Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in expressing my sympathy to the family of Adrian Donohoe following his tragic death. The morale of the Garda Síochána was at a very low ebb before this happened because of the cutbacks in Garda numbers and because of the announcement that more than 100 Garda stations were to close. The low level of morale among gardaí is unrelated to the tragedy I have mentioned.

Like the members of the force, I cannot understand the reasons for these decisions. The Minister will be familiar with the situation in Stepaside, for example. Given that the Garda Síochána and the people are against these closures, and in light of the Government's acceptance that there is no cost reason for these closures, one has to wonder why this policy is being pursued. It is an example of the sort of patronising attitude one gets from Governments. When they do something the people do not want, they tell them it is good for them. The Garda and the people do not want these closures, but the Government wants them.

For some reason, this approach is being dictated by a greater outside power, which is apparently built on some sort of belief in what is called "smart policing". A former assistant commissioner, Martin Donnellan, recently asked what in the name of God smart policing is. He does not understand it. Like the people of Stepaside, whom he supports, he believes in a thing called community policing. Smart policing and community policing are virtually incompatible. Smart policing is retroactive policing. It involves gardaí speeding into an area in their fast cars after a crime has been committed to do something about it. Community policing is about intelligence and prevention.

I appeal to the Minister to think again, particularly in the case of Stepaside. I ask him to cancel the closures he has planned and announced and which are going ahead. The people do not want them and gardaí do not want them. The only people who want these closures are the Minister and the burglars.

See this speech in context