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

I thank the Deputy. Gardaí, like so many others in this country, suffered hugely during the period of economic difficulty. There is no question about that. Recruitment and investment were stopped. There was no investment in the resources they needed. There was no investment in IT or Garda vehicles and there was no recruitment. That has had an impact. What this Government, the last Government and I have done since I became Minister for Justice and Equality is focused on ensuring we can invest in An Garda Síochána. We have been able to do that because we have a recovering economy and an unemployment rate down to 7.7%, thanks to the prudent management we have had. That should impact on Garda morale. There are issues on pay which we are trying to resolve. As I have said on many occasions, I want us to be fair to An Garda Síochána but I also want us to be fair to other public sector workers and the taxpayer who funds the kind of services we want to provide in this country and to the community as a whole. We want to support gardaí to do a better job because what they do is critical. They take risks every day when they go out and many have lost their lives. We want to support An Garda Síochána in this country to do their work professionally and effectively. That is what I have been trying to do.

I want to put it on the record of the House that thousands of people still apply to be members of An Garda Síochána. Each recruitment campaign we have had has seen thousands of young people apply to become members of the force. That tells us something. There is now a recruitment process that will ensure we have 15,000 members of An Garda Síochána. That will enable us to do better community policing.

The Deputy raised the issue of transfers. Of course, there cannot be transfers if there is no recruitment but now recruitment has started again. I am very conscious that it impacts on families and individuals if they are not able to get transfers. That is an operational issue for the Garda Commissioner. If we are recruiting, which we are, and new members are coming in, those kinds of issues can be dealt with more effectively within the force.

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