Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said earlier, and previously in public, the Garda Commissioner and I are ad idem on the strength of An Garda Síochána not falling below 13,000. That is my view, as expressed privately and publicly. As I said earlier to the Deputy, I will be bringing a proposal in this regard before Cabinet in the coming weeks.

On the closure of Garda stations, there has been much discussion and a little political points scoring on this issue in the House. The Garda Commissioner conducted an examination of the Garda station network during 2012, following which he made an operational judgment that 100 stations are of no operational advantage and, if closed, would result in more members of the force being available for community policing and front-line services. An estimate was also done of the benefits, one of which will be 61,000 additional patrolling hours during 2013. That is the effect of the closure of the stations.

The Deputy and I had an interesting exchange on this matter last Thursday evening on "Prime Time", at which time the focus was on rural stations. This is not only about rural stations. The largest station closing, in terms of Garda numbers, is in Stepaside in my constituency. It is closing on the operational advice of the Garda Commissioner. Dundrum Garda station is located approximately three miles from the Stepaside Garda station. It made sense to have two stations when the road network and motor vehicles and communications system were different. Some people want, for political reasons, to portray this as an attack on rural Ireland. I would like to remind Deputies that the two largest stations due to close this year under this consolidation process are in Kill o' the Grange in Dun Laoghaire, which is in the Tánaiste's constituency, and Stepaside in my constituency. In the past, Ministers wishing to avoid controversy in their constituencies would not have allowed that to happen. I believe we have an extremely good Garda Commissioner, on whose operational advice I rely.

The largest stations, in the context of numbers, closed last year were in Dublin, including Whitehall Garda station, Harcourt Terrace Garda station, another in Dún Laoghaire and Dalkey Garda station. Stations that are open for no more than three to four hours per day, the vast majority of which are manned by one member of the force, are being closed because the Garda Commissioner has determined they are of no operational value.

As regards the Deputy's comment that these stations act as a deterrent to crime, last week in Oldcastle a family was held hostage and a post office was robbed. Three doors away from that post office there is a Garda station which opens for three to four hours per day. It was no deterrent to that appalling event. We need modernise policing methods which free up members of the force to engage in operational duties and community policing. I assure the people in Mayo, to whom Deputy Collins referred, that these changes will result in more gardaí being available for community policing, patrolling and crime prevention and detection.

See this speech in context