Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the opportunity to speak on crime. I come from east Galway in rural Ireland where crime is prevalent. Like Deputy Brophy, I too had a speech prepared but I will change it. This is because I wish to respond to Deputy Coppinger and her take on rural crime and the meetings that were held down the country. However, let me also bring to her attention that, even though Fianna Fáil had no Deputy in Dublin until the last election, we as a party went out and held meetings in Drumcondra, Castleknock, Ballyfermot, Finglas, Tallaght and Goatstown. They are all well inside the M50. That is not rural Ireland. We also held meetings throughout rural Ireland. One was held in my constituency of Galway East. My colleague, Deputy Niall Collins, held it in Tuam.

Our approach to crime should not be based on boundaries. Crime among the ganglands in Dublin is every bit as important to those inside the M50 as it is to the old people afraid to open their doors in east Galway. Those people are absolutely terrified. We, as a party, therefore spent our time speaking to the people on the ground and understanding and listening to their fears and incorporating it in our legislative programme. That is good governing and governance and how the party operates.

Moving along, the issue that mostly affects me in east Galway, and it affects many in rural Ireland, concerns vehicles. One of the first parliamentary questions I tabled on taking up my seat was to the Minister for Justice and Equality and related to cars and vehicles. We lost Garda stations in east Galway as well as numbers in terms of boots on the ground, but we also lost cars. In 2011, we had 17 cars in east Galway. As of April 2016, I have 12 cars. I am down boots, cars and Garda stations. This has a direct impact on anti-social behaviour and the elderly people living in fear. I most felt that the elderly were living in fear when out on the canvass. The simple reason was that they did not answer the door. They were afraid to answer it because they did not know who was at it. They locked their doors from 4 pm onwards because they were afraid of who would come. They did not know who it might be. Much of it is glamorised in the media, believe it or not. It might be glamorised but it is very much people's reality and experience.

Given the motor network now in place, I welcome the suggestion about increased use of CCTV. There are those in satellite towns outside Gort and Tuam who will be in fear of 4x4s, as they say, coming down from Dublin or any larger town. Towns such as Gort, Loughrea, Abbeyknockmoy and Headford are now open territory. The car will be able to come in one way and out another. We need to examine the possibility of installing CCTV in satellite towns. It would be an added source of support to the people living in those areas.

I referred to what was depleted, but it is also important to acknowledge the good work done by the gardaí on the ground. Having spoken to the Chief Superintendent in Galway, I know they have a structure in place. They know that there are people living alone and they have a way of going around, identifying them and calling in and checking on them. That has to be acknowledged and appreciated. However, they need more people to support them. The starting salary of gardaí in An Garda Síochána is appalling. When we hear that people are leaving the force to work in Tesco, we have to question why. In all fairness, they walk into situations from which the rest of us would walk away. We have to acknowledge that when the next pay agreements are coming up. The pay arrangements for gardaí, nurses and teachers in terms of their starting salaries are not encouraging them or enticing to them.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger spoke earlier about giving out. I have solutions. Any of us who come into this House should be coming with solutions. One of my solutions is to free up Templemore. We should go back to the way we did it years ago, the six months in training, and accelerate it at the beginning so that we can get boots out onto the streets. As time goes on, we can bring them back in to finish off their training. However, we need to accelerate getting boots out on the street.

Another solution is a vehicle leasing programme. A leasing programme would mean we would always have cars on the go. It would also mean that if a car needed to be serviced another could replace it. A leasing programme would also free up Exchequer funds. It could be the done through the public procurement process and we would have 4x4s and different sorts of cars. It would mean that we would always have the support needed.

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the role of the joint policing committees and what they do in the local county councils, working with the IFA and the other agencies involved. They play a huge and supporting role and Oireachtas Members are also part of it.

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