Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My question is more for the Minister for Justice and Equality. He will be aware that in my constituency in Limerick, we have one of the largest geographical Garda districts in the country, namely, the Bruff Garda district. For years, we have been experiencing the appointment of a superintendent to oversee the Garda district and that person not staying in the role very long and moving on to a Garda district in another part of the country. What we have been experiencing is a revolving door scenario. The position has remained vacant for a long period of time and when we inquired as to the reason, we were told it was to do with the employment control framework. Last week, we were told finally that a person had been appointed to the position in a permanent capacity only to be told in recent days that this person will not now take up the position, which again has left the community flummoxed. It is one of the biggest districts in the country. It has many policing challenges.

3 o’clock

This has affected morale among gardaí and the area's communities are worried about not having a permanent officer appointed who would stay there for a good number of years and get to know them, as opposed to it being treated as a staging post for other appointments. Will the Minister see to the need to appoint someone to the area on a permanent basis?

See this speech in context