Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion on rural crime. I thank my colleague, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, for his generosity in sharing his time with rural Deputies.

I always like to begin on a positive. In this case, it is the recent good work in opening the new Garda station in County Galway. I acknowledge also that before Christmas, Galway was one of the fortunate areas to be selected for inclusion in the pilot scheme on domestic violence. As a member of the joint policing committee, I welcome this. However, I reflect on the time 17 months ago when I spoke in the House about the bridge crossings over the River Shannon. Coming from Portumna, I live on the banks of the river and spoke about the crossings at Portumna and Banagher and the need to install Garda CCTV systems to provide for number plate recognition. It would help a great deal to prevent raids by larger gangs who enter Galway via one bridge and leave by the other. If we had CCTV cameras, it would be fantastic. There are fantastic dog kennels at the new Garda station and I would love to see drug dogs in Galway. Currently, we have to apply to Cork or Limerick to borrow a dog for drug raids. As Deputy Calleary said, drugs are no longer an urban issue but also a rural issue. It would enhance the capacity of gardaí on the ground to protect the youth.

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