Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I have pointed out to the Minister several times, there is not an even distribution of gardaí around the country. There are also wide differences in the ways Garda cars are deployed. I have asked for information on that matter a number of times, but the Minister keeps giving me the same answer, that being, he cannot tell me because he does not have a function in that regard. If he is going to close Garda stations and if we are to have so-called smarter policing, it is essential that cars be available.

I was particularly concerned when I read the comments made by the independently appointed head of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, Mr. Robert Olson, this morning when he referred to the plan as a Band-Aid. I accept that the fleet was allowed to move away from a position of being renewed on an incremental basis. Many Garda vehicles are at the 300,000 km limit.

How can the Minister avoid the very circumstance that he claims smarter policing is supposed to prevent, namely, desk-bound gardaí, if Garda cars are not available to transport gardaí from hubs to remote areas? If a station's only car is lost, an entire peripheral area would not get the type of coverage he has described.

See this speech in context