Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It would certainly reassure many people who are scared in their beds because they cannot get gardaí to come on time or prevent crime. I have had my own experience, as the Minister knows because I have brought this up many times in this House with her. In Stepaside, the Garda station was closed and there has been an epidemic of burglaries since. The Minister will say that I cannot prove it and she is right because the Garda will not give us the figures. The figures are so damned embarrassing, the Garda will not give them to us. In the case of Stepaside Garda station, which is the one I have experience of, it lumps all the figures in with Dundrum Garda station so we cannot tell by how much the figures have gone up in the area that was controlled by Stepaside Garda station. I will quote the example of Dundrum to the Minister in any event. The figures are inflated and have spiked since the closure of the Garda station. The national figure for burglaries has increased by 9%. The figure is 34% for the eastern division of the country, which is about four times the national average. In the Dundrum division, the number of burglaries is rocketing. In 2014, there were 584 burglaries in the Dundrum area. This figure includes burglaries committed in Stepaside. In the half year after that, there have been 427 burglaries. On an annualised basis, this means there has been an increase of more than 40%. This is what is happening, yet the response of the Government to those statistics is to introduce tougher bail laws.

It is all very well for the Minister to state that we are spending a lot more on motor cars. The capital programme shows an allocation of €46 million in this regard, with €29 million of that to be spent immediately. This is not a game of cops and robbers. Gardaí are fast coming to the scene of the crime. There are more faster Garda cars but they are not preventing any burglaries. Gardaí are being turned from community gardaí with intelligence on what is going on into gardaí who play cops and robbers and arrive on the scene of a crime to be comforters to the victims.

In view of what has been happening, the Minister should give serious consideration to the repeat offences committed at various shops in villages such as Stepaside. The house of one particular widow, which situated next to the Garda station, has been burgled four times. The Government's policy to close stations in rural areas and elsewhere should be reversed. It has been shown to have been an abysmal failure.

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