Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We had a cycle of boom and bust and an economy that was in deep trouble. It is clear that this had an impact on recruitment. Templemore was closed. I am the Minister that reopened Templemore, restarted recruitment and started reinvesting in An Garda Síochána. We want to provide as much support as possible to rural communities. The types of initiative that have been taken, for example, in Kilkenny, where we see the Garda and businesses working together on crime issues, have been very effective. I have seen that in other counties as well.

The Garda Commissioner examines crime trends. In some areas, crime figures have decreased considerably. We must align our allocation of gardaí and the designation of gardaí to different stations with the needs of the areas. I take the Deputy's points and have no doubt the Commissioner will consider them carefully. However, she looks at the needs of all Garda divisions when deciding the allocation of newly attested gardaí and, in fact, five of the newly attested gardaí have been assigned to the Longford-Roscommon Garda division to date.

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