Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In A Programme for a Partnership Government, it was announced that there would be an extra 1,100 members of the Garda. I welcome that this is happening throughout the country and in my own constituency. However, counties like Roscommon are far below where they were. We have lost five Garda stations and we still have a major issue with policing.

About two weeks ago in Strokestown, a daring robbery took place at the Bank of Ireland. At the time, it was a very frightening experience. It has now emerged - I do not know why it has not come out before now - that two young people, one of them with disabilities, were held hostage for quite some time. This is shocking.

While the efforts of local gardaí were outstanding, these guys got away. There is no sign of them and nothing has happened. I ask the Minister to look into exactly what happened and the full facts of the robbery. I ask him also to ensure we get more gardaí on the beat in all of our counties and towns, in particular Roscommon and Strokestown.

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