Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Will she ask the Garda authorities to seriously examine this geographical issue, which is detrimental to County Meath at the moment? There are many towns on our border. If one walks up the street in Kilcock, one crosses into County Meath. It is a similar story in Drogheda while Balbriggan and Kingscourt are only over the road. The gardaí stationed in those towns cannot enter our county and people must look to stations much further away. That is instilling a lack of confidence among the public in the Garda's service. They wonder why a garda from down the road cannot come to deal with their crime and why they have to contact a station in a town much further way, which they never visit.

That is something which will have to be addressed and at which the gardaí will have to look. This was done for the joint policing committees, JLCs, but all these towns used to serve these areas. When the JPCs came in, this had to be done on a county boundary basis. We should not be doing Garda administration on the basis of what the JPCs are but on the basis of what is best for detecting crime on the ground.

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