Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While it may be difficult for the Tánaiste to provide the numbers that will be available from the 2017 cohort, I would appreciate if she could provide me with that number. If it is not available to her, perhaps she might at least recognise the need to deploy additional gardaí in Clare. The figures the Tánaiste provided show a significant drop of 39 in the number of gardaí serving in Clare between 2010 and 2016. While I accept that the crime figures have improved in some categories, many categories have shown increases. Sexual offences, theft and assault all are up in 2016 relative to 2014.

It is vital that Clare gets its fair share of any additional recruitment coming on stream, not only over the lifetime of the Government but right from the start. As recruits become available in 2017, I will be making a strong case that Clare be included in the context of their deployment. We need to see Garda levels back to what they once were. I accept and recognise the reasons why numbers have fallen. There is no point talking about the historical aspect of it. Let us look to the future. Over the period to which I refer, nine stations in Care were closed. One aspect difficult for me to have to accept is that the number of community gardaí was halved during the period in question. There is demand and there is a need. I ask the Tánaiste to give consideration to the dispersal of the new recruits.

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