Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Any Member of this House is well paid and well looked after with good expenses. Deputy Paul Murphy may make the case that he is part of a political party, but if that is so, let it pay for his aid in the courts rather than having the cost come back on the taxpayer. This must stop, and I wonder what the people out there are thinking when they see a Member of the Dáil seeking free legal aid like this. It is damaging our democracy and it is very poor. I ask Deputy Paul Murphy, in his absence, to look at this again and maybe not take the free legal aid for this case, although a judge has granted it. He should reconsider the issue and address it, as it is wrong.

I know time is limited and we can speak all day about statistics relating to crime. We can dress them any way we like but there is a major difficulty with crime. A number of months ago, I made the point that some people are not reporting crime in my constituency. If a farmer has something small stolen from the farm or if somebody in business has some damage done of a minor nature, they are not reporting this to the Garda Síochána. This is particularly the case with older people. The local Garda station is gone and they are unable to get anybody when they go to a local station. They are given a number to contact another Garda station or to send an e-mail. Many of these people do not use the Internet, and if they did, it is unavailable in many parts of rural Ireland anyway because of poor broadband.

It was wrong for previous Governments to close Garda stations. I know some were closed under Fianna Fáil as well, but the last Government closed too many rural Garda stations. There are a few examples from my constituency. Boyle, the home of the great Chris O'Dowd, is a sizeable town, with thousands of people coming to the area in the summer. The beautiful Lough Key Forest Park is down the road. The station there is no longer a 24-hour Garda station and I call on the new Minister for Justice and Equality to examine the possibility of restoring this to a 24-hour station. Tarmonbarry is the first village one meets in County Roscommon when travelling west and it is now under the control of Castlerea Garda station. It is a long way from Castlerea. In the past, the station at Longford, five minutes up the road, looked after that town. Many issues in rural policing have changed.

In my view, that has affected policing. Gardaí have a most difficult job and our sympathy goes out to them and, indeed, many of the families that are affected by crime, particularly people in Dublin city who are suffering very much at the moment. All Members of this House, whether they are from a city or a rural area, are really upset and annoyed about what is happening, and it is hoped that it can be dealt with.

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