They have reneged on all of those commitments. They have taken over the policies that were pursued by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party in the last Government.

We have lost 1,200 gardaí in the last couple of years. The number of personnel in the force has been reduced from 14,500 to 13,300. I call on the Minister to reopen the Garda training college in Templemore immediately. We have had no new recruits since 2009. No new gardaí have passed out since June 2011. Recruits need to be trained in Templemore if we are to fill the vacancies that are arising.

The numbers are becoming dangerously low and I call on the Minister again to open the college immediately.

The Minister should come clean with regard to his plans for the Garda. We know that 39 Garda stations closed last year and that 100 will be closed before 31 January, which is this Thursday. In Tipperary, five stations are involved - the station at Grangemockler has already been closed, and those at New Inn, Dundrum, Terryglass and Rearcross are to be closed. During his speech, the Minister gave a clue when he spoke about the centralisation of Garda services, which is the nub of everything that is happening. We centralised medical cards and made a complete mess of it, then we centralised student grants and made a complete mess of that too. Such services, particularly Garda services, should be local and available to local communities.

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