Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

County Meath needs significantly more resources because we are vastly under-resourced in terms of Garda man and woman power when compared with other areas that are very close to us. In particular, I refer to County Westmeath which has a similar profile to Meath. It has a much lower population and a similar number of gardaí, which is not fair. There are also other issues with Garda resources. For example, I have heard that the Garda van in the Laytown sub-district, which includes Stamullen, was moved to Tullamore. There are very difficult procedures for gardaí in the district if they want to make arrests in certain cases. That is proving very difficult for them. The lack of a sufficiently suitable Garda headquarters in Meath is also making crime detection more difficult. People on the ground notice the lack of gardaí and resources, the increase in crime and the general absence of a feeling of safety. Another issue arises, which I will raise in my supplementary question.

See this speech in context