Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The reason I raise this issue is the surge in crime along the motorway network. We have seen a shocking increase in crime, particularly in the number of burglaries carried out by mobile criminals driving high speed cars. The recent official figures indicate that Kildare ranks in third place in terms of the number of burglaries per county, while my county, County Laois, ranks in sixth place out of the 26 counties.

The map produced last weekend shows clearly that communities adjacent to motorways in these counties are hardest hit. The significant shortage of gardaí on the ground does not help matters. We have a serious shortage of gardaí in terms of trying to deal with this problem. The shortage is not just in the overall number of gardaí but in the number of gardaí in rural areas or on the beat. People in rural areas are being terrorised. I have come across several who have been burgled a number of times in the past couple of years. In areas around Camross, Borris-in-Ossory, Monasterevin and Kildangan, I have seen farmyards turned into fortresses. I have spent a good bit of my time in rural areas and this is one of the big changes I have seen. Not only are people turning their farmyards into fortresses, they are taking more extreme measures to protect their houses and themselves. People now keep a German Shepherd or two or a Rottweiler in their yards and they tell me and others that they are keeping a shotgun in their bedrooms at night.

There is no easy solution to this problem, but we must try to get back to a situation where we make communities safer. More gardaí have been promised, but I recognise it will take time to deliver on that promise. None has materialised to date. In the Laois-Offaly division, there are far fewer gardaí than there were a year ago, following the closure of Ballinakill and Ballacolla garda stations. In the station in Monasterevin in south Kildare which services that area and the hinterland around it out to Kildangan there are only three gardaí. We need more gardaí on the ground and a more visible and active presence in rural areas. The community alert and text alert schemes do great work, but I would like to see these developed further. I would also like the Government to develop some initiatives in regard to text alerts, because they are a help in preventing and solving crime and I have seen their benefit at first hand.

I suggest cameras should be placed at junctions and slip roads along our motorways and on the M7 and M8. Cameras should also be placed at other strategic locations in co-operation with the community alert schemes in rural areas. We cannot place cameras everywhere, but they could be placed at key locations being used by mobile criminals to gain access to rural areas. If we targeted these locations with proper high quality cameras, that would be a help.

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