Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Deputy Griffin on introducing this Bill. I am pleased to hear the Minister of State at the Department of Finance say that the Minister for Justice and Equality does not oppose the Bill. I presume the legislation can in due course move to Committee Stage where the drafting issues etc. can be teased out in further detail.

This legislation asks the Oireachtas to support the Garda Síochána in its difficult job. The job is difficult in urban and rural areas. The gardaí need to know they have the support not just of the Parliament but of the people. They put their lives on the line. Two gardaí lost their lives recently going out on what appeared initially to be routine calls. They never suspected the outcome and the tragic loss to their families and their colleagues. These were deliberate attacks on the Garda Síochána and because the gardaí are the line of defence which protects the citizen these were attacks on all of us. That is why I support the principle of the Bill and look forward to our party working on Committee Stage on the drafting of the various sections to improve the wording and I appreciate what the Minister of State said on this.

I note the Garda Síochána Inspectorate’s report, which was published recently, dealt in detail with Garda vehicles. I think it will be discussed at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence. While the report did not discuss ramming of Garda cars, it made some recommendations on the Garda fleet that are worth following up. Most interesting was that while the Garda Síochána is prioritising the purchase of marked vehicles, 53% of the fleet are unmarked cars. I was surprised at that. It shows the tremendous work the gardaí do behind the scenes. We do not realise they are in front of or behind us and are not all out on motorways trying to catch us speeding. They are doing other work in difficult situations such as night time surveillance, dealing with anti-social behaviour when they have to be in unmarked cars. Some people complain about lack of Garda visibility in their area but an unmarked car might be there all night. If the car was marked people would feel more secure. There is a balance to be struck because a marked car is no good for detective work but the Garda is moving to having more marked cars. People need to feel secure and to see gardaí on the beat on the street.

Approximately ten years ago, on a Friday night in December, I was driving from Portlaoise to Carlow at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. It was pitch dark and a lorry struck my car. It was a head-on crash. The air bags filled in the car. It was the first time this had happened to me and it was a frightening experience. I thought the car was going to blow up because there is a smell like a gunshot when the airbags fill, which I had not known. My wife and I had to scamper out the other door. What I found remarkable was that within ten minutes four unmarked Garda cars were on the scene. It was a national secondary route, the N80. The cars came from Portlaoise and Athy but I understood there are far more unmarked Garda cars than I had ever appreciated. I saw it first hand. It was good that they were on the scene. That is important.

I heard on the radio this morning about an accident when a car that was being chased hit another car. There were two Garda cars passing from one division or Garda district to another but one was not sure where the Garda car in pursuit was. I understand that it is standard procedure in most other European countries that the person in the station can see where the car is on the road. It is some form of global positioning system, GPS, monitoring system. We would support any improvement that can be made in that area.

The Garda Inspectorate’s report mentioned too that gardaí should all be trained in Garda driving. We all think we know how to drive and have passed our driving test but to be a Garda driver requires extra skill in difficult situations. The gardaí have to overtake on the left and right, which we do not normally do. I support the Garda Síochána and Deputy Griffin’s Bill and look forward to discussing it on Committee Stage with whoever is here after the election.

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