Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I represent Galway West, which includes south Mayo. My constituency is partly urban and partly rural. There is sometimes an inability among some to put themselves in the shoes of those who live in isolated communities. Some people sit in an office in Dublin and make decisions on the allocation of Garda resources. I wonder if they realise what it is like not to have anyone or anything within walking distance or what it means when the local post office, Garda station, school or any service may be many miles away on roads that are in less than optimal condition.

We may say to people in rural Ireland that mobile patrols will provide policing as efficient as their local Garda station but it does not resonate. Whether the statistics bear it out, the simple fact is that a local Garda station makes people in rural Ireland feel safer. Their local garda knows everyone in the area, new and old. This is community policing at its most basic and effective. Naturally, I appreciate that we cannot have a Garda station at every point where someone requests one. However, I very much welcome the agreement to mandate the Policing Authority to oversee a review of the boundaries of Garda districts and the dispersal of Garda stations. When that process is complete, I hope Members will adhere to the recommendations and not make a political football out if it.

Of course additional Garda numbers will help, and the proposal to increase Garda numbers to 15,000 is very much to be welcomed. In addition to the building of new stations, including the new divisional headquarters in Galway, this will go a long way to alleviating concerns among the public. Additionally, the new Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Act 2015 introduced a significant tightening to the bail laws and the roll-out of Operation Thor to target rural crime. All that is very welcome. Members should note that the number of homicides and burglaries has actually reduced since 2011, despite assertions to the contrary. However, I fully accept that there are issues other than numbers and statistics. There is ample evidence that the Garda is not resourced in important technical areas.

I wish to highlight the report of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate published last December. The report recommends the establishment of a serious and organised crime unit to tackle organised criminal networks. This would include a new cybercrime unit and the assignment of responsibility for serious fraud investigations. A serious and organised crime unit would provide an agile, multidisciplinary investigation team to follow the criminal and not only the crime type.

Additionally, it recommends removing functions such as serious fraud investigations and suspicious financial transaction reports from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and placing them within the serious and organised crime unit, SOCU, and the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB. It does not say this just for the sake of it. The inspectorate points to huge shortcomings in the investigation of serious white collar crime. This is not a result of unwillingness on behalf of the excellent gardaí in such units; it is because they have neither the expertise nor resources. For instance, there is a huge financial services sector in Dublin and the plain fact is that it is not being policed as it should be. It cannot be, as the gardaí are not resourced to do so. We all at this stage know the perils of light-touch regulation and enforcement. These are issues that need to be addressed as a matter of priority. Gardaí are the backbone of our civil society. For all our sakes, they need the support they deserve.

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