Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can assure the Deputy that there are Garda checkpoints all over the country. I passed through one on the south quays just outside the Guinness brewery the other day. If there is anywhere where a checkpoint could cause a tailback, it is on such a busy road, yet there are checkpoints in those areas too for very good reasons. Neither I nor the Ministers, Deputies Flanagan and Ross, order the setting up of checkpoints. They are decisions for the Garda Commissioner, superintendents and inspectors in their particular areas, but I am not going to apologise for the fact that there are Garda checkpoints throughout the country. The vast majority of law-abiding citizens want to see a more visible Garda presence. They want to see gardaí on the streets in their communities on bicycles and on foot. They want to see Garda checkpoints because that is how crime is disrupted. Particularly when we are trying to crack down on the scourge of burglaries in rural Ireland, we need a more active Garda presence on the roads to disrupt those who go into rural Ireland and people's homes to take their possessions and do them harm.

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