Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important to acknowledge that An Garda Síochána plays an absolutely vital role in Irish society. In light of recent events, there is an urgent need to rebuild public trust in the institution. There is no doubt that legislation is needed to give greater powers to the Policing Authority in order to deal with the issues that have emerged in recent weeks. Real reform and cultural change is needed within the force to ensure that the Irish people have full trust and confidence in it.

Some 146,865 District Court summonses for road traffic offences were wrongly issued, 14,700 convictions were wrongly imposed upon members of the public and 937,000 breath tests that never occurred were recorded by members of An Garda Síochána on the PULSE system. These are truly shocking statistics. Accountability structures within An Garda Síochána are inadequate. They need to be strengthened and made more transparent so that there can be real accountability for Garda wrongdoing and mistakes. There is also an urgent need to strengthen the management of An Garda Síochána and to implement the recommendations of the report of the Fennelly commission without delay.

The moratorium on Garda recruitment introduced in 2010 resulted in a very significant reduction in numbers. This was particularly felt in Kildare and I will never lose an opportunity to bring this up. Since 2011, Kildare has lost gardaí to such an extent that we have the lowest number of gardaí per head of population in the country. This has had a huge impact. For example, Kildare had the lowest burglary detection rates in the country over a four-year period. Of the 1,430 incidents of burglary and related offences recorded, 9.2% were solved compared to a national average of 17.7%. That is quite stark. We are particularly vulnerable to crime because of the motorways which offer fast routes into and out of our county.

Increasing Garda numbers is hugely important but it is not enough. There is an urgent need to strengthen the oversight of An Garda Síochána and to provide for the ongoing professional development that is needed to ensure that all members of An Garda Síochána are trained for the challenges posed by modern policing. Full public confidence in the processes and procedures around Garda oversight is a critical component of effective policing in Ireland. Decisive action must be taken by the Minister for Justice and Equality to implement real reform and cultural change within An Garda Síochána.

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