Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I sense from what the Minister has said today that there will be zero tolerance for criminality in rural areas. However, I must say that the McGinn family in Mountain Lodge and the McPhillips family in Kill do not feel the benefits of Operation Thor. The McGinns were faced with a criminal standing at their back door with a hurley in his hand and had to wait 40 minutes for a Garda car to come from Carrickmacross, which is in a different county. As I said earlier, Cootehill Garda station has restricted hours so there was nobody available at that time and the McGinns had to wait 40 minutes for a Garda car to arrive. Three hours later, those criminals were seen crossing the Border into a different jurisdiction and had not been apprehended at any point in their spree of break-ins from Clones to Mountain Lodge in County Cavan. Operation Thor certainly does not hold any weight for those people at the coalface.

I compliment the Minister on the CCTV scheme, which has huge potential. However, from working with community groups on the ground, I am hearing that the application form is cumbersome. There are restrictions around Garda stations and council buildings in the community. The communities affected by this such as Ballyhaise and Bailieborough do not have council offices for monitoring and storing data. The scheme needs to be rolled out in a more fluid way so that communities can access the funding. They badly need it and are willing to work and supply the application form. I appeal to the Minister to make it easy for them.

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