Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My sources advise me that there have been 15 recruitments to west Cork since 2014. There have been 15 recruits over four huge divisions in three years. This hardly inspires confidence and at this rate it will be some time before Garda numbers are increased to 15,000, as provided for in the confidence and supply arrangement. West Cork has a population of over 105,000 with a wide geographical spread of over 100 miles. There needs to be a strong Garda presence in rural areas and this is not the case at the moment. Rural Ireland has to deal with the fact that many Garda stations have been closed, a move which completely decimated the forces of law and order in many areas. Crime and anti-social behaviour are on the increase all over west Cork and the absence of gardaí facilitates this.

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