Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Garda Reserve Force is completely underutilised. There is no reason its complement could not be increased threefold. The Government’s measures to protect the elderly do not go far enough. It has not introduced any robust legislation to provide suitable custodial terms for vicious assaults perpetrated against the elderly members of the community. Burglaries continue to increase under its watch. Thankfully, we now have an independent barometer of crime rates through the Central Statistics Office. However, it is showing that headline crime trends are, unfortunately, moving in the wrong direction, but the Government has failed to do anything about this. We are also calling for a national directorate to help voluntary organisations involved in crime prevention such as Neighbourhood Watch and Community Alert.

It is with this in mind that we have launched this Bill to provide for CCTV coverage at motorway junctions. It would be within the remit of the National Roads Authority to install CCTV systems, maintain them and link them with An Garda Síochána. It would be a valuable tool in the prevention and detection of crime.

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