Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It seems we get the answer that there is a superintendent there. However, when we get to the meat of the issue in the fifth paragraph of the Minister's script, we read: "A new divisional policing model is currently being piloted in four divisions across the country, including Galway." Our clear understanding on the ground of what this means in simple English, when we strip away all the verbosity we are presented with by the Minister, is that there will be no superintendent based in Clifden, and that the superintendent will fundamentally be based in Galway city and Salthill. This is not a matter of local deployment; it is a matter of national policy. It seems there is a national policy of stripping everything out of the rural areas and centralising everything into major urban areas. Therefore, on the basis of national policy, which is the remit of the Minster, is he willing to direct that rural areas would retain their key role in the provision of services and the location of headquarters, not on the basis of the whole county but the region, and Connemara is a very distinct region? In my humble opinion, if the area was being divided, all of Connemara should be one Garda subsection, or whatever one wants to call it.

With regard to the Irish language, we get verbose wording about objectives and commitments. I asked a simple question. Will An Garda Síochána ensure that all gardaí who deal directly with the Gaeltacht at all levels are able to do their business in the Irish language? It is a simple question to An Garda Síochána and the answer supplied is vague, to say the least.

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