John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too have some difficulty with the motion and, under the circumstances, I consider that perhaps it should have been withdrawn. However, it is here, and I want to say a few words on it.

Although this is not a criticism of him, when the Minister puts forward proposals, I often wonder what consultation takes place. I know he consults his advisers and they consult him and advise him on how best to present this to the public and so on. The Minister would have consulted the Garda Commissioner, although I am not sure whether he consulted gardaí on the ground; many of them to whom I have spoken said he did not. I also wonder about the communities affected by the closure of rural stations. Were they consulted and what are their views, having lived with a local station over a period of time?

Given the serious crime problem we have, people need to have confidence instilled in them. They need people in authority to tell them "We are there for you and we can help you." I accept there would still be a certain amount of crime in rural areas if we had rural stations; there is no question about that. Criminals have become cute and sophisticated, and they watch, listen and learn. However, where the damage has been done is in the many rural areas where people are under an onslaught of burglaries and crime. For the Minister to announce at this time that he intends to close rural stations and get rid of the local gardaí in those stations has distressed many people and put them under pressure.

I can give only small examples. In my own constituency, a very serious crime was committed in an outlying area in which an elderly couple living near the seaside were viciously assaulted and tied up. A garda said there was no doubt the place was cased and that the criminals drove out there and looked at it carefully. They would have had to drive along very bad rural roads and then drive away from the crime. The nearest Garda station was some 15 miles away, so they knew that with no rural station in the area, they had a better than even chance of carrying out this crime and getting away without being caught. This is what people are thinking when they see a rural station closing down. They feel the station in itself is a form of security and a deterrent to criminals who might want to case the area. Again, I am not saying it is the be-all and end-all of solving crime in rural areas, and I am pragmatic about that. However, I come back to the point about consultation with residents' groups representing those living in rural areas, who are under immense pressure at present with the local garda gone. The PR has been pretty bad because we consult everybody else from the top of the Garda Síochána organisation to Members of the Dáil, but we do not go out to the communities and tell them what to do and what we offer in return. Instead, they must hear it on a radio programme or in a debate in which one of us will debate against another as to what is best for them. That is where the failing was. The Government has Deputies in most areas in cities and counties, and those in rural areas should have been instructed to tell people what alternatives were available. If that had been done, perhaps the criticism would not have been as bad.

I am not an expert so I do not know whether the Minister's plans will work. They may well work, and we will perhaps come back in a year or two and say we were wrong, that the crime rate has gone down and that there are more gardaí in patrol cars. I tend not to believe that, based on the geographical positions of roads in rural areas and the fact that more and more criminal gangs are beginning to go into burglary because there is safe and easy passage for them in those areas.

My main criticism is not so much of the Minister but of the fact that the Government failed to consult and failed to do a good PR job with the people in those areas to explain to them what the alternative might be if this happened.

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