Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday a Redemptorist priest, Fr. Michael Cusack, had some things to say about the Government's policy on rural policing. He "urged fresh thinking on policing resources so that people in rural communities do not sleep in their beds in fear, and evil does not triumph over virtue." He went on to describe how, after a garda had been removed from his local parish in County Galway, a particularly horrific crime occurred. Is the Minister aware that Fr. Cusack is merely reflecting concerns expressed by the Opposition for many months and, more important, the Garda Síochána, elected members of political parties, not least the main Government party, independent commentators who have written on and spoken about the subject, Muintir na Tíre, the IFA, rural communities, community leaders and every group which represents anyone in rural Ireland? Is the Minister further aware that there are more reports today of a businessman in County Galway who has been robbed four times in the past six months and a woman in County Kildare who has been robbed twice in recent months by people who travelled from the city by bus to commit the robberies? Is the Government going to ignore and dismiss all the concerns of communities throughout the country by proceeding to allow 95 rural Garda stations to close as and from today?

See this speech in context