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

I would like to offer my condolences to the family of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe, who was tragically and savagely murdered outside Dundalk last Friday evening.

I am totally opposed to the Government amendment to this motion as it stands. The issue in this debate is confidence. It concerns the confidence the public can have in the role the Garda plays in our local communities. Tomorrow in County Donegal, five Garda stations will close permanently. These stations are in rural areas that will be left without a Garda presence and where we have experienced serious incidents over the past couple of months, where aggravated burglaries have taken place and elderly people have been attacked in their homes. While the Minister is very quick to point out that the stations being closed are ones in areas where there has been little crime activity, their closure reduces the confidence of the communities affected. These are communities that have seen services withdrawn across the board over the past number of years. Now they see gardaí being withdrawn from their communities.

We need to restore confidence to these people. We need them to feel comfortable in their homes and confident they will get a response if they require it from the Garda. In Donegal in the past year, we have the case of a garda having to hitch a lift to the scene of burglary because no Garda car was available. In another incident, a Garda car had to travel almost 50 miles in the middle of the night to respond to a serious arson incident outside somebody's house. Neither the Garda nor the public should have to put up with this kind of thing.

The Government amendment makes much of the fact that €4 million was invested in the Garda fleet last year, providing 213 vehicles. However, we should see that in a context where, since 2009, 580 vehicles were lost from the fleet . What the Minister should be doing is restoring confidence to the community that people will get the service they deserve.

See this speech in context