Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important that we take the chance to debate this, particularly at this time of year, when people's genuine fears about crime are accentuated because of the darkness. I thank the Rural Independent Group for giving us this chance.

Deputy O'Callaghan referred to a number of the issues. First, I acknowledge the service that every member of An Garda Síochána gives. We often take them for granted and we need to remember that many have lost their lives in the pursuit of that service and in minding and protecting our communities. We also need to look at what we need to do to assist them. I agree with my colleagues in regard to visibility. In urban towns, including my own, there is much higher visibility than there has been in some time. While the implementation of the community garda system has been hugely significant and beneficial, we also need to see it operating on a rural basis, with community gardaí assisting communities on day-to-day issues. As well as visibility, there needs to be availability of gardaí to do the basic jobs, such as dealing with passports, gun licences and so on. When somebody calls to a station, a garda should be there to carry out that service, as well as being present at the station for other reasons. As one of people's biggest frustrations concerns this engagement on the basic jobs that need to be done, there must be some sort of reform of the system.

Second, the Minister needs to look again at the issue of CCTV with a view to making the scheme much more user-friendly. This is particularly the case given the Government is about to roll out a national broadband scheme. Surely this is the opportunity to tie those two projects together and ensure that, as we roll out the national broadband scheme, the technology is linked into communities across the country, enabling them to manage community CCTV. The Government must ensure money is available to An Garda Síochána, which is taking over the data-sharing responsibilities from local authorities, and must also ensure it is available for CCTV systems. We are great at putting in these things but not so great at looking after them. Unless they are maintained, they are not effective.

The availability of drugs is no longer exclusive to cities or to large urban towns; it is an issue that has been hitting every single rural community. There is a genuine fear among parents and communities about the impact of this and it has to be faced up to. It is necessary to upskill gardaí and local people with regard to their knowledge and to give the resources to An Garda Síochána to deal with this in the manner in which it needs to be dealt with. Unfortunately, it is no longer the preserve of urban areas and is now an all-island problem that needs to be dealt with.

The neighbourhood watch scheme is still relevant and important. It needs commitment from the Ministers, Deputies Flanagan and Ring, to re-energise it as a community response.

The relationship between local gardaí and An Garda Síochána in communities is key to this area. That relationship needs to be tended and invested in. It is fragile, and is particularly fragile at the moment in many communities. Senior Garda management, who may not be on the ground, need to bear that in mind for the sake of their mission and that of the members of the force.

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